Senior Backend Engineer

About the role

You will own the design, implementation, and delivery of complex backend projects that define the core of our privacy-first infrastructure. You will lead cross-functional initiatives that span search, AI, and data processing, ensuring solutions are scalable, reliable, and aligned with our strict privacy standards. You will write pragmatic, performant, and testable code using Perl, Go, and Node.js to build systems that millions of users depend on every day. You will take full responsibility for your projects from initial scoping through execution and postmortem analysis, driving outcomes with data and product sense. You will also mentor other engineers, helping to unlock their potential and supporting the growth of the backend team. This role is for a self-driven individual who thrives on ownership and end-to-end responsibility.

Key facts

Eligibility for company-sponsored health benefits is limited to team members based in the United States. This program does not extend to team members located in other countries, such as Canada or the UK.

Our Team Member Support Guide https://duckduckgo.com/assets/hiring/team_support_guide.pdf explains how we prioritize your wellbeing including paid parental leave, office setup, and co-working allowances.

What you'll do

Architect and implement backend services that power critical features across our search and AI products while adhering to our privacy-first principles.

Lead the execution of complex projects from initial requirements gathering through design, development, testing, and postmortem review.

Implement AI-assisted answers and integrate them into our Search product, ensuring privacy is maintained at every step of the pipeline.

Enhance Duck.ai to deliver a competitive AI chat experience for both free and paying users, focusing on reliability and performance.

Build sophisticated data processing pipelines that maintain search relevancy and support high-quality results.

Collaborate remotely with cross-functional teams to solve product issues that impact our all-in-one privacy solution, regardless of scale.

Write pragmatic, performant, and testable code in Perl, Go, and Node.js to ensure consistency and long-term maintainability.

Mentor other engineers by providing guidance, feedback, and career support to help them grow within the backend team.

Validate technical decisions by analyzing tradeoffs and communicating their impact to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Own the full lifecycle of your projects, including planning, execution, and continuous improvement based on data and feedback.

Requirements

7+ years of professional experience, primarily focused on backend systems that power consumer-facing products.

Product acumen to reason about technical tradeoffs in terms of user impact and business outcomes.

Familiarity with AI agent tooling, including evaluation frameworks, RAG pipelines, and prompt engineering concepts.

A fundamental understanding of complex data structures and algorithms, with the ability to develop new solutions and improve existing code.

Data-driven analytical skills for decision-making, stakeholder alignment, and experiment-oriented delivery.

Solid project management abilities to coordinate tasks and timelines in a remote environment.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills to validate and articulate technical decisions clearly.

Previous experience leading and mentoring experienced engineers, supporting their career goals, and unlocking their potential.

Practical notes

You'll be required to attend meetings on camera via video conferencing.

Expect to travel at least two times a year: once for our all-hands meetup and again for a team retreat, with each trip typically lasting around 4 to 5 days. While extenuating circumstances may impact attendance, everyone is strongly encouraged to attend.

While we offer a flexible work arrangement with no core hours, expect an average full-time commitment of 40 hours per week.

A successful candidate will be authorized to work in the United States.

Employment eligibility verification will be conducted at the time of hire.

All employment decisions are based on non-bias criteria including qualifications and business needs.