Backend Engineer II

About the role

Every day, millions of developers use HackerRank to prove their skills. We’re looking for a Backend Software Development Engineer who thrives on solving complex architectural problems and delivering high-impact product features. You will be responsible for the server-side logic, database architecture, and the integration of front-end elements. Your work will ensure that our core application remains fast, reliable, and scalable as we continue to grow our global user base.

What you’ll do

• Design, build, and maintain efficient, reusable, and reliable backend code to support new product features and enhancements.
• Develop and integrate RESTful or GraphQL APIs to serve front-end applications and external clients.
• Design and optimize database schemas (SQL and NoSQL) to ensure data integrity and query performance at scale.
• Collaborate with frontend developers, product managers, and designers to translate requirements into robust technical solutions.
• Troubleshoot production issues, identify bottlenecks, and drive performance optimizations across the application stack.
• Write comprehensive unit and integration tests to ensure high code quality and system stability.

Who you are

• Backend engineer with 2+ years of experience in server-side software development.
• Proficient in at least one modern backend programming language (e.g., Python, Ruby, Go, Java, or Node.js).
• Deep understanding of API design principles (REST, GraphQL) and web standards.
• Strong experience with relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and familiarity with NoSQL stores.
• Knowledge of distributed systems, caching mechanisms (Redis/Memcached), and asynchronous messaging (Kafka/RabbitMQ).
• Familiarity with containerization (Docker) and basic CI/CD workflows.

AI fluency

• Comfortable using AI-powered coding assistants (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code) as a daily part of your development workflow.
• Working familiarity with large language models — you understand what they can and can't do, and can write effective prompts to get useful outputs.
• Experience using AI tools beyond code generation — for planning, writing documentation, drafting test cases, debugging, and code review.
• Basic understanding of AI/ML fundamentals: how LLMs work at a high level (tokens, context windows, inference), common model architectures, and the difference between fine-tuning, RAG, and prompt engineering.
• You stay current with the rapidly evolving AI tooling landscape and are eager to adopt tools that meaningfully improve your productivity.

Even better if you have

• Experience working on high-traffic, customer-facing web applications.
• A strong grasp of system design concepts and architectural patterns (e.g., Microservices, DDD).
• Familiarity with cloud computing platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and serverless technologies.
• Experience optimizing legacy codebases for performance and maintainability.

You will thrive in this role if

• You are passionate about shipping high-quality code that directly solves user problems.
• You take ownership of your work, from initial design through to deployment and monitoring.
• You enjoy breaking down complex requirements into clean, logical, and scalable technical implementations.
• You value collaboration and actively contribute to code reviews and architectural discussions.

Compensation

The base salary range for this role is $150,000 - $172,000, plus a target 10% annual bonus tied to individual and company performance. You will also receive equity (stock options) and a comprehensive package of cash and non-cash benefits.