Backend Engineer

litellm· Engineering
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📍 San FranciscoFullTime💰 USD 170K–230K/yr

About this role

Backend Engineer

LiteLLM is the world's most popular AI Gateway, trusted by top companies like Adobe, Netflix, and NASA. Our platform empowers developers by providing secure, reliable access to LLMs and adjacent services, and we're looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to help us build rock-solid guardrails and observability tooling at scale.

About The Role
You’ll focus on owning our guardrails and logging world-class. You will be in charge of the backend code that ensures all guardrail calls are consistently logged, errors are surfaced to users (not silently swallowed), and our observability instrumentation works for real-world, high-volume traffic. Your attention to detail in areas like latency metrics, logging traceability, and backend guardrail registration will directly impact user trust in our security and compliance features.

Responsibilities

  • Build and scale our product, ensuring performance, reliability, and continuous improvement.

  • Ensure all guardrail and policy enforcement calls (e.g., applyguardrail) are properly logged and traceable through our SpendLogs and relevant database tables

  • Build and design CPU-level guardrails to cover common attacks on LLM API's / MCP servers / Agents

  • Identify and fix areas where silent failures occur in guardrail creation, registration, and policy application—ensuring robust error handling and transparency to end users

  • Work with observability integrations, including Datadog, Splunk, Prometheus, and OpenTelemetry, to maintain accurate, configurable, and usable monitoring and logging for backend systems

  • Enhance observability integrations to work for 1B+ requests/mo., with minimal latency overhead and no memory leaks (e.g. due to cardinality of Prometheus metrics)

  • Collaborate cross-functionally on backend engineering priorities (performance, reliability, security)

What We’re Looking For

  • Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science or related field

  • 1+ years of experience with Python and backend frameworks (e.g. FastAPI, Flask)

  • Understanding of logging best practices, error handling, and secure backend development

  • Exposure to monitoring, logging, or metrics platforms (Datadog, Splunk, Prometheus, OpenTelemetry)

  • Familiarity with database integration and troubleshooting (PostgreSQL, Redis, etc.)

  • Driven to deliver high-quality backend code with strong guardrails, auditing, and debugging capabilities

  • Eagerness to tackle hard bugs and ensure system transparency for end users

Why Join LiteLLM?

  • High-impact, mission-critical work on the core of compliance and reliability

  • Contribute directly to features used by enterprise customers at global scale

  • Fast-paced growth environment with room for technical ownership

  • Competitive salary, health, dental, and vision benefits

About LiteLLM
LiteLLM (https://github.com/BerriAI/litellm) is a Python SDK and Proxy Server enabling seamless calls to 100+ LLM APIs in the OpenAI format, trusted by industry leaders worldwide.

Ready to shape the future of secure, observable AI infrastructure? Apply now!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the salary for the Backend Engineer role at litellm?
The listed salary for this Backend Engineer position at litellm is USD 170K–230K/yr. This is an FullTime role.
Where is the Backend Engineer position at litellm located?
This Backend Engineer role at litellm is based in San Francisco. The position is listed as on-site or hybrid. Check the full job description or apply directly to confirm the work arrangement.
Is the Backend Engineer role at litellm full-time or part-time?
This is listed as a FullTime position. It is posted as a Backend Engineer role in the Engineering department at litellm.
Which team or department does the Backend Engineer at litellm belong to?
This Backend Engineer position is part of the Engineering department at litellm. See the full job description for more information about the team structure and responsibilities.
How do I apply for the Backend Engineer position at litellm?
Click the "Apply Now" button on this page. You will be redirected to litellm's official application portal hosted on ashby where you can submit your application directly.
When was the Backend Engineer job at litellm posted?
This Backend Engineer position at litellm was posted on Mar 31, 2026. Apply as soon as possible — early applications are often reviewed first.
Backend Engineer
litellm · 💰 USD 170K–230K/yr
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