Backend Engineer

About Pocket

Take Notes in the Real World

The role

You’ll build and scale the systems that power Pocket’s AI experience, from real-time transcription pipelines to cloud sync and intelligent APIs.You’ll work closely with our mobile and AI teams to make Pocket faster, more reliable, and infinitely scalable. This isn’t a founding role, but it’s core to the product. You’ll join a small, high-output team that ships at the level of world-class consumer tech companies.### **What you'll own****Backend Development*** Design and build RESTful APIs in Node.js and TypeScript (Express.js or Nest.js).* Architect and maintain PostgreSQL databases; optimize schema design and queries.* Implement background jobs and queues using Redis for ingestion, summarization, and notifications.* Build and maintain caching layers (Redis, CDN, HTTP cache) for low-latency responses.* Implement authentication, authorization, and data privacy best practices.* Add real-time capabilities (WebSockets, Server-Sent Events) for live sync and streaming.* Build observability into every service: logging, metrics, and tracing by default.* Deploy and manage backend services on AWS (EC2, ECS, RDS, S3, Lambda).**Systems & Architecture*** Design clean, maintainable service architectures with clear ownership boundaries.* Plan and execute safe database migrations and schema evolutions.* Ensure consistency and reliability across distributed systems.* Optimize performance across I/O, CPU, and memory bottlenecks.* Implement CI/CD pipelines and release automation (GitHub Actions, Docker).* Contribute to infrastructure reliability: scaling, monitoring, and cost efficiency.**Quality & Security*** Write unit, integration, and contract tests with clear coverage thresholds.* Enforce linting, type safety, and static analysis as part of CI.* Conduct security reviews and dependency audits; follow least-privilege design.* Document services, endpoints, and decision trade-offs clearly.### **What we're looking for****Technical Requirements*** 2+ years of backend experience with Node.js and TypeScript.* Strong understanding of PostgreSQL (schema design, indexing, query optimization).* Experience with Redis (caching, queues).* Hands-on AWS experience (EC2, RDS, Lambda, ECS, S3).* API design fluency: REST, real-time (WebSockets/SSE).* Strong fundamentals in scalability, concurrency, and distributed systems.* Comfort with Docker, Git workflows, and CI/CD automation.* Familiarity with security and performance best practices.**Nice to Have*** Experience with GraphQL or gRPC.* Exposure to event-driven architectures or microservices.* Familiarity with observability tools (OpenTelemetry, CloudWatch, Sentry).* Experience building for high-traffic consumer apps.**Technologies We Use**Backend: Node.js, TypeScript (Express/Nest.js), PostgreSQL, RedisCloud: AWS (EC2, RDS, Lambda, S3, ECS, CloudWatch)Infra: Docker, GitHub Actions, CI/CD### **What we offer*** Work directly with us and learn fast* Direct impact on how the company operates day to day* High-trust, high-responsibility environment* Competitive compensation