💻 Software Engineer, Backend (Senior)

ABOUT US Alpha is a product studio focused on the intersection of AI and consumer social – backed by a16z and many of the top investors in the world. Our goal is to create social products that we use, that our friends use, and that have the potential to reach billions of people. Clubhouse was our first app, and we’ve been quietly growing that while building our next set of products. We have years of runway, millions of users, and find ourselves at a very interesting time, where AI is making entirely new things possible with voice. If you are a talented builder who’s interested in joining us, we’d love to talk. THE ROLE We're hiring an early to mid-level Senior Backend Engineer to join our server engineering team. This role sits on our Core squad, which owns rapid product explorations, app quality, and monetization features for Clubhouse Plus users. We’re looking for engineers who think at a systems level, ship with urgency, and build with a platform mindset — whether they're delivering a user-facing feature or designing a shared service. You'll work in a highly collaborative environment with our founders, product, design, and data science to: - Solve a dynamic set of user problems across the product - Ship new product launches and platform capabilities at speed - Improve our monetization features, app quality, and backend reliability - Iteratively improve a legacy codebase while keeping an eye on long-term maintainability We are a remote friendly-company — with a strong commitment to ensuring you will do great work here and have best professional experience of your life. This role is open to candidates across the U.S. WHO YOU ARE - You are experienced and curious. You have 4–5 years of backend development experience with a strong foundation in languages like Python or Java, and experience with relational and/or NoSQL databases (PostgreSQL, DynamoDB). You’re eager to deepen your technical craft and broaden your systems thinking. - You think at a systems level. You understand the tradeoffs in evolving a legacy codebase — balancing short-term velocity with long-term maintainability. You map out edge cases for experiments and features, considering performance, scaling, and data implications. You appreciate the practical cost of complexity and advocate for the simplest solution that achieves the intended outcome. - You build with a platform mindset. You think about API contracts, shared infrastructure, and distributed systems patterns as first-class concerns — even when shipping product features. You can identify when a product need is better served by investing in a shared service versus a one-off implementation, and you balance that tension pragmatically. - You have a product mindset. You connect backend work to measurable business impact. You think about how experiments tie to user growth and engagement, and you balance technical decisions with product outcomes. - You move quickly and iterate. You can scope and deliver MVPs to learn early, gather data, and iterate. You know how to balance speed and reliability so experiment results are trustworthy. - You work well cross-functionally. You enjoy partnering closely with Product Managers, Designers, and Data Scientists to shape hypotheses and act on results. You communicate tradeoffs clearly and can reframe constraints as opportunities. - You’re collaborative and low ego. You evolve your thinking based on new data, seek the best solution regardless of ownership, and contribute to a positive, inclusive team culture. WHAT YOU WILL DO - Build and ship experiments that improve monetization, host experiences, content understanding, and personalization for millions of users. - Evolve our backend systems — balancing quick iteration with code health and scalability. - Collaborate closely with engineers, PMs, designers, and data scientists to shape and deliver high-impact features. - Instrument and analyze experiments to inform the next iteration. - Advocate for simplicity — making thoughtfu