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Senior Software Engineer – Backend Platform – Ruby on Rails
| Company | Handshake |
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| Location | San Francisco, CA, USA |
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| Salary | $180000 – $220000 |
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| Type | Full-Time |
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| Degrees | |
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| Experience Level | Senior |
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Requirements
- 5+ years of experience with Ruby on Rails at an expert level, including deep understanding of framework internals, performance optimization, and scaling patterns.
- Strong software engineering fundamentals, including TDD, contract testing, decoupling, and clean code practices that you’ve applied at scale.
- Experience designing, building, and maintaining GraphQL APIs.
- Demonstrated expertise with Elasticsearch implementation, query optimization, and integration with Rails applications.
- Experience implementing advanced caching strategies (Redis) and designing resilient background job systems (Sidekiq).
- A customer-first mindset with examples of how you’ve improved developer experience and productivity through platform engineering.
- Established history of elevating team standards through code reviews, pair programming, and technical mentorship.
- Practical knowledge of CI best practices that measurably enhance developer efficiency and code quality.
Responsibilities
- Architect and implement scalable backend services and developer tooling that significantly boost product team velocity and output quality.
- Shape best practices for Ruby on Rails development at Handshake, establishing standards that ensure high-quality, maintainable, and well-tested code.
- Create intuitive paved paths that guide product teams toward optimal technical decisions while maintaining consistency in service and API architecture.
- Lead technical initiatives such as evolving our GraphQL ecosystem, strategically reducing technical debt, and driving backend performance optimization.
- Improve developer experience by refining local development environments, streamlining CI pipelines, and enhancing self-service tooling.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams including Frontend Platform, Product Engineering, and Infrastructure to drive alignment and deliver cohesive technical solutions.
- Mentor and support other engineers through thoughtful code reviews, pair programming, and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with MonoRepo architecture and implementing effective workflows within large codebases.
- Deep understanding of PostgreSQL optimization, including query performance tuning and schema design.
- Implementation experience with Event-Driven and Service-Oriented Architecture at scale.
- Experience with GoLang microservices.
- Working knowledge of GCP infrastructure and implementing security best practices in cloud environments.
