Senior Software Engineer, 1

Senior Software Engineer

People Inc. is looking for a forward-thinking Engineer focused on API and services development with demonstrated technical excellence for an exciting opportunity to design and scale mission-critical pieces of the next generation of our publishing. You will work in a collaborative Agile environment to build high-performance backend services to support and add new features to our new brand-focused mobile application.

In this role you will leverage your full-stack engineering expertise, primarily using Node and Javascript/TypeScript. The role offers opportunities for professional growth and experience with challenges of scale as we explore new ways of getting our content to viewers.

In-office Expectations: This position offers remote work flexibility; however, if you reside within a commutable distance to one of our offices in New York, Des Moines, Birmingham, Los Angeles, Chicago, or Seattle, the expectation is to work from the office three times per week. The team is currently centered in NYC, so NYC applicants are preferred.

About Your Contributions:

• Independently design and develop new backend services and features that seamlessly connect our mobile applications with in-house content-management systems.
• Collaborate with frontend, QA, and product teams to define API contracts, data structures, authentication, and overall technical direction.
• Architect and execute complex feature builds from technical design and code-level implementation through to final integration.
• Proactively identify and implement improvements for performance bottlenecks and technical debt in existing backend services.
• Maintain high quality standards by actively participating in and leading code/design reviews, writing unit and end-to-end tests, and guiding technical conversations.
• Drive technical progress on projects to ensure applications meet performance requirements and utilize the most effective technologies.
• Research new technologies and approaches to solve complex problems and improve existing systems.
• Contribute to team knowledge-sharing and process improvement initiatives.

About You:

• You have a love for technology and problem-solving, and a strong desire to deliver quality software as quickly as possible. You have
• 4+ years of proven experience developing and maintaining server-side applications, with strong technical proficiency in TypeScript/JavaScript and Node.js for building and maintaining RESTful APIs and backend services, ideally within a microservices architecture.
• Experience managing and optimizing data storage with NoSQL databases (e.g., Firestore), including maintaining performance, data consistency, and managing large datasets via optimized queries, indexes, and transactions. Experience with BigQuery is a plus.
• Comfortable deploying and monitoring services in cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP) using tools like Prometheus, Grafana, or native cloud solutions, and proficient in setting up CI/CD pipelines.
• Familiar with security challenges in mobile app development, able to implement secure authentication/authorization (e.g., JWT, OAuth, Device Attestation), and protect backend services from common web vulnerabilities (e.g., XSS, SQL injection, DDoS).
• Good understanding of system design and architecture fundamentals, with experience in containerization (e.g., Docker), orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes), and familiarity with serverless architectures/functions-as-a-service.
• Ability to independently identify and troubleshoot complex issues, and seek collaborative input to create optimal solutions.
• Ability to translate business/product requirements into clear technical approaches and concepts, and communicate them effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Comfortable working and proactively communicating in a distributed team environment.

It is the policy of People Inc. to provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. In addition, the Company will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.

Salary: New York: $145,000 - $170,000. The pay range above represents the anticipated low and high end of the pay range for this position and may change in the future. Actual pay may vary and may be above or below the range based on various factors including but not limited to work location, experience, and performance. The range listed is just one component of People Inc's total compensation package for employees. Other compensation may include annual bonuses, and short- and long-term incentives. In addition, People Inc. provides to employees (and their eligible family members) a variety of benefits, including medical, dental, vision, prescription drug coverage, unlimited paid time off (PTO), adoption or surrogate assistance, donation matching, tuition reimbursement, basic life insurance, basic accidental death & dismemberment, supplemental life insurance, supplemental accident insurance, commuter benefits, short term and long term disability, health savings and flexible spending accounts, family care benefits, a generous 401K savings plan with a company match program, 10-12 paid holidays annually, and generous paid parental leave (birthing and non-birthing parents), all of which may vary depending on the specific nature of your employment with People Inc. and your work location. We also offer voluntary benefits such as pet insurance, accident, critical and hospital indemnity health insurance coverage, life and disability insurance.