Senior Staff Back End Engineer (Applications)

The role

You will shape the technical direction of the application stack across multiple domains. You will design backend services, architect complex data models, and lead development for complex initiatives spanning multiple teams.

What you will do

• Design and evolve backend services and architectural patterns across multiple domains
• Architect data models for hierarchical and graph structures and large-scale datasets
• Build deterministic, reliable systems
• Drive architectural decisions balancing extensibility, performance, and simplicity
• Improve observability, testing strategy, and production reliability
• Partner with Product and Engineering leadership to translate business requirements into designs
• Mentor engineers across levels, including staff-level engineers
• Champion the use of AI tooling to improve implementation velocity

Required qualifications

• Extensive experience designing and building complex backend systems in production environments at scale
• Strong product judgment
• Track record of leading architectural direction across multiple teams or domains
• Ability to surface unarticulated risks and advocate for architectural improvements
• Deep expertise in at least one production-grade backend language (e.g., Python, Java, Kotlin, Go, C#, etc.)
• Strong foundation in relational schema design, data modelling, and SQL
• Significant experience working with hierarchical, graph-like, or relationship-heavy data structures
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Track record of improving scalability, reliability, and observability in distributed or data-intensive systems
• Desire to own architecture and product direction across complex, multi-team domains
• Experience mentoring senior and staff-level engineers

Nice to have

• Familiarity with graph databases or graph-based modelling concepts
• Experience building SaaS products serving mid-market or enterprise customers
• Experience building rule-driven systems, validation workflows, or approval/governance platforms
• Familiarity with AWS-based infrastructure and Kubernetes
• Exposure to Sales Performance Management (SPM), RevOps, Incentive Compensation (ICM), or related domains

Benefits

• Employee stock ownership plan
• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Disability insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid parental leave program
• $750 yearly training stipend

About the company

Forma.ai is a Series B startup that's revolutionizing how sales compensation is designed, managed and optimized. They handle billions in annual managed commissions for market leaders.