Staff Software Engineer, Backend

The role

You will lead technical work on Ro's backend platform as a Staff Software Engineer. You will design and build scalable distributed services in Python and FastAPI, and mentor engineers across levels.

What you will do

• Design and build scalable, reliable and resilient distributed services using Python and FastAPI
• Own your team's domain and proactively assess and improve system performance and reliability
• Drive engineering excellence through testing, monitoring, observability and performance optimization
• Define and own technical roadmaps, breaking complex problems into clear project plans and deliverables
• Mentor and collaborate with engineers across levels
• Lead cross-functional technical efforts with product managers, designers and engineers from adjacent teams
• Participate in on-call rotations to ensure reliability of production systems

Required qualifications

• 7 to 10+ years of software engineering experience, including technical leadership roles
• Experience architecting, designing and building scalable web applications and distributed systems
• Proficiency with Python, relational databases, and frameworks like FastAPI or Django
• Hands-on experience with metrics instrumentation and data-driven performance tuning, including tools like Datadog
• Proven track record of scaling complex, data-intensive backend systems through rapid growth
• Deep understanding of distributed systems, including data consistency, communication patterns and service boundaries
• Strong sense of ownership and ability to break down complex problem spaces into technical roadmaps
• Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers, foster collaboration and set technical direction

Nice to have

• Experience in telehealth or other highly regulated industries
• Experience decoupling monolithic applications into distributed asynchronous services

Benefits

• Full medical, dental and vision insurance, plus OneMedical membership
• Healthcare and Dependent Care FSA
• 401(k) with company match
• Flexible PTO
• Wellbeing and Learning & Growth reimbursements
• Paid parental leave and fertility benefits
• Pet insurance
• Student loan refinancing
• Virtual resources for mindfulness, counseling and fitness

Before you apply

• Ro is an equal opportunity employer
• Reasonable accommodations are available in the application and interview process by contacting talent@ro.co

About the company

Ro is building a vertically integrated healthcare platform that connects telehealth, diagnostics, pharmacy and logistics for millions of patients. The company is recognized as a top workplace in Health Care, New York, and for Women and Parents.