Backend Engineer

About Desk

Desk (desk.us) is rebuilding the operating system for US real estate – a platform built for real estate agents that owns the transaction contracts end to end. The founder is a second‑time entrepreneur who previously built one of the largest brokerages in the US, and whose earlier proptech side project reached 500k monthly uses while built part‑time with no funding.

Desk is early and growing fast: first revenue in spring 2026, roughly $170k ARR as of June and growing month over month. The company has raised $1M, backed by two unicorn founders in the real estate vertical.

Desk is hiring a staff/principal‑level Backend Engineer to own the backend. The CTO is a data scientist who is strong on backend and databases – they’re looking for a stronger engineer to delegate to. You would become the technical owner of the platform’s architecture, data layer, and infrastructure.

• Own backend architecture, databases, and infrastructure end to end
• Set the engineering bar for a platform that handles real estate transaction contracts – enterprise‑grade care about downstream consequences, not just scrappy shipping
• Build AI‑natively: the team treats AI tooling as a first‑class part of the engineering workflow, with a ~100k annual AI/token budget planned through 2027

• Staff/principal‑level backend depth (systems, databases, infrastructure)
• Exceptionally sharp – Desk values raw intelligence and clear evidence of capability over years of experience
• Fully AI‑native workflow: you build with AI tools aggressively and effectively rather than handwriting everything
• Enterprise‑grade mindset: cautious about downstream consequences in a product that owns transaction contracts
• Comfortable with startup intensity (~50 hours/week, sustainably – no 996); equity upside scales with commitment

• Base salary up to $250,000
• Equity
• Remote within the US
• Full‑time