Software Engineer; Backend

Join to apply for the Software Engineer (Backend) role at Artisan

$/yr - $/yr

At Artisan, we’re building real AI employees - not copilots, not assistants, but autonomous teammates. Our first, Ava, is an AI BDR. She finds and researches leads, writes emails in customers’ tone of voice, runs outbound sequences, self-optimizes, and manages email deliverability infrastructure. She learns, adapts, and improves over time - just like a human would. Human team members use Artisan as their primary working platform, replacing a sprawling stack of sales tools, and have Artisans working alongside them.

We went through Y Combinator (W24) and have raised $35M+ from top investors. We’re at $7M+ ARR, with hundreds of customers including Remote, Quora, and Sum Up. We’re currently working on Ava 2.0, pushing the boundaries of what an AI employee can do. And we're hiring.

• Build resilient, scalable services:
  Architect and implement backend systems and APIs that handle high-throughput AI requests with precision.
• Own end-to-end delivery:
  From design to deployment, you’ll shepherd features into production rapidly, with quality and ownership.
• Work cross-functionally:
  Partner with product, design, and AI teams to ensure backend decisions serve real user workflows.
• Use AI as a coworker:
  Directly collaborate with AI coding agents like Claude Code, leveraging them to boost your productivity and quality.
• Maintain engineering rigor:
  Champion testing, observability, deployment pipelines, and reliability best practices from day one.
• Drive long-term scalability:
  Iteratively improve architecture, manage technical debt, and optimize for scale as we grow.

• 2+ years of backend engineering experience in high-growth environments, preferably early-stage or Series B.
• Strong experience building scalable, data-intensive services with modern APIs and robust infrastructure.
• Proficiency with cloud-native tools - containers, orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes), monitoring, CI/CD.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems, APIs, reliability, performance, and database systems (SQL + No
  
  SQL).
• Experience with modern stacks - Type Script/Node preferred, but equivalent backend stacks are welcome.
• Demonstrated track record of ownership - leading parts of systems independently and shipping with impact.
• Excellent communication, clarity in articulating architecture to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• End-to-end ownership:
  You’re not just doing the “ticket”; you own feature delivery. Build systems that support intelligent, autonomous AI teammates.
• Scalable, reliable systems:
  Backend must handle growth and complexity. High-throughput pipelines serving AI agents across many customers.
• Hands-on infrastructure work:
  Jump in on deployment, monitoring, tuning. You're shaping the platform that automates itself (AI agents included).
• Collaborative, multidisciplinary environment:
  Work closely with product, design, ops. Work alongside AI engineers and product partners to define what AI employees can do.
• Balance innovation and technical debt:
  Iterate quickly while maintaining system health. Ship fast but sustainably - your engine powers AI teammates in production.

• You’ll be building the infrastructure that powers AI employees - an entirely new product category.
• Real equity upside and compensation aligned with high expectations and high impact.
• High-velocity environment: release often, learn fast, iterate week over week.
• Mission-driven: reshape how businesses scale by putting AI on the front lines.

• Role:
  Engineering
• Eng type:
  Backend
• Job type:
  Full-time
• Experience:
  
  2+ years
• Location:
  
  San Francisco or NYC (in-person)
• Remote:
  In rare circumstances
• US visas:
  Will sponsor

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