Senior Backend Engineer

Interested in working on cutting-edge blockchain technology and creating equitable access to the global financial system? Since 2014, the mission-driven team at the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has helped fuel the tremendous growth of the Stellar blockchain network, an open-source platform that operates at high‑scale today. Developers and companies around the world build on it, and the SDF team is expanding to support the rapidly growing and changing Stellar ecosystem.

You’ll join a team of talented engineers designing APIs, backend services, and tools that serve a diverse range of users—from individual developers to institutions. Whether you're passionate about infrastructure, scaling systems, or shaping the developer and end‑user experience, you'll be working on high‑impact projects at the intersection of blockchain and finance.

• Drive end‑to‑end development of backend services and APIs that support the Stellar ecosystem.
• Build, maintain, and scale reliable infrastructure and web services in support of mission‑critical applications.
• Collaborate cross‑functionally to understand developer or end‑user needs and translate them into pragmatic solutions.
• Optimize backend systems for performance, scale, and maintainability.
• Contribute to our open‑source efforts, including SDKs, libraries, and tools.
• Engage in architectural design discussions, write detailed technical specifications (RFCs), and contribute to SDF’s engineering best practices.
• Participate in code reviews and knowledge sharing across teams.

• 4+ years of experience as a software engineer.
• Strong computer science fundamentals: data structures, algorithms, distributed systems, and software design patterns.
• Proficiency in backend development with languages such as Go, Python, Rust, Java, C++, or similar.
• Experience deploying and operating production web services at scale.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to lead technical discussions.
• A product‑driven mindset with an interest in improving the developer or user experience.

• Have experience working on blockchain or financial technology.
• Are passionate about open‑source software and have contributed to open‑source projects.
• Have worked on products where developers or builders are the primary users.
• Have experience with Go.

We offer competitive pay with a base salary range for this position of $185,000 – $275,000 depending on job‑related knowledge, skills, experience, and location. In addition, we offer lumen‑denominated grants along with the following perks and benefits:

• Competitive health, dental & vision coverage with most plans covered at 100% for the employee + any dependents.
• Flexible time off + 15 company holidays including a company‑wide holiday break.
• Generous paid parental leave for all parents, plus paid pregnancy disability leave for birthing parents.
• Gym reimbursement ($80 per month).
• Life & ADD (up to $50K).
• Short & long term disability.
• 401K with 4% match.
• Health & dependent care FSA accounts.
• Commuter benefits with $250/month employer contribution.
• Health Savings Account (HSA) with monthly employer contribution.
• Family building benefits through Kindbody.
• Wellbeing benefits (One Medical, Rightway, Headspace).
• L&D budget of $1,500/year.
• Daily lunch and snacks in office.
• Company retreats.

SDF is committed to diversity in its workforce and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. SDF does not make hiring or employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other basis protected by applicable local, state or federal law.