Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Platform)

📋 Job Overview

We are looking for a Staff or Principal-level software engineer to join our Compute team. Hex's Compute team owns one of the hardest performance problems in the product: our users do everything from analyzing 100-line CSV files to querying petabyte-scale Snowflake tables, and in all cases they expect it to feel fast. We power a technical product that our customers trust to accurately retrieve data from their own systems to then efficiently execute polyglot backed analytics workflows.

🏢 About Hex

Hex Technologies uses AI-assisted tools as part of our application review process, including for resume screening and fraud detection. These tools help our team evaluate applications and verify applicant information. All AI-generated recommendations are reviewed by a member of our recruiting team before any hiring decision is made. No application is automatically rejected based solely on an AI tool's output.

🎯 The Role

This is a backend-heavy role with a focus on computation, performance, data systems design, and systems architecture. You'll drive architectural decisions that compound over years, write the technical designs that shape how the team builds, and directly influence the long-term trajectory of Hex's compute platform — all while staying deeply hands-on in the codebase.

✅ Key Responsibilities

• Evolve Hex's execution architecture — the graph-based system that compiles, plans, and runs user notebooks — including proposing and building entirely new compute components that support faster, smarter execution
• Drive parallel execution strategies and caching approaches that reduce latency and minimize unnecessary round trips to external data warehouses
• Instrument complex systems to surface and diagnose performance problems to give the team and our customers a much clearer picture of where time is being spent
• Collaborate across engineering and product to support new platform capabilities, such as building an internal query language that compiles to the appropriate dialect for any connected warehouse
• Author and review technical proposals, and mentor engineers to implement ambitious designs effectively
• Propose and roadmap long-term designs with clear milestones across quarters

📌 Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of backend engineering experience, with a strong focus on computation, performance, database/storage optimization, and systems architecture
• Experience with parallel execution strategies, caching strategies, and the trade-offs involved in remote data warehouse computation. Strong systems thinker with solid intuitions around storage, database performance, algorithms, and data structures
• A track record of solving difficult, large-scale systems design problems involving significant data and operational complexity — writing code and reviewing code of your teammates
• The ability to move from abstract, vague problems to well-articulated, well-reasoned technical solutions — and to roadmap ambitious designs with clear milestones across quarters
• A strong communicator; comfortable leading technical work and collaborating across a remote-first team
• Python and/or TypeScript required; experience with both is a plus

⭐ Desirable Experience

• Working knowledge of Kubernetes, Docker and cloud infrastructure
• Some frontend experience — this is a backend-focused role, but a willingness to occasionally wire a feature all the way through is a plus

🎁 Benefits

Hex proudly offers a competitive total rewards package, including but not limited to, market-benched salary & equity, comprehensive health benefits, and flexible paid time off.

The salary range for this role is: $221,250 - $348,500

🛂 Visa & Eligibility

This role is fully remote anywhere within the US Eastern timezone, with the option to work from our NYC office.