Backend engineer

PWe're a VC-funded, Swiss-based startup looking for a senior backend developer with experience in Next, React and Typescript. /p pGenerative AI will transform fashion content creation, but managing (searching, culling, selecting) amoong tens of thousands of images is a complicated. Editing them in the browser using AI (hence probabilistic) algorithm in a userfriendly way is the second big challenge. /p pWe want to build a product that our business user love to use. /p pstrongThe role /strong /p pYou will own meaningful backend domains end-to-end and add real throughput where the team currently bottlenecks. The focus here is strongbackend depth /strong — that's the bar — alongside a deliberate, bounded slice of platform and security work. Full-stack engineers who clear the backend bar are equally welcome: we care about what you can carry on the backend side, not about whether you also work on the frontend. /p pThe most interesting backend problem at Sartiq today isn't a feature backlog — it's an emarchitecture /em one. We're pushing past tens of thousands of high-fidelity generations a day, customer integrations are deepening per brand, and the surface between our product, our AI generation layer, and the data we accumulate from it is becoming the part of the system that earns the company most of its leverage. That's the work. /p pstrongWhat you'll own /strong /p pstrongBackend product engineering (~80%) /strong /p ul listrongCore product backend services. /strong Design and build the services behind the main app: APIs, data models, business logic, the contracts that define how the product actually behaves to customers. /li listrongCustomer integrations. /strong Each major customer ends up with their own backbone behind the scenes — export pipelines, transport adapters, naming conventions, automation. You'll own end-to-end pieces of this and help shape it into something more repeatable as the customer base grows. /li listrongAI generation pipeline — as a backend architecture problem. /strong Clean service boundaries, robust job lifecycle and state, sharp retry/failure semantics, the right contracts between the product and the generation layer. As we push past tens of thousands of generations a day, this is the part that has to keep getting sharper. This isn't an infra problem dressed up — it's real backend architecture work. /li listrongData engineering as it grows. /strong Production data flows, usage analytics, the internal data platform — a surface starting to take real shape. You'll contribute to (and help define) what it becomes. /li /ul pstrongPlatform security (~20%) /strong /p ul liemDevOps/SRE backup (~10%) /em — be the second pair of hands in the infrastructure rotation: CI/CD, deployments, observability, fallback coverage during PTO or incident peaks. A deliberate, bounded slice — enough that we stop being a one-person operation here. /li liemSecurity (~10%) /em — own targeted security projects as part of normal work: auth flows, secret management, dependency hygiene, internal tooling. Real pieces of meaningful work, not vague oversight. /li /ul pstrongWhat success looks like in 6 months /strong /p ul liYou own at least one backend domain that the team routes work to you for /li liA customer integration or core service you led is in production carrying real load /li liOne concrete security project — auth, secrets, dependencies, or similar — is meaningfully better than when you started, not just tracked /li liYou've taken real load off the infrastructure rotation /li /ul h2Tasks /h2 ol liMid-to-senior backend engineering experience. Most likely you have around 3–5+ years of professional experience, but the real bar is ownership, judgment, and shipping quality. Python is our primary stack (FastAPI, SQLAlchemy, async) and you'll write it most days. Real depth in another modern backend (Go, Rust, Node.js, Java, …) is a credible path here too, as long as you've shipped something in Python and pick up new stacks fast. /li liStrong SQL — schema design, complex queries, migrations and indexing under real data /li liBackend architecture instincts — you can reason about service boundaries, contracts, queues, state, failure modes, observability — not just CRUD /li liSolid security fundamentals — auth flows, OWASP-class vulnerabilities, secure-by-default habits, secret management /li liLight but real DevOps fundamentals — Docker, Linux, CI/CD /li liA track record of shipping production features fast without leaving a mess /li liYou use AI coding agents fluently and critically — they speed you up, but you still review output, understand failure modes, write tests, and ship production-quality code /li liFluent written and spoken English /li /ol pstrongBonus /strong /p ul liCloud experience on any major platform (AWS, GCP, Azure, …) — we deploy with Terraform and aren't tied to one cloud /li liTask queues (Celery/Redis), async pipelines, Postgres operational concerns under load /li liML/AI service integrations (Vertex AI, OpenAI, Fal, Replicate, …) /li liData engineering experience — pipelines, analytics, internal data tooling /li liSecurity background — certifications, CTFs, homelab, prior security-focused work /li liYou genuinely enjoy building with technology beyond assigned tickets — personal projects, automations, experiments, tools for yourself or others, OSS, software-and-hardware tinkering, or past side projects you still care about /li liYou use AI for more than just code — agentic harnesses, automated personal pipelines, custom tooling for your own life /li liItalian — the team speaks Italian day-to-day, so it's a real plus; English alone is fully sufficient /li /ul h2Requirements /h2 pstrongThis role is probably not for you if… /strong /p ul liYou want a pure feature role with zero architecture, infrastructure, or security exposure /li li"Backend" to you means CRUD over a single service — the scale, integration, and architecture work here will bore you if you don't enjoy that side /li liYou're frontend-first and see backend as the part you tolerate /li liWriting software is only a way to earn a salary for you, and you have little curiosity for technology outside assigned work /li /ul h2Benefits /h2 ol listrongAutonomy Impact: /strong You won't be a ticket-taker. You'll have the agency to own the backend developement lifecycle for core features, from hypothesis to production, and see your work ship. /li listrongCompetitive Compensation Equity: /strong We offer a top-tier salary and a meaningful stock option plan. We want you to have a real stake in what you're building. /li listrongA Lean, Expert Team: /strong You'll work directly with the founders in a fast-paced environment, free from corporate bureaucracy. /li listrongHybrid Work Model: /strong We think that being in the same room often boosts productivity, so we want you in the office at least 2 days per week. But we have no schedule. You decide when to work to maximise your productivity. /li /ol pIf you're an engineer who is obsessed with the generative space and wants to apply your skills to hard problems with real-world impact, we would love to hear from you. /p pOur interview process is straightforward:br1. You share your github + portfolio + CV /p p2. Technical challengebr3. A chat with the founders /pbr