Backend Engineer

https://inflection.ai/

full-time

senior

Expired

Job Description

At Inflection AI, our public benefit mission is to harness the power of AI to improve human well-being and productivity. The next era of AI will be defined by agents we trust to act on our behalf. We’re pioneering this future with human-centered AI models that unite emotional intelligence (EQ) and raw intelligence (IQ)—transforming interactions from transactional to relational, to create enduring value for individuals and enterprises alike. Our work comes to life in two ways today: Pi, your personal AI, designed to be a kind and supportive companion that elevates everyday life with practical assistance and perspectives. Platform — large-language models (LLMs) and APIs that enable builders, agents, and enterprises to bring Pi-class emotional intelligence into experiences where empathy and human understanding matter most. We are building toward a future of AI agents that earn trust, deepen understanding, and create aligned, long-term value for all. About the Role As a backend engineer at Inflection, you will own the platforms, systems, and services that bring our conversational AI to life at scale. You’ll collaborate across research, product, and infrastructure teams to enable rapid iteration, high reliability, and secure delivery of novel AI features to millions of users. Your work will directly impact both the pace of product development and the stability of our production systems. This is a good role for you if you: -Have 5+ years of experience building and scaling backend systems for high-throughput applications -Are fluent in building distributed systems with Python, Go, Rust, or similar languages, and are comfortable with cloud-native architectures (e.g., Kubernetes, gRPC, Postgres, Redis, Kafka) -Have owned backend services end-to-end—from design and implementation to deployment, monitoring, and debugging -Thrive in fast-paced environments where you can move quickly without sacrificing engineering rigor -Proactively improve tooling and infrastructure to support your teammates’ workflows and reliability goals -Communicate clearly across disciplines and take pride in solving user-facing problems with clean backend solutions Responsibilities include: -Design and implement scalable backend systems and APIs that power production LLM experiences, including agentic workflows, memory systems, and tool integrations -Build and operate high-availability infrastructure to support real-time inference, retrieval, and conversation pipelines -Develop internal platforms to improve engineering productivity—CI/CD pipelines, service templates, observability frameworks, and rollout tooling -Collaborate closely with applied research and frontend teams to rapidly prototype, ship, and iterate on end-user features -Ensure systems meet our high bar for security, uptime, and latency—through incident response, load testing, monitoring, and automation -Participate in on-call rotations to maintain the reliability of the services you build Employee Pay Disclosures At Inflection AI, we aim to attract and retain the best employees and compensate them in a way that appropriately and fairly values their individual contributions to the company. For this role, Inflection AI estimates a starting annual base salary will fall in the range of approximately $175,000 - $350,000 depending on experience. This estimate can vary based on the factors described above, so the actual starting annual base salary may be above or below this range. Benefits Inflection AI values and supports our team’s mental and physical health. We are focused on building a positive, safe, inclusive and inspiring place to work. Our benefits include: Diverse medical, dental and vision options 401k matching program Unlimited paid time off Parental leave and flexibility for all parents and caregivers Support of country-specific visa needs for international employees living in the Bay Area Interview Process Apply: Please apply on Linkedin or our website for a specific role. After speaking with one of our recruiters, you’ll enter our structured interview process, which includes the following stages: -Hiring Manager Conversation – An initial discussion with the hiring manager to assess fit and alignment. -Technical Interview – A deep dive with an Inflection Engineer to evaluate your technical expertise. -Onsite Interview – A comprehensive assessment, including: A domain-specific interview A system design interview A final conversation with the hiring manager Depending on the role, we may also ask you to complete a take-home exercise or deliver a presentation. For non-technical roles, be prepared for a role-specific interview, such as a portfolio review. Decision Timeline We aim to provide feedback within one week of your final interview.

Required Skills

Python

Go

Rust

Kubernetes

gRPC

Postgres

Redis

Kafka

Job Details

Job Type

full-time

Experience Level

senior

Salary Range

$170,000 - $350,000

Location

Palo Alto, CA