Senior/Staff Backend Engineer
DavidJoseph&Co · San Francisco, California, United States · On-site
Pay: USD 180,000 – 260,000 a year
Sign up free: we match you to jobs like this, tailor your application and fill the form. 2 free applications every day.
San Francisco, CA · On-site (5 days/week) · Full-time Compensation: $180K–$260K + equity
About the Company
Our client is a fast-growing, VC-backed startup building the agentic automation layer for a large, traditionally low-tech corner of the insurance industry. They replace manual, paper-based agency operations with reliable automation built on top of messy real-world systems. Momentum is strong, with rapid year-over-year revenue growth and a fresh funding round closing soon.
Founded 2021 · Small, senior team · Industry: Insurance, AI, Fintech
The Role
You would own the design and implementation of end-to-end automated workflows for insurance operations: connecting to disparate, low-tech systems, building dependable automation on top of them, and iterating directly with customers. This is foundational, backend-heavy work with real ownership from day one and no product-manager layer between you and the problem.
What you'll be doing
Design and ship end-to-end agentic workflows that automate real insurance operations such as collections, renewals, and carrier integrations
Integrate with numerous disparate, often low-tech systems and build reliable, high-quality interactions on top of them
Work directly with customers to gather feedback, iterate, and translate technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders
Contribute greenfield engineering on top of an existing browser-automation layer
Solve complex system-design problems collaboratively in a high-stakes domain
Tech stack: TypeScript, Node.js, modern AI coding tools (Cursor, Claude Code, Copilot), browser automation
Requirements
5-15 years of backend software engineering experience, with meaningful time at a startup
Recent experience (within the last 4 years) at an early-stage, VC-backed startup, ideally as a founding engineer, early IC, or core team member
Strong proficiency in a modern backend language, TypeScript preferred
Active daily use of modern AI coding tools
A proven track record of building and shipping production backend systems
Genuine curiosity and a real interest in talking directly with customers
A clear, articulable desire to work at an early-stage startup
Able to work on-site 5 days a week in San Francisco
Nice to Haves
Background in insurance, finance, or healthcare
Experience with browser automation, web scraping, or creative data extraction
Why Join
Build the automation layer for a massive industry that is still largely on paper
Greenfield, zero-to-one backend work with end-to-end ownership and no PM layer
Small, senior team reporting directly to the founder, with founding-engineer level scope
Strong traction and a funding round closing soon; relocation support available
Details
Location: San Francisco, CA
Work policy: On-site, 5 days/week (core hours 10am-5pm, with flexibility)
Compensation: $180K–$260K + equity
Visa sponsorship: Open to candidates who need a visa transfer
Employment type: Full-time