Spellbook

Backend / AI Systems Engineer

Remote - Canada

Sponsorship not specifiedDetected 62 days ago

TypeScriptNode.jsExpressDistributed SystemsNoSQLMongoDBAWSDockerLLMsRAGRecruitingSystems EngineeringManual TestingCommunication

About the role

This is a hands-on, high-ownership role for an engineer who cares about product outcomes and understands what requires scale vs what does not, and can turn ambiguity into robust systems that lawyers trust.
Node.js, TypeScript, Express, tRPC, MongoDB, Docker, AWS, CDK, LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, and others)

Build and scale backend systems that support core product functionality across Spellbook (Reviews, Chat, Library, and more).
Design low-latency, high-reliability search, inference, and orchestration layers for AI features
Build and operate RAG retrieval at scale with production-grade performance optimization and permissions-correct data isolation.
Own core platform concerns for AI: rate limiting, retries, consistency, fallbacks, safe degradation
Partner closely with Product and Design to make good tradeoffs between latency, accuracy, UX, and reliability.
You'll build the backend systems that power Spellbook's product experiences, including both traditional software services and AI-driven workflows.
You think of and implement ways to help and improve the work of the team as a whole.
Experience building LLM-powered systems in production, including prompt iteration, tool/function calling, retrieval patterns, and agent orchestration.
Experience building evaluation frameworks (quality metrics, dataset curation, regression testing).

You have 5+ years of experience building backend systems in production.
You have strong fundamentals in backend engineering and distributed systems: APIs, data modeling, concurrency, queues, AI inference
You can take an ambiguous, high-impact problem from "we should do something here" to a clear plan and shipped outcome.
You have strong communication skills.
You can write and explain technical decisions clearly to engineers and non-engineers.
You are a self-starter and problem-solver motivated by curiosity and a desire to help others succeed, encouraged by continuous improvement.
You are pragmatic and understand that not everything we ship needs to scale, but know where to draw the line
You are a team player who is motivated to help Spellbook succeed.
When things break you are eager and able to help fix them.
Experience operating high-scale retrieval systems (vector + lexical search) and measuring/tuning retrieval quality and latency in production.

Spellbook uses industry benchmark data to establish compensation bands for all roles.
The salary range listed for a position reflects the expected total wage range for the role-including base salary and on-target commissions, where applicable-and may span multiple career levels.
Final compensation is determined during the interview process based on factors such as experience, skills, scope, and role level.
In addition to base salary and applicable commissions, total rewards may include equity, health and wellness benefits, and other company programs.
Full details will be shared during the interview process.

Access our company-paid group benefits for you and your family, with $1,000 towards mental health support
Disconnect during our holiday closure and take advantage of our generous time off policies throughout the year
Enjoy monthly paid meals, an annual wellness allowance to support your well-being and parental leave top-ups as your family grows
Secure your stake in our success; you'll receive competitive stock option grants as a pivotal early employee
Embrace autonomy and accountability in a flexible work environment; we focus on outcomes and empower you to determine how to get the job done
Embrace autonomy and accountability in a flexible, remote work environment; we focus on outcomes and empower you to determine how to get the job done

Spellbook is the most comprehensive AI copilot for transactional lawyers.
It works directly inside Microsoft Word to help legal teams draft, review, and negotiate contracts up to 10x faster and with greater precision.
Today, more than 4,000 law firms, in-house teams, and solo practitioners rely on Spellbook to simplify their workflows and eliminate the drudgery of everyday contract work.
We are backed by leading investors including Khosla Ventures, Thomson Reuters Ventures, Inovia Capital, The LegalTech Fund, Bling Capital, and Moxxie Ventures.
The company recently raised $50 million in Series B funding, led by Keith Rabois at Khosla Ventures, bringing its total funding to more than $80 million.
This is an existing vacancy

This listing is sourced directly from Spellbook's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.