Pika
Software Engineer, Backend
Palo Alto HQ · Staff+
Sponsorship not specifiedDetected 20 days ago
ExpressDistributed SystemsBackend DevelopmentAWSGCPCloud PlatformsKubernetesPlatform EngineeringRESTLLMsLeadershipCommunicationCollaboration
About the role
- Your leadership in architectural decisions and backend best practices will shape the technical foundation of Pika for millions of users.
Responsibilities
- Lead Backend Platform Engineering: Architect and develop scalable, high-performing backend systems and APIs powering all Pika products and services.
- Own Distributed Infrastructure: Build, maintain, and enhance distributed systems and infrastructure in a cloud environment (AWS/GCP), ensuring high availability and reliability.
- Drive Large-Scale Projects: Take ownership of backend features and platforms from ideation through launch and ongoing iteration.
- Enable Real-Time Interactions: Develop systems to support low-latency, real-time collaboration and messaging at scale.
- Integrate Generative AI Systems: Design and optimize backend features that power creative, AI-driven product capabilities.
- Champion Quality & Best Practices: Lead technical discussions, review code, drive backend architectural proposals, and mentor engineers to elevate standards across the team.
- Technical Mastery: Deep expertise in building distributed systems, RESTful and real-time APIs, and cloud-native infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, etc.).
- System Design: Demonstrated strength in designing and implementing reliable, scalable backend services for high-traffic applications.
- Ownership & Initiative: Proven ability to independently lead complex projects, troubleshoot problems, and deliver impactful solutions.
- Collaboration & Communication: Strong written and verbal skills-thrive in cross-functional environments with product, design, and engineering peers.
Requirements
- Product Focus: Track record of launching impactful backend features that balance technical quality with business needs.
Nice to have
- Experience with real-time collaboration platforms, creative tools, or media-rich applications.
- Familiarity with integrating generative AI or agent-based systems.
- Previous experience at high-growth startups or in fast-paced, evolving settings.
- Competitive coding, hackathon, or open-source contributions.
Compensation
- Competitive salary in the AI industry.
Benefits
- Equity in a rapidly growing startup shaping the future of AI and creativity.
- Comprehensive health benefits, monthly stipends, and company retreats.
Company info
- At Pika, our mission is to make video creation seamless, intuitive, and accessible to everyone through the latest advances in AI.
- We believe everyone should be empowered to express creativity, and we foster a culture of product thinking, technical rigor, and collective impact.
- We're based in Palo Alto, CA, working in-office 3-5 days a week.
- We are looking for a Staff Software Engineer, Backend, to lead and scale the backend infrastructure that powers Pika's user-facing products.
This listing is sourced directly from Pika's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.