Senior Product Engineer (Backend) at Buffer

About Buffer

Buffer builds social media and brand building software for small businesses, creators, and individuals. We are a fully distributed, mission-driven company that values transparency, inclusion, and deliberate, high-quality engineering. We travel to meet in person once or twice per year and encourage attendance to build strong team connections.

Role overview

We are hiring a Senior Backend Engineer to join the Content team. You will lead design and implementation of backend systems that power content creation, real-time collaboration, AI-powered workflows, recommender systems, scheduling logic, and the platform that makes editing fast, reliable, and scalable. This role emphasizes deep systems thinking, data modeling, API design, performance improvements, and platform work.

What you will do

• Lead development of backend systems for core content creation tools, including APIs for scheduling and content creation, offline pipelines for recommendation engines, and AI-driven features.
• Improve and evolve internal platform tooling, observability, and service architecture, including consolidating services into a monorepo where appropriate.
• Collaborate closely with product, design, and frontend engineers to scope work, evaluate trade-offs, and deliver high quality solutions.
• Drive performance, reliability, and data modeling improvements to support growth and complex product workflows.
• Participate in on-call rotation and contribute to site reliability, security fixes, and operational improvements.
• Mentor peers, lead by example in code reviews, and help shape engineering culture and architecture decisions.

Helpful skills and experience

• Deep experience with modern backend stacks. Buffer uses Node.js, TypeScript, GraphQL, and MongoDB.
• Proven track record leading backend projects end-to-end, shaping architecture and delivering reliable production systems.
• Strong API design and data modeling skills, including experience with collaborative or multi-user product features.
• Experience building online and offline systems, and architectures for large data volumes and recommendation or ML pipelines.
• Systems thinking that anticipates downstream effects and supports long-term maintainability.
• Experience improving platform and infrastructure, such as simplifying service boundaries, improving observability, or evolving internal tooling.
• Fluency with modern AI tools and the ability to integrate them into development, debugging, and product features.
• Comfort working remotely in async environments, and strong written and verbal communication. Experience around 7+ years is common for this level, though impact and depth matter more than a specific number.

Our tech stack

• Frontend: React, TypeScript, Apollo Client.
• Backend: Node.js, TypeScript, GraphQL, MongoDB.
• Testing: jest, react testing library, Playwright for end-to-end tests.
• Infrastructure: AWS, Kubernetes, microservices moving toward a shared monorepo.

Interview process

1. Application - tell us why you want to join Buffer.
2. Hiring manager interview - align expectations and fit.
3. Code review assignment - a 30-minute asynchronous pull request review task.
4. Technical interviews - focused on technical experience and systems thinking, plus leadership conversations for senior roles.
5. Meet the CEO - discussion of strategy and values.
6. Collaboration period - a paid 2-day project to evaluate fit and collaboration style.
7. Offer and wrap up.

Perks and benefits

• Competitive compensation - salary range provided and transparent.
• Generous equity and profit sharing programs.
• Fully remote work - live and work where you are most productive, with encouraged in-person meetups once or twice per year.
• 4-day workweek schedule with a flexible fifth day for overflow or personal time.
• Health insurance for international and US team members where applicable.
• $1,000 home office stipend and new laptop on day one.
• Growth and learning funds, unlimited free books, AI tools stipend, and a sabbatical after five years.
• Family leave, family support fund, savings plan with company match, and profit sharing.

How to apply

Apply via the Buffer job link on this posting. When applying, include your resume and share why the role resonates with you.