Staff Backend Engineer

Summary

Join Upwork's Ads & Monetization Engineering team as a Staff Backend Engineer and contribute to the fastest-growing revenue stream. Collaborate with engineering teams and product managers to deliver high-quality products. You will design, implement, and document software architecture solutions, focusing on scalability and reliability. This contract position offers the potential for renewal. The role involves leading technical strategies, collaborating with cross-functional teams, mentoring engineers, and ensuring system performance and scalability. You will work approximately 40 hours per week, coordinating with the team during core hours (8:00 am to 11:00 pm Pacific Time).

Requirements

• Professional Experience: 8+ years in software development
• Technical Leadership: Proven experience in taking complex projects from ideation to launch
• Strong understanding of software architecture principles and practices
• Expertise in writing well-structured, maintainable unit tests
• Deep knowledge of relational databases and distributed system design
• Proficiency in Java and RESTful services
• Proven track record of building and supporting high-load web applications and addressing scalability challenges
• Proven ability to work with cross-functional teams to successfully launch products
• Excellent interpersonal skills with extensive experience collaborating with multiple stakeholders
• Practical communication skills in English, both written and verbal

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and optimize software systems for performance, scalability, reliability, and security while taking ownership of the codebase to improve quality and reduce technical debt
• Lead and implement technical strategies within and across teams, ensuring alignment with long-term objectives, and driving decisions up to engineering leadership
• Collaborate with Product Management and cross-functional teams to resolve complex challenges and lead projects focused on infrastructure and cross-team collaboration
• Communicate architectural strategies effectively to stakeholders, aligning engineering efforts with broader organizational goals
• Mentor all levels of engineers, promote knowledge sharing, conduct code reviews, and develop supporting documentation
• Monitor system performance, drive optimization initiatives, and enhance reliability and scalability. Participate in on-call rotations and respond to incidents
• Manage your time independently and effectively to achieve project deliverables, which may require an estimated 40 hours of project-related effort per week
• Coordinate with the team during core hours (8:00 am to 11:00 pm Pacific Time) to enhance project collaboration. Some roles or urgent matters may require availability until 12:00 pm Pacific Time on occasion

Preferred Qualifications

• Comfortable working with AWS and cloud-based environments
• Eagerness to learn new technologies and continually develop professional skills