Senior Backend Engineer

To excel as a Senior Backend Engineer at Finnvest, candidates should have at least 5 years of experience in backend engineering, with a strong background in implementing and deploying production-quality backend systems. A solid understanding of machine learning and familiarity with AI-driven applications is highly desirable. Proficiency in technologies such as Node/Typescript, Python, Postgres, and AWS is essential, along with experience building distributed systems leveraging services like Kafka, Redis, and Kubernetes.

The Senior Backend Engineer at Finnvest will play a pivotal role in developing and maintaining the core backend infrastructure of the Finvest platform. This includes building our innovative AI-powered wealth manager, collaborating with frontend engineers, and ensuring that our solutions for money management are user-friendly and cutting-edge. As one of the founding team members, this role is critical in shaping how we approach technology and finance.

A Senior Backend Engineer at Finnvest should be well-versed in Node/Typescript, Python, and Postgres, as these are core technologies we utilize. Familiarity with AWS for cloud services, as well as experience with distributed systems technologies like Kafka, Redis, and Kubernetes, is crucial for successfully navigating performance and optimization challenges in our backend systems.

Key responsibilities for the Senior Backend Engineer at Finnvest include designing and maintaining the backend infrastructure for the Finvest platform, building the AI-driven wealth management solution, collaborating closely with frontend engineers to enhance user experience, and taking ownership of complex projects from inception to launch. Candidates should be prepared to diagnose and prevent performance issues and iterate quickly in a dynamic startup environment.

At Finnvest, the work environment is fast-paced and collaborative, typical of a startup setting. The Senior Backend Engineer will thrive in a culture that encourages innovation, quick iterations, and creativity in problem-solving. Given the pioneering nature of our products, team members are expected to take ownership of their projects and contribute to the evolving engineering culture as we strive to disrupt the financial management landscape.

When answering this question, provide specific examples from your previous roles where you successfully implemented and deployed robust backend systems. Highlight your process, the technologies you used, and any challenges you overcame to ensure reliability and performance.

Discuss any projects where you integrated machine learning models into backend systems. Mention your understanding of how these models interact with the backend, and how you ensured that the data flow was optimal for both training and inference.

Discuss your methodology for identifying and resolving performance bottlenecks. Include tools you use for monitoring performance, strategies for database optimization, and any experience with caching mechanisms or load balancing techniques.

Emphasize your communication skills and discuss approaches you take for fostering collaboration with frontend engineers. Provide examples of successful projects where these strategies resulted in seamless integration of backend and frontend components.

Outline your general approach to system design, including considerations for scalability, reliability, and data consistency. Mention specific technologies you'd use, such as microservices architecture, and demonstrate your understanding of service communication and orchestration.

Share a specific example of a tough technical challenge and elaborate on the steps you took to address it. Highlight your problem-solving skills and any innovative solutions you implemented to overcome the difficulty.

Detail your experience with AWS services and how you've utilized them in past projects. Include services such as EC2, S3, Lambda, or RDS, and explain how they contributed to the success of your backend solutions.

Explain your approach to writing clean, maintainable code, including practices like code reviews, unit testing, documentation, and adhering to established coding standards. This shows your commitment to delivering high-quality work.

Share an example of a project where you were responsible for its entire lifecycle. Discuss your planning, execution, challenges faced, and the outcomes to demonstrate your ability to handle full project ownership effectively.

Discuss current trends such as serverless architecture, microservices, or advances in machine learning integration with backend systems. Explain why these excite you and how you see them influencing the future of backend engineering.