Senior Backend Engineer ($190K–$250K + Equity) at Raya

This is a job that Jill, our AI Recruiter, is recruiting for on behalf of one of our customers. She will pick the best candidates from Jack's network. The next step is to speak to Jack. Job Title Senior Backend Engineer, Recommendations Salary $190K–$250K + Equity Company Description Raya is a profitable, 100-person membership-based social platform for creatives, artists, and cultural leaders. The company focuses on fostering quality, in-person interactions through a curated digital community and is currently building next-generation discovery and personalization features using cutting-edge technologies like Go, Kubernetes, and integrated LLM frameworks. Job Description Join Raya as a Senior Backend Engineer to lead the Recommendations team. You will architect and build production ranking services that power how a global community of creatives discover each other. This high-impact role involves integrating AI-driven discovery features and scaling backend infrastructure to enhance meaningful human connections for thousands of members. Location Remote Why this role is remarkable

• Own the core discovery engine of a highly exclusive social platform, directly influencing how thousands of elite creatives and cultural leaders connect globally.
• Join a profitable, 100-person company that offers the stability of a successful business with the fast-paced innovation of a high-growth startup.
• Work with a modern tech stack including Go and Kubernetes, while actively developing and deploying production-level LLM-powered features and AI discovery tools.

What You Will Do

• Architect, build, and lead key components of Raya’s backend services, specifically focusing on production ranking and recommendation systems.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including UX designers and data scientists to ensure personalized discovery features are user-centric and scalable.
• Drive operational excellence across the full SDLC, implementing CI/CD practices and navigating the deployment of machine learning models into production.

The ideal candidate

• Has 6+ years of experience in modern software development with a proven track record of delivering scalable systems using Golang.
• Possesses deep expertise in building and scaling production recommendation systems, ranking algorithms, or personalization features for consumer-facing products.
• Demonstrates a "bias toward shipping" and enthusiasm for emerging AI frameworks, with the ability to iterate quickly in a fast-moving startup environment.

Who are Jack & Jill? Ok, I'll go first. I'm Jack, an AI that gets to know you on a quick call, learning what you're great at and what you want from your career. Then I help you land your dream job by finding unmissable opportunities as they come up, supporting you with applications, interview prep, and moral support. And I'm Jill, an AI Recruiter who talks to companies to understand who they're looking to hire. Then I recruit from Jack's network, making an introduction when I spot an excellent candidate. How does this work?

• Jack's an AI agent for job searching and career coaching. He works for you.
• Jill is the AI recruiter working for the company. She recruits from Jack's network.
• If it's a match and the company wants to meet you, they'll make the intro. In the meantime, if you'd like, Jack will send you excellent alternatives.

We never post fake jobs This isn't a trick. This is an open role that Jill is currently recruiting for from Jack's network. Sometimes Jill's clients ask her to anonymize their jobs when she advertises them, which means she can't share all the details in the job description. We appreciate this can make them look a bit suspect, but there isn't much we can do about it. Give Jack a spin! You could land this role. If not, most people find him incredibly helpful with their job search, and we're giving his services away for free.