Staff Backend Engineer
$175k - $230k USD
About Us
We knew there had to be a better way to automate busywork and get work done faster. So we built it.
With Tango, create and share how-to guides in minutes:
▶️ Capture any process as you do it
⚡ Tango automatically builds a detailed gide and can also generate automations or in-app guidance
📌 Share or embed or pin inside your existing tools so your team can access it from where they work.
As a product-led fast growing startup, Tango powers hundreds of thousands of users at companies such as Cox, Salesforce, Gusto, Klaviyo, and Verizon. We’re backed by leading venture capital firms, including Slack Fund, Salesforce Ventures, Atlassian Ventures, Wing VC, General Catalyst, GSV Ventures, Tiger Global, and Hubspot. And we’re growing fast.
We’re building a future of work where Tango learns your workflows and rules, and uses automation and intelligent agent-features to help handle routine tasks.
That’s the future we’re building—Come build it with us.
TL;DR
As a Staff Backend Engineer at Tango, you'll build a workflow intelligence platform to radically improve team productivity and help master how work gets done. You'll be a critical member of a talented and diverse team working on a modern tech stack using a serverless cloud architecture (Appsync, CDK, Lambda, GraphQL, DynamoDB). You will have a huge influence on our product roadmap and will work directly with the founders and senior members of the team across engineering, product, and design — who bring their experiences from Uber, Amazon, Slack, Docker, Coinbase, Square, and Harvard Business School.
This is a remote position based in the US!
What you’ll do
Lead the end-to-end design and execution of large-scale system architectures, ensuring the successful rollout of complex and innovative features.
Drive technical strategy and architecture decisions with our CTO and other engineering leaders, focusing on scalability and reliability.
Architect and implement scalable backend systems to 10x the growth of Tango's platform.
Elevate the engineering team through close mentorship, implementing best practices, and coaching new hires.
Distill complex initiatives into executable milestones. Forecast unknowns, define success metrics, and drive cross‑team delivery for ambiguous, multi‑quarter projects.
Lead our cloud, infrastructure, and DevOps initiatives to maintain a smooth user and developer experience by creating clear proposals that align engineering, product, and design on architectural changes and new capabilities.
Manage the full lifecycle of your code, from development to production, ensuring it supports high-scale use cases.
Champion performance profiling, automated testing and observability.
Skills in your toolbox
You have 10+ years of professional experience in relevant software engineering roles, with a significant focus on backend development and database management.
You actively adopt, evaluate, and configure AI-assisted coding tools and agents to improve development velocity and code quality across coding, debugging, testing, and documentation.
You are an excellent communicator and take a collaborative approach to problem solving.
You are passionate about leading and growing a team of senior engineers.
You are obsessive about quality and performance measurement. You know what parts of your code require tests (and write those tests).
You are an expert in managing technical debt; if you choose not to avoid it, you encapsulate it.
You have product sense: you create more than just beautiful code and can play a crucial role in choosing what we build and how we build it.
Above all else, you are a continuous learner and are excited to add new skills to your toolbox. We believe that the best engineers can learn new skills on the job.
Preferred tech stack
Experience with AWS services common to serverless architectures (AWS Lambda, AppSync, API Gateway, DynamoDB, RDS, IAM, etc.)
Experience building GraphQL backends or comparable API development experience.
Experience with authentication patterns using services such as AWS Cognito, Auth0 or Okta.
Experience with TypeScript, Node.js and testing frameworks like Jest, Vitest, Cypress, or Playwright.
Bonus points
Track record optimizing relevance in search & recommendation systems.
Experience building, evaluating, and continuously improving AI-powered product features integrated into real-world user workflows.
Experience operationalizing LLM or vector‑search based features in production.
Expertise building Chrome extensions or rich DOM integrations.
Experience with Infrastructure as Code: AWS CDK or Serverless Framework
Familiarity with modern frontend frameworks (React, Vue, Svelte, etc.), enabling occasional full‑stack contributions.
About you
You're a master of your craft and eager to share your knowledge to help others grow.
You embrace the growth mindset and refuse to settle for good enough.
You're fun! We're serious about not taking ourselves too seriously around here.
Compensation
Our base salary compensation for this role ranges from $175,000 to $230,000, and the total compensation package will also include equity and benefits. We value each employee based on their impact within the company, regardless of their location. Due to this, we set salary ranges for all roles based on function, level, and benchmark against similar-stage growth companies. We share salary ranges on all job postings to comply with local legislation and provide greater transparency to candidates. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including past candidate experience and expertise, and may vary from the amounts listed above. Additionally, we offer annual compensation reviews and have an annual equity refresh program.
Why join Tango?
We believe teams that support and challenge each other are destined to win. That’s why we provide a competitive suite of benefits to support your personal and professional growth journey—and have some fun along the way.
Tango Benefits
Full Medical/Dental/Vision coverage with 100% employer contribution, FSA, and an HSA for qualified plans
Competitive compensation and annual equity refresh program
401(k) plan
Work from anywhere in the US, with UberEats and Deskpass stipends—on us!
Generous annual stipend for Learning & Development
Health and Wellness stipend
Unlimited PTO, 10 holidays, 4 personal volunteer days, 4 mental health days, and birthdays off
Paid parental leave
Subsidized National Parks Annual Pass
Subsidized Roller Skates (yes, seriously)
Our Core Values
▶️ Take Action – Avoid indecision and move past points of uncertainty. Value speed and fail forward.
🚀 Aim High – Set uncomfortably ambitious goals. Reject mediocrity and take calculated risks.
👐 Seek Diversity – Invite unique perspectives. Create a safe space to challenge the status quo.
🌱 Leave It Better – Be an owner, not a renter. Cultivate a growth mindset.
✨ Customer Love – Champion the needs of the end user. Deliver magical experiences.
🏆 Team First – Winning as a team beats winning alone. Lift up others.
Learn more about how we evaluate these values in our interview process.