Backend Engineer (API, Java)

About the Company

Slang AI is a pioneering technology company dedicated to transforming customer engagement within the hospitality industry through advanced conversational AI solutions. Our mission is to create seamless, human-like voice interactions that enhance restaurant operations and elevate customer experiences. With a team comprised of industry veterans from renowned organizations such as Spotify, Buzzfeed, The New York Times, and OpenTable, we leverage cutting-edge AI and audio technologies to revolutionize voice communication channels. Our focus is on building reliable, scalable, and innovative systems that make transacting via voice faster, easier, and more human than ever before. At Slang AI, we foster a culture rooted in hospitality, ownership, and continuous learning, emphasizing quality, collaboration, and humility in everything we do.

About the Role

We are seeking a talented Software Engineer to join our dynamic engineering team. In this role, you will be instrumental in developing and maintaining core backend services primarily using Kotlin, contributing significantly to our telephony infrastructure, AI-powered conversation features, and application functionalities. Your work will directly impact thousands of restaurant interactions daily by automating customer interactions and streamlining service delivery.

The position involves designing scalable, domain-driven backend systems, integrating with telephony platforms like Twilio, and working with conversational AI tools such as Dialogflow. Additionally, you will have opportunities to contribute to frontend components using React and TypeScript, providing intuitive interfaces for restaurant staff and customers. You will collaborate closely with product managers, conversation designers, and fellow engineers, participating in daily standups, planning sessions, and knowledge-sharing activities. As you ramp up, you'll also mentor junior and mid-level engineers through code reviews and pair programming, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

The role offers flexibility for remote or hybrid work, with a focus on delivering high-quality, production-ready solutions that adhere to best practices in testing, observability, and cloud-native deployment. This position provides an excellent opportunity to deepen your expertise in modern JVM languages, cloud architectures, telephony integrations, and conversational AI platforms. Your contributions will help shape the future of voice-based customer engagement in the restaurant industry, making a tangible difference for small business owners and their customers worldwide.

Qualifications

• 3-5 years of professional software development experience, primarily in backend systems
• Strong proficiency in JVM languages such as Kotlin, Java, or Scala, with understanding of functional programming principles
• Experience building and consuming RESTful or GraphQL APIs
• Familiarity with NoSQL databases and data modeling concepts, especially Firestore
• Hands-on experience with containerization tools like Docker and cloud platforms such as Google Cloud Platform, AWS, or Azure
• Solid understanding of software testing practices, including unit, integration, and end-to-end testing
• Excellent debugging and troubleshooting skills
• Basic familiarity with React and TypeScript for occasional frontend contributions
• Effective remote work management and communication skills
• Willingness to participate in on-call rotations approximately every two months

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable Kotlin backend services following domain-driven design principles
• Create and optimize GraphQL APIs for internal and external clients
• Develop integrations with telephony services such as Twilio, ensuring fault-tolerance and error handling
• Implement and maintain conversational AI workflows within Dialogflow, including webhook handlers and error scenarios
• Design efficient data models in Firestore, balancing performance, cost, and maintainability
• Develop containerized applications deployed on Google Cloud Platform, adhering to cloud-native best practices
• Implement comprehensive observability solutions, including logging, metrics, and tracing, to monitor system health
• Write extensive test coverage for backend services and frontend components when applicable
• Participate in code reviews, provide constructive feedback, and incorporate team suggestions
• Document system architecture, API contracts, and technical decisions clearly
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to refine requirements and deliver impactful features
• Mentor junior engineers through pair programming and knowledge sharing sessions

Benefits

• Flexible remote or hybrid work environment
• Competitive compensation aligned with market standards, including salary and equity options
• Opportunities for professional growth and skill development in conversational AI, telephony, and cloud-native architectures
• Engagement with cutting-edge AI and voice technology in a rapidly evolving industry
• Collaborative team culture emphasizing humility, quality, and continuous learning
• Participation in innovative projects that directly impact small businesses and their customers
• Supportive environment fostering ownership, clarity, and hospitality-centered values