Backend Software Engineer

About the role

Slang AI is redefining customer engagement through conversational AI, making every interaction seamless and efficient. Our mission is to transform the restaurant industry by providing the ultimate voice AI solution for consistently outstanding customer experiences.

Responsibilities

• Join Slang's Engineering team as a Software Engineer, contributing across our core product areas including telephony infrastructure, AI-powered conversation features, and application functionality.
• Work on automating customer interactions and improving service through natural conversation, developing backend services in Kotlin.
• Occasionally contribute to React/TypeScript frontend features as needed.
• Directly impact thousands of restaurant interactions daily, helping businesses streamline operations and deliver better customer experiences.
• Collaborate closely with product managers, conversation designers, and fellow engineers, attending key ceremonies including daily standups, bi-weekly cycle planning, and weekly Show & Tell sessions.
• Use modern collaboration tools like Slack, GitHub, and video conferencing to stay connected with the team.
• Mentor junior and other mid-level engineers through code reviews and pair programming sessions.

Requirements

Required Qualifications:

• 3-5 years of professional software development experience, primarily in backend systems.
• Strong proficiency in at least one JVM language (Kotlin, Java, or Scala) with understanding of functional programming concepts.
• Experience building and consuming RESTful or GraphQL APIs.
• Familiarity with NoSQL databases and data modeling concepts.
• Experience with containerization (Docker) and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Strong understanding of software testing practices and test-driven development.
• Excellent debugging and troubleshooting skills.
• Basic familiarity with React and TypeScript (occasional frontend adjustments may be needed).
• Ability to work independently and manage time effectively in a remote/hybrid environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills for remote/hybrid collaboration.
• Willing and able to take a week on-call shift roughly every two months.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with Kotlin specifically and its idioms.
• Familiarity with GraphQL schema design and implementation.
• Experience with Google Cloud Platform services (Firestore, Cloud Functions, Pub/Sub).
• Knowledge of telephony systems (Twilio or similar) and webhook integrations.
• Experience with conversational AI platforms (Dialogflow, Lex, or similar).
• Infrastructure as code experience with Terraform.
• Understanding of event-driven architectures and distributed systems patterns.
• Experience with observability tools and practices (structured logging, distributed tracing).
• Previous experience working in a fully remote or hybrid company.

Qualifications

• Willingness to work in a remote/hybrid environment.
• Competitive hourly compensation commensurate with mid-level engineering market rates.
• Opportunity to work on meaningful technology that directly impacts small business owners and their customers.
• Exposure to production telephony systems, conversational AI, and scalable cloud architectures.

Skills

• Kotlin
• Functional programming concepts
• RESTful or GraphQL APIs
• NoSQL databases
• Containerization (Docker)
• Google Cloud Platform services (Firestore, Cloud Functions, Pub/Sub)
• Telephony systems (Twilio or similar)
• Conversational AI platforms (Dialogflow, Lex, or similar)
• Terraform
• Event-driven architectures and distributed systems patterns
• Observability tools and practices (structured logging, distributed tracing)

Benefits

Not specified.

Pay

Location-based and benchmarked against local market data aligned to the employee’s primary work location. Total compensation includes a mix of cash and equity.

Schedule

Not specified.