Blackbird Labs Inc - Senior/Staff Backend Engineer

• Design, build, and maintain core backend APIs • Collaborate with product, design, and engineering peers to deliver features aligned with business goals • Contribute to system architecture and implement scalable, robust solutions • Uphold and promote backend best practices, with a focus on code quality, testing, and performance • Mentor junior and mid-level engineers and foster a collaborative, growth-oriented team culture • Participate in product and design discussions, offering backend perspectives on implementation and feasibility • 5+ years of experience building and deploying backend APIs • Strong proficiency in Kotlin or another statically typed JVM language • Deep experience designing and maintaining RESTful APIs using domain-driven design principles • Solid understanding of SQL databases, including schema design and performance tuning • Strong attention to detail and commitment to delivering high-quality user experiences • Ability to work autonomously and make sound decisions in a fast-moving environment • Experience mentoring engineers and contributing positively to team culture • Comfortable working cross-functionally with product, design, and other stakeholders • Experience with the Spring framework and database abstraction layers such as Hibernate • Familiarity with the U.S. payments ecosystem, including debit, credit, and ACH processing • Exposure to DevOps practices, including AWS infrastructure and Terraform • Interest or experience in blockchain, especially with cryptography fundamentals • Experience productionizing generative AI features (e.g. retrieval-augmented generation, prompt engineering, or model integration)