What You'll DoThe Software Engineer on the API Platform team helps build the internal API layer that connects NodeZero's services and powers the interfaces that customers and integrations rely on. API Platform owns the gateway, the API contracts, and the shared platform capabilities that other teams consume - your work directly determines the reliability, latency, and developer experience of NodeZero's service mesh.
You'll join a small team anchored by a P5 technical lead and a P4 senior engineer, shipping against a roadmap that includes API consolidation, versioning, rate limiting, and observability. This role reports to the API Platform Engineering Manager.
Responsibilities- Implement and maintain API endpoints, middleware, and platform services in Go
- Build and evolve the API gateway layer - routing, authentication, rate limiting, and request/response shaping
- Write and maintain API contracts (OpenAPI/gRPC definitions) and communicate breaking changes to internal consumers
- Contribute to service reliability: monitoring, alerting, SLA tracking, and incident response for platform APIs
- Write clear, reviewable code with tests that cover both the happy path and failure modes
- Collaborate with Data Ingestion, Integrations Platform, and Client Platform teams who consume the APIs you build
What You'll BringBackend Engineering- 2+ years of professional software engineering experience building production backend services
- Proficiency in Go or strong motivation to ramp quickly - Go is the primary language on this team
- Solid understanding of REST API design principles and HTTP semantics; experience with gRPC is a plus
- Ability to reason about service reliability: latency, error rates, retry behavior, and circuit breaking
Platform Fundamentals- Comfort working in Kubernetes-based environments - deploying, debugging, and understanding how services interact
- Experience with containerized development workflows (Docker)
- Familiarity with API authentication patterns (OAuth 2.0, API keys, JWT)
Craft & Collaboration- You write code that your teammates can read and review without decoding - clear naming, small functions, meaningful tests
- You communicate blockers early and ask for help without prompting
- Comfortable working asynchronously across a distributed team
Nice to Haves- Experience with API gateway technologies (Kong, Envoy, NGINX, or cloud-native equivalents)
- Exposure to service mesh architectures (Istio, Linkerd)
- Background in cybersecurity or experience building APIs consumed by security tools
- Experience with gRPC and protobuf-defined service contracts
Travel RequiredWe are a fully remote company, and this job may require up to 5% of travel to be successful.
Compensation and ValuesAt Horizon3, we believe that our people are our greatest asset, and our compensation philosophy reflects this core value. We are committed to fostering an environment where all employees feel valued, respected, and rewarded for their contributions. Our compensation structure is designed to be fair, competitive, and transparent, ensuring that every team member is recognized and compensated equitably across roles, levels, and locations.
In accordance with various State's transparency regulations, we provide the following salary range information for this position:
- Base salary range: $148,750 - $190,000 annually. The exact salary will be determined based on the selected candidate's location, qualifications, experience, and relevant skills.
- Additional compensation: All full-time roles are eligible for an equity package in the form of stock options.
Perks of Horizon3- Inclusive Team: We value diversity and promote an inclusive culture where everyone can thrive.
- Growth Opportunities: Be part of a dynamic and growing team with numerous career development opportunities.
- Innovative Culture: Work in a collaborative environment that encourages creativity and out-of-the-box thinking.
- Hybrid & Remote Work: We embrace a mix of remote and hybrid work models depending on role and location, including our Chicago office, where some roles require regular in-office presence.
- Competitive Compensation: We offer competitive salary, equity and benefits. Our benefits include health, vision & dental insurance for you and your family, a flexible vacation policy, and generous parental leave.
Other DutiesPlease note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.
Application NoteIn any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.
