7+ years of professional engineering experience with a strong backend focus
Experience integrating LLMs into production systems
Ability to make architectural decisions with incomplete information
Deep expertise in Kotlin and backend architecture
Solid understanding of AWS and Kubernetes
Strong collaboration skills with cross-functional teams
Exceptional communication skills for technical concepts
Responsibilities
Architect and own the technical direction of AI-powered products
Integrate AI models into reliable customer-facing products
Define architectural standards that shape future product capabilities
Write high-quality code and rapidly ship proof-of-concepts
Translate business goals into well-architected initiatives
Identify and resolve systemic technical debt proactively
Unblock engineers and elevate team performance
Benefits
Competitive health & dental insurance options
Flexible PTO
Annual stipend for professional development
$5,000 bonus for high performers after 5 years
Paid parental leave
Fertility and adoption benefits via Carrot
Opportunities for in-person team gatherings
Full Job Description
About the Role
Genius AI is building 0-to-1 AI products we expect to be a massive revenue driver, and this role sits at the center of that build. As a Staff Backend Engineer, you'll be the technical anchor for our highest-innovation teams: setting architectural direction, validating options through proof-of-concepts, and turning ambitious initiatives into clear, buildable roadmaps. This is an IC role with real leadership weight, roughly 60% architecture, planning, and technical direction, 40% hands-on building. The person in this role will be a force multiplier: unblocking engineers before they know they're stuck, making the hardest technical calls so the team doesn't lose momentum, and setting a new standard for what great backend engineering looks like at Genius AI. You won't be maintaining systems someone else designed, you'll be raising the ceiling on what this team can build, and doing it in a way that makes everyone around you better in the process.
This role is remote in the Greater Toronto Area.
What You'll Do
Architect and own the technical direction of AI-powered products and 0-to-1 builds, weighing long-term trade-offs with precision and keeping a healthy backlog of forward-looking, build-ready work
Integrate AI models and LLMs into customer-facing products, not as experiments, but as production systems with real reliability and performance requirements
Shape how Genius AI builds with AI, your architectural decisions will define what's possible across the product for years
Write high-quality code and rapidly ship proof-of-concepts to validate architectural options and tackle the team's hardest technical challenges before they become blockers
Partner with Product, Design, and Engineering leadership to translate ambiguous business goals into well-architected initiatives with clear sequencing and minimal rework
Proactively identify and resolve systemic technical debt before it slows the team down, unblock engineers, raise the quality bar, and make the people around you disproportionately more effective
What We're Looking For
7+ years of professional engineering experience with a strong backend focus, and a track record of owning system design and architectural choices for high-scale or high-growth products
Already building with AI as a structural part of how you work, you've integrated LLMs into production systems, used AI tooling to accelerate your development workflow, and have a sharp point of view on where AI changes what's architecturally possible
Ship fast and course-correct, you're comfortable making architectural calls with incomplete information, iterating rapidly in production, and treating ambiguity as a feature of early-stage work, not a reason to slow down
Deep Kotlin expertise with strong intuitions about backend architecture, service design, and performance at scale (TypeScript experience is a plus)
Solid command of modern cloud infrastructure: AWS and Kubernetes, at the level of someone who can navigate it confidently without being a pure infra specialist
Natural collaborator who can align PMs, designers, and engineering teams around a shared technical vision and keep execution moving without friction
Exceptional communicator who can make complex architectural trade-offs legible to both engineers and non-technical stakeholders
Benefits & Perks
Competitive health & dental insurance options
Flexible PTO
Annual stipend for professional development and continued learning
High performers at 5 years receive a $5,000 bonus to use however you recharge best
Paid parental leave
Fertility and adoption benefits via Carrot
Local events - in-person gathering opportunities throughout the year for our distributed team
