Staff Backend Software Engineer

QBO Plus Payroll Elite is seeking a Staff Backend Software Engineer to build and scale reliable backend services that power payroll workflows.

Position Summary

As a Staff Backend Software Engineer, you will design, develop, and operate backend systems that deliver performance, reliability, and strong user outcomes. You will partner with product and engineering peers to translate requirements into scalable architectures and high-quality implementations.

This role emphasizes technical leadership—driving sound engineering practices, mentoring other engineers, and solving complex problems across distributed systems, data flows, and service reliability.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and implement backend services and APIs with a focus on scalability, latency, and reliability.

• Lead technical design discussions, set engineering direction for initiatives, and ensure solutions align with long-term architecture goals.

• Improve system observability and operational readiness by enhancing monitoring, logging, and incident response practices.

• Collaborate cross-functionally to refine requirements, estimate effort, and deliver incremental releases with measurable impact.

• Mentor engineers through code reviews, technical guidance, and sharing best practices to elevate team execution.

Required Qualifications

• Proven experience building and operating backend services in production environments.

• Strong software engineering fundamentals, including data modeling, distributed systems concepts, and performance optimization.

• Demonstrated ability to design maintainable, testable components and deliver high-quality code.

• Experience troubleshooting and resolving production issues with a structured, evidence-based approach.

• Clear communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with product, QA, and other engineering teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in high-throughput, transaction-oriented or mission-critical systems where correctness and reliability are essential.

• Experience with system design for resilience (e.g., failure modes, retries, idempotency, and graceful degradation).

• Prior experience mentoring engineers or leading technical projects across multiple workstreams.

• Familiarity with designing robust data pipelines and ensuring data integrity across services.

• A track record of improving engineering processes, quality standards, and operational excellence.