Senior Software Engineer - Backend Python

About Close

Close is a bootstrapped, profitable, 100% remote, ~100 person team of thoughtful individuals who prioritize taking ownership and making a meaningful impact. We’re eager to make a product our customers fall in love with over and over again. We love small scaling businesses. Since 2013, we’ve been building a CRM that focuses on better communication, without the hassle of manual data entry or a complex UI. We are out to supercharge sales productivity with the most modern, thoughtfully designed, all-in-one, communication-focused CRM.

Our Backend Tech Stack

• Primarily Python Flask web apps with TaskTiger for asynchronous task processing.
• Data stores include MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch, and Redis.
• Underlying infrastructure runs on AWS using managed services like EKS, MSK, RDS, ElasticCache, and non-managed services on EC2 instances.
• CI/CD pipelines build Docker images, run automated tests, and deploy to Kubernetes clusters.
• Local development environment uses Docker images for coding against all services.
• Well-documented public API consumed by front-end JavaScript app and numerous integrations.
• Infrastructure heavily automated using Terraform, Ansible, and other AWS tools.
• Actively open-sourcing code and ideas on GitHub and The Making of Close blog (e.g., SocketShark, TaskTiger, LimitLion, ciso8601).

About The Senior Software Engineer - Backend Python Role

You will be joining one of our six cross-functional teams: CRM, Growth, Conversations, Messaging & Scheduling, Automations & Integrations, or Data Insights. You will regularly collaborate with other backend & frontend engineers, product managers, designers, and various teams at Close.

About You

You are a curiosity-led, high-performing, full-time Software Engineer impassioned by the impact your work can have on your team members and end users. You value collaboration, knowledge sharing, and have a good understanding of web technologies. You want to help design, implement, launch, and scale major systems and user-facing features. You're comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with a small, talented team where you're supported in your professional growth. You manage time well, communicate effectively, and collaborate in a fully distributed team.

Projects You'll Contribute To

• Conceiving, designing, building, and launching new user-facing features.
• Implementing new AI features to turbocharge customer daily tasks.
• Improving the performance and scalability of our GraphQL and REST API.
• Improving how we sync millions of sales emails and calendar events each month.
• Working with Twilio's API, WebSockets, and WebRTC to enhance calling features.
• Building user-facing analytics features providing actionable insights based on sales activity data.
• Improving our Elasticsearch-backed powerful search features.
• Enhancing our internal messaging infrastructure using streaming technologies like Kafka and Redis.
• Building new and enhancing existing integrations with SaaS platforms like Google’s G Suite, Zapier, and web conferencing providers.
• Enhancing our web app with real-time updates powered by GraphQL Subscriptions.
• Leveraging the latest AI LLMs from providers like OpenAI, Groq, and AssemblyAI.

Managing Our Ever-Growing Data Processing Needs

• Billions of Mongo documents.
• Millions and millions of rows of PostgreSQL data.
• 55 Terabytes of logs / month.
• 500 billion OTEL spans over the last 30 days.
• 10+ million events / day.
• Tens of thousands of Docker containers.
• 7 million minutes of call recordings / month.
• Petabytes / month of network traffic.

Requirements

• Senior 1 & 2 level: 5+ years of experience building modern back-end systems.
• Staff level: 8+ years of experience.
• Professional Python experience is preferred, but a working knowledge of Python with additional experience in other languages is acceptable if you desire to work with Python.
• Experience building Internet-facing web APIs or supporting high volume loads.
• Hands-on production experience with MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch, or similar data stores.
• Experience designing, scaling, debugging, and optimizing fast and reliable systems.
• Participation in code reviews and providing code quality suggestions.
• Care for craftsmanship of code and systems.
• Ability to speak and write in English.
• Located in the USA (ET, CT, MT, PT).

Bonus Points

• Contributed open source code related to our tech stack.
• Led small project teams building and launching features.
• Built B2B SaaS products.
• Implemented features leveraging AI for new product capabilities.
• Worked with complex architectures supporting multiple APIs (REST, GQL, WebSockets) and async task/event processing frameworks.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation including an organization-wide goal-based bonus.
• Paid Time Off: 5 Weeks PTO upon joining + Winter Holiday Break, with 2 additional PTO days each year.
• 80% Work Option: Choose between 5-day (standard full-time) or 4-day weeks at 80% pay.
• Paid Parental Leave for primary and secondary caregivers.
• Sabbatical: 1-month paid sabbatical after 5 years with the team.
• Healthcare (US residents): Medical, Dental, Vision with HSA option, Dependent care FSA.
• 401k (US residents): 6% contribution match with immediate vesting.

Our Values

• Build a house you want to live in: Examine long-term thinking and action.
• No BS: Practice transparency and honesty, especially when it’s hard.
• Invest in each other: Build successful relationships with coworkers and customers.
• Discipline equals freedom: Keep your word to yourself and others.
• Strive for greatness: Constantly challenge yourself and others.

Our Hiring Process

We ask role-specific questions as part of our application process to learn more about you beyond your resume; please answer thoughtfully. While we appreciate generative AI, we request you refrain from relying exclusively on AI tools for applications unless explicitly stated, as obviously AI-generated applications will be disregarded. You can expect to hear back from our team regarding your candidacy status. If you progress to the interview process, you’ll receive a full outline of the role-specific interview process in your first touchpoint, as we strive for a clear and human hiring experience. Compensation Range: $140K - $210K.

Key skills/competency

• Python
• Backend Development
• Flask
• MongoDB
• PostgreSQL
• Elasticsearch
• AWS
• Kubernetes
• API Design
• Scalability