Senior Backend Engineer

Osmo is a digital olfaction company aiming to give computers a sense of smell to improve human health and wellbeing. They are seeking a Senior Backend Engineer with deep expertise in distributed systems architecture to join their Software team. This role involves designing and scaling high-performance backend systems and APIs, evolving service architectures, leading design reviews, mentoring engineers, and owning services end-to-end from design to optimization, connecting engineering fundamentals with business outcomes.

Must Have

• Design and scale high-performance backend systems and APIs.
• Evolve service architectures for scalability, reliability, and maintainability.
• Lead design reviews and shape architectural decisions.
• Mentor engineers, raise the technical bar, and foster a culture of quality and collaboration.
• Own services end-to-end, from design and implementation to deployment, observability, and optimization.
• Drive meaningful impact by connecting strong engineering fundamentals with clear business and product outcomes.
• 5+ years of experience designing, building, and operating scalable backend systems and distributed architectures.
• Deep understanding of system design, performance optimization, and fault tolerance.
• Fluency in Python, with expertise in RESTful API design, frontend integration patterns, and data storage systems.
• Experience deploying and maintaining systems on cloud platforms such as Google Cloud Platform (GCP) or Amazon Web Services (AWS).
• Track record of leading complex initiatives and shaping technical direction across teams.
• Product-minded and pragmatic, balancing long-term architecture with fast, high-quality delivery.
• Excellent communicator who can bridge technical and non-technical audiences.

Good to Have

• Experience building and integrating with third-party Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and external data sources.
• Ability to collaborate across backend, data, and frontend domains to deliver cohesive systems.
• Interest in olfaction and the technical challenges of representing complex real-world phenomena in code.

Perks & Benefits

• Medical coverage
• Dental coverage
• Vision coverage
• 401K retirement savings plan with company match
• Flexible paid time off
• Company holidays
• Equity or incentive compensation for eligible roles

Who we are at Osmo:

Osmo is a digital olfaction company, on a mission to give computers a sense of smell to improve the health and wellbeing of human life. Why? Our sense of smell both enriches and saves lives, and has a deep and direct connection to our emotions and memory.

Olfactory Intelligence has applications across industries including fragrance, manufacturing, security, medicine, and more. We believe in the power of automation and thoughtfully applied AI/ML to solve problems beyond the reach of human intuition alone. Osmo is headquartered in New York, NY, with a new facility in New Jersey, and offices in Somerville, MA.

Osmo is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer with deep expertise in distributed systems architecture to join our Software team. The ideal candidate has experience building robust, scalable systems that bring our Olfactory Intelligence to life.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and scale high-performance backend systems and APIs that power real-world products.
• Evolve service architectures for scalability, reliability, and maintainability, balancing speed with technical excellence.
• Lead design reviews and shape architectural decisions that define the long-term health of our systems.
• Mentor engineers, raise the technical bar, and foster a culture of quality and collaboration.
• Own services end-to-end, from design and implementation to deployment, observability, and optimization.
• Drive meaningful impact by connecting strong engineering fundamentals with clear business and product outcomes.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience designing, building, and operating scalable backend systems and distributed architectures.
• Deep understanding of system design, performance optimization, and fault tolerance.
• Fluency in Python, with expertise in RESTful API design, frontend integration patterns, and data storage systems (e.g., BigQuery, Snowflake, PostgreSQL).
• Experience deploying and maintaining systems on cloud platforms such as Google Cloud Platform (GCP) or Amazon Web Services (AWS).
• Track record of leading complex initiatives and shaping technical direction across teams.
• Product-minded and pragmatic, balancing long-term architecture with fast, high-quality delivery.
• Excellent communicator who can bridge technical and non-technical audiences.

Ways to stand out

• Experience building and integrating with third-party Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and external data sources.
• Ability to collaborate across backend, data, and frontend domains to deliver cohesive systems.
• Interest in olfaction and the technical challenges of representing complex real-world phenomena in code.