Sr. Software Engineer, MCP (Backend)

Zapier is building a platform to help millions of businesses scale with automation and AI. This role is for a Senior Backend Engineer to design and scale systems for the AI Orchestration Zone, specifically focusing on the Model Context Protocol (MCP). You will own APIs, build platform primitives, and define how AI agents interact with Zapier's 8,000+ integrations, enabling seamless reasoning, action, and workflow orchestration.

Must Have

• Design, implement, and evolve core APIs for agents.
• Build systems for scalable orchestration, robust logging, and high-availability execution.
• Collaborate on architecture for MPC primitives.
• Integrate with Zapier’s existing execution infrastructure.
• Partner closely with Product, Platform, and Sales teams.
• Drive design decisions prioritizing scalability, performance, security, and clarity.
• 6+ years of experience designing, developing, and maintaining complex production systems.
• Understand and leverage AI tools to accelerate development.
• Worked with or implemented model context protocol or agent frameworks.
• Built or contributed to platform products.
• Lead with customer empathy and curiosity.
• Bias toward action, creating structure and momentum.
• Demonstrate an ownership mindset.
• Self-starter, comfortable with ambiguity.

Perks & Benefits

• Offers Equity
• Offers Bonus

We believe all Zapiens should be rewarded competitively and equitably, using practices that are simple and transparent. This philosophy ensures we’re able to find, grow, and retain exceptional people from a broad range of backgrounds. Here’s how we define our compensation principles:

• Competitive: Zapier pays well among the technology sector.
• Equitable: Consistent pay practices; Pay for impact
• Simple: Pay is well understood, and pay practices are built for scale.
• Transparent: Zapiens know how pay works, including how their pay is determined.

A Candidate's compensation package is finalized once the interview process is concluded and accounts for demonstrated experience, job knowledge, skills, abilities, and internal equity. We use a business impact approach to base pay, which means we set pay for all Zapiens based on their demonstrated impact on Zapier’s success. In alignment with that philosophy, the upper half of a pay range is typically reserved for individuals who have consistently demonstrated a high impact in their current role and level while at Zapier.

About Zapier

We're humans who simply think computers should do more work.

At Zapier, we’re not just making software—we’re building a platform to help millions of businesses globally scale with automation and AI. Our mission is to make automation work for everyone by delivering products that delight our customers. You’ll collaborate with brilliant people, use the latest tools, and leverage the flexibility of remote work. Your work will directly fuel our customers’ success, and as they grow, so will you.

Hi there!

Zapier is leading the way in AI automation. We’ve helped businesses increase productivity and serve their customers better through an extensive platform of integrations, robust workflow automations, and practical AI applications. Zapier’s AI Orchestration Zone is building the infrastructure that will power the next generation of automation. At the core of this effort is Model Context Protocol (MCP) — an open standard designed to let AI agents seamlessly reason, act, and orchestrate workflows across Zapier’s 8,000+ integrations.

We’re hiring a Senior Backend Engineer to help design and scale the systems that enable this vision. You’ll own APIs, build platform primitives, and work closely with cross-functional partners to define how agents access the real world through Zapier.

If you’re excited about working on foundational systems, love thinking in protocols and architecture, and want to help define how AI agents get work done — this is your role.

As a Sr. Backend Engineer working on MCP, you’ll:

• Design, implement, and evolve core APIs that enable agents to take meaningful actions across Zapier’s ecosystem
• Build systems that support scalable orchestration, robust logging, and high-availability execution
• Collaborate on the architecture for MPC primitives like memory, context windows, and reasoning steps
• Integrate with Zapier’s existing execution infrastructure and help build the interfaces between LLMs and automations
• Partner closely with Product, Platform, and Sales teams to ensure the protocol serves both external and internal needs
• Drive design decisions that prioritize scalability, performance, security, and clarity for developers and AI systems alike

High Visibility, High Impact

MCP is one of the most strategically important initiatives at Zapier. It’s foundational to our AI orchestration roadmap and plays a central role in how we show up in the broader AI ecosystem.

This is an opportunity to:

• Define how AI agents interact with third-party systems through Zapier
• Shape a new protocol that impacts both internal platform teams and external developers
• Work on high-trust, cross-functional projects with visibility at the executive level
• Influence long-term architecture for Zapier’s most ambitious product experiences
• Be part of a fast-moving, experimental team that values curiosity, clarity, and velocity

About You

We’re looking for backend engineers who bring:

• You’re a seasoned backend builder. You have 6+ years of experience designing, developing and maintaining complex production systems. You’re comfortable writing backend services (Python or Node.js ideal), and you’re not afraid to go deep into API design, database modeling, or CI/CD pipelines.
• You understand and leverage AI tooling. You know how to use AI tools to accelerate your own development process (e.g. GitHub Copilot, Cursor), and you also get excited about building systems that enable others to use AI effectively. You’ve worked with or implemented components like model context protocol or agent frameworks.
• You thrive on platform thinking. You’ve built or contributed to platform products before, with a focus on extensibility, documentation, and robust foundations. You can make the complex simple for our customers.
• You lead with customer empathy and curiosity. You continuously seek context, ask great questions, and stay oriented to the bigger picture to meet the needs of customers to help them solve problems that matter to them.
• You bias toward action, especially when next steps aren’t obvious. You create structure, clarity, and momentum for the team surrounding your projects. You’re pragmatic and know when to ship fast and iterate - and when to sweat the details.
• You demonstrate an ownership mindset. You take initiative without needing top-down direction, but you’re also an effective communicator who can bring others with you. You have sound judgment, and balance user needs, technical constraints, and product goals in your decisions.
• You’re a self-starter who is comfortable with ambiguity. You can turn loosely defined problems into concrete action, you follow through on commitments, and you surface blockers early to recruit help defining solutions.