Sr. Engineer, Backend (Canvas)

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.

Job Posted: 1/17/25

Location: NAMER

Hi there!

I’m Jake, the hiring manager for this role and the Canvas Engineering Manager at Zapier. At Zapier, we like to share our README's. Here’s mine so you can get to know me better.

We’re looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to join the Canvas team. Canvas is Zapier’s platform for visually designing, building, and automating business workflows. Within Canvas, AI Assist is our cutting-edge initiative that leverages AI to recommend optimizations and help users build systems via APIs.

Zapier Canvas empowers users to visually design, build, and automate customer workflows. With intuitive diagramming tools and AI-assisted automation, users can transform ideas into powerful systems using Zapier's extensive suite of products. Users can annotate, share, and collaborate on Canvas documents, providing a clear and visual way to explain and refine their automations.

If you’re excited about building scalable systems that enable AI-driven automation and love creating tools that help customers simplify complex workflows, this role is for you!

• Our Commitment to Applicants

• Culture and Values at Zapier

• Zapier Guide to Remote Work

• Zapier Code of Conduct

• Diversity and Inclusivity at Zapier

About You

Required Technical Skills/Experience:

• 6+ years of professional experience in software engineering, with a focus on backend systems, APIs, and scalable architectures.

• Proficiency in TypeScript (preferred), Python, or a similar language for high-performance backend development.

• Experience designing, building, and maintaining APIs for complex systems, including API versioning and lifecycle management.

• Strong understanding of graph-based and relational database design, with the ability to represent complex relationships and dependencies.

• Demonstrated ability to make architectural decisions for scalable and high-throughput systems.

• Proven experience integrating AI/ML systems into production workflows, including optimization for inference and monitoring.

• Experience collaborating with cross-functional teams, including AI/ML specialists, product managers, and other engineers.

• Expertise in designing modular, reusable architectures for multi-team, multi-product ecosystems.

• Proficiency in optimizing backend performance, especially for latency-sensitive and high-throughput APIs.

• Experience with distributed ownership of data models and ensuring consistency across interconnected systems.

Nice-to-Have Technical Skills/Experience:

• Hands-on experience with LLMs or AI-powered recommendation engines in production systems.

• Hands-on experie