Software Engineer

Synapse Studios is seeking a senior, backend-leaning full-stack Software Engineer to help build an internal platform that powers enterprise-grade software and AI enabled products. You will own the delivery lifecycle from design through production, with a focus on reliable, autonomous operation. This hybrid role is based in Tempe, AZ, offering flexible on-site and remote work arrangements.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, test, and deploy robust software that underpins the development of customer-facing products.
• Own features and the supporting systems end-to-end, from concept to live operation.
• Lead backend work end-to-end, including API design, data modeling, and integrations with databases, queues, and external systems.
• Develop product-facing frontend end-to-end, including component structure, state management, and backend API integration.
• Plan and decompose large initiatives into well-sized, prioritized work that the team can deliver incrementally.
• Lead design discussions, weighing tradeoffs, boundaries, and long-term maintainability across competing options.
• Deliver frequent production changes using modern CI/CD pipelines and trunk-based development practices.
• Create automated tests (unit, integration, and where appropriate end-to-end) to support safe continuous delivery.
• Contribute to and improve DevOps practices, including build pipelines, deployment automation, and consistent environments.
• Debug, troubleshoot, and resolve production issues using logs, metrics, and monitoring tools.
• Monitor system behavior and respond to failures or regressions proactively.
• Improve reliability, performance, and maintainability through refactoring and incremental debt reduction.
• Mentor and support other engineers, review code with care, and help teammates tackle more complex work.
• Collaborate closely with engineers, product partners, and clients to solve ambiguous problems and clearly communicate tradeoffs, progress, and risk to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Use modern development tools effectively, including AI-assisted tooling when appropriate.

Requirements

• Minimum five years of professional software engineering experience, with a strong backend focus and comfort across the full stack.
• Solid fundamentals in software engineering, including system design, API and data modeling, testing, debugging, and code quality.
• Experience designing, building, and operating production systems end-to-end.
• Experience scoping and planning larger pieces of work, and breaking them down for incremental delivery.
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines and continuous delivery practices.
• Working knowledge of DevOps concepts such as deployment automation, environment consistency, and observability.
• Ability to operate effectively in environments with evolving requirements and limited upfront specification.
• Comfort taking ownership of outcomes, including production behavior, reliability, and ongoing improvement.
• Experience mentoring or leveling up other engineers, and communicating technical tradeoffs to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Hands-on experience using AI-assisted development tools (e.g., Claude Code) as a regular part of your workflow; enthusiasm for this approach is expected.
• Strong engineering fundamentals to review, reason about, and own the code you ship, regardless of how it was generated.

Technologies

• Node with TypeScript for backend services
• NestJS
• React with TypeScript (Vite and Next)
• AWS
• Docker
• ECS
• Terraform
• Playwright

Benefits

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Flexible spending account
• Health insurance
• Health savings account
• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Referral program

Experience

• Relational databases: 3 years (Preferred)

Application questions

• On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate yourself as a backend developer?
• On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate yourself as a frontend developer?