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Backend Engineer

Smallest.com Inc.

Job Overview

Location

Bangalore

Job Type

Full-time

Full Job Description

📋 Description

• At Smallest.ai, we are building cutting-edge real-time voice systems that operate under stringent constraints, demanding exceptional performance in latency, concurrency, cost, and reliability. This is not your typical CRUD-focused backend role; instead, you will dive deep into the complexities of distributed systems, high-throughput streaming pipelines, and production-first engineering. If you are passionate about architecting and maintaining systems that are consistently pushed to their absolute limits, this is the opportunity you've been waiting for.
• As a Backend Engineer, you will be instrumental in designing, developing, and deploying high-performance backend services specifically tailored for real-time AI workloads. This involves taking ownership of critical components such as APIs, intricate streaming pipelines, robust queuing systems, sophisticated schedulers, and essential control planes. Your work will directly impact the core functionality and scalability of our innovative products.
• You will be responsible for building and refining systems capable of handling immense concurrency, implementing effective backpressure mechanisms to manage data flow, designing resilient retry strategies for transient failures, and architecting solutions that gracefully manage partial failures without compromising overall system integrity. This requires a deep understanding of distributed system patterns and best practices.
• A significant part of your role will involve working with modern message brokers, enabling event-driven and asynchronous architectures. This will allow for decoupled services, improved scalability, and enhanced fault tolerance. You will collaborate closely with our talented Machine Learning, Infrastructure, and Product teams to ensure the seamless delivery of production-grade systems that meet and exceed user expectations.
• Debugging real-world, complex issues will be a key responsibility. This includes diagnosing and resolving challenging problems such as sudden latency spikes, persistent message pileups in queues, elusive race conditions, and memory leaks. Your ability to systematically identify root causes and implement effective solutions will be crucial for maintaining system stability and performance.
• You will be tasked with making pragmatic, informed trade-offs between critical system attributes like latency, throughput, operational cost, and architectural complexity. This requires a strategic mindset and the ability to balance competing demands to achieve optimal system design.
• We are looking for individuals with strong backend fundamentals, regardless of specific years of experience. A solid grasp of core data structures, concurrency primitives, and asynchronous programming paradigms is essential. You should possess a clear understanding of how systems behave under various load conditions and be adept at predicting and mitigating performance bottlenecks.
• Proficiency in at least one of the following languages is expected: Python, Go, or Node.js/TypeScript. You should have demonstrable experience building non-trivial backend systems, moving beyond simple REST API implementations to more complex, distributed architectures.
• Hands-on experience with NoSQL databases such as MongoDB, DynamoDB, or Cassandra is required. A solid understanding of data modeling principles, consistency models, indexing strategies, and efficient access patterns is vital. Familiarity with SQL databases like PostgreSQL or MySQL is also expected.
• Practical experience with message queuing and streaming technologies like RabbitMQ and/or Kafka is necessary. You should understand concepts such as at-least-once vs. exactly-once processing, consumer groups, partitioning, and message ordering. Designing systems that can tolerate message delays, duplicates, and failures is a core requirement.
• A strong intuition for distributed systems is paramount. This includes understanding the nuances of queues, workers, publish-subscribe patterns, rate limiting, and idempotency. You must be able to think about system failure modes proactively, designing for resilience from the outset rather than treating it as an afterthought.
• A production mindset is non-negotiable. This means a strong emphasis on robust logging, comprehensive metrics, effective observability, and efficient debugging techniques. You will write systems that are not just deployable but are truly operable and maintainable at scale.
• A strong plus would be experience with streaming systems like WebSockets or gRPC, media pipelines, high-throughput or low-latency systems, experience supporting ML inference or real-time AI services, and exposure to Kubernetes, containers, and cloud infrastructure.
• Our evaluation process focuses on your ability to clearly reason about distributed systems, explain complex trade-offs without resorting to jargon, and simplify intricate systems while maintaining reliability. We value practical experience, whether through production systems, personal projects, open-source contributions, or startup ventures.
• At Smallest.ai, we champion high agency and low latency in our work. We prioritize production-ready solutions over theoretical concepts, value clarity over cleverness, and foster a culture of ownership where individuals take responsibility for their work. You'll be part of small teams with significant responsibility, where your impact is directly visible.

🎯 Requirements

• Strong fundamentals in core backend engineering, including data structures, concurrency, and asynchronous systems.
• Practical experience building non-trivial backend systems, with comfort in languages like Python, Go, or Node.js/TypeScript.
• Hands-on experience with NoSQL databases (e.g., MongoDB, DynamoDB, Cassandra) and a solid understanding of data modeling and consistency.
• Practical experience with message brokers like RabbitMQ and/or Kafka, understanding concepts like at-least-once vs. exactly-once processing.
• A proactive approach to system design, with a strong focus on failure modes, observability, logging, and metrics.
• Experience with distributed systems concepts such as queues, workers, pub/sub, rate limiting, and idempotency.

🏖️ Benefits

• Opportunity to work on challenging, high-impact real-time AI systems.
• Collaborative and innovative work environment with a focus on ownership and impact.
• Competitive compensation and benefits package.
• Exposure to cutting-edge technologies and complex system design problems.
• Potential for significant professional growth in a fast-paced startup environment.

Skills & Technologies

Python

Node.js

PostgreSQL

MySQL

MongoDB

Backend

Remote

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Smallest.com Inc.

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About Smallest.com Inc.

Smallest.com Inc. is a technology company focused on developing innovative solutions that simplify complex processes. Their core mission is to create user-friendly platforms and tools that make advanced functionalities accessible to a wider audience. The company aims to disrupt traditional industries by leveraging cutting-edge technology to offer efficient and cost-effective alternatives. They emphasize a commitment to continuous improvement and user-centric design, ensuring their products meet the evolving needs of their customers. Smallest.com Inc. strives to be a leader in its field by fostering a culture of creativity and technical excellence, ultimately empowering users with powerful yet simple tools.

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