Join to apply for the Backend Engineer role at Sift Join to apply for the Backend Engineer role at Sift At Sift, we’re redefining how modern machines are built, tested, and operated. Our platform gives engineers real-time observability over high-frequency telemetry—eliminating bottlenecks and enabling faster, more reliable development.

Sift was born from our work at SpaceX on Dragon, Falcon, Starlink, and Starship—where scaling telemetry, debugging flight systems, and ensuring mission reliability demanded new infrastructure. Founded by a team from SpaceX, Google, and Palantir, Sift is built for mission-critical systems where precision and scalability are non-negotiable.

As an early engineer at Sift, you won’t just write code—you’ll help define the architecture, shape the product, and influence the culture of a company focused on solving real engineering problems. If you’re looking for complex technical challenges and the opportunity to build foundational systems supporting complex machines from the ground up, we want to hear from you.

In This Role, You'll

Design and build a horizontally scalable platform for ingesting millions of data points from hardware sensors per second and a robust and durable database solution for storing, reading, and analyzing those points Work closely with customers, including hardware engineers, to understand their problems and find efficient solutions Help define engineering culture, standards, and processes Collaborate with peers on architecture, design, and code reviews

The Skillset You'll Bring

Bachelor's degree in computer science, data science, engineering, math, physics, or STEM discipline 3+ years of experience in software engineering or data engineering Experience working with in-stream data processing and analytics using Apache Kafka, Flink, Beam, or similar Experience with relational and non-relational databases, e.g. PostgreSQL, Druid, Pinot, Timescale, or similar Experience with data exploration tools like Grafana, Jupyter Notebooks, Metabase, PowerBI, or similar Self-starter, able to navigate ambiguity and changing priorities Team player with excellent communication skills and a collaborative work ethic

Bonus Points

Experience designing and building large-scale, distributed systems or web applications using Go, Python, or an equivalent language Strong understanding of DevOps principles; version control, testing, continuous integration, build, deployment and monitoring

Engineering At Sift

You'll have the opportunity to help evolve and scale our platform because we're still in the early stages of building the product. Relevant technologies include:

Web frontend & backend: ECharts, Go, gRPC, PostgreSQL, Protobuf, Radix, React, Redux, and TypeScript Data: Arrow, DataFusion, Flink, Parquet, and Rust Infrastructure: Argo CD, AWS, Docker, GitHub Actions, Grafana, Kubernetes, Kustomize, Linux, Prometheus, and Terragrunt

Location:

The Sift team is based in El Segundo. We collaborate in person two times per week, Monday and Thursday. We work closely with hardware companies, many of which are based in LA, building everything from autonomous vehicles to spacecraft. As a customer-centric company, being nearby for site visits and collaboration is essential. Sift is open to relocating you to LA.

Salary range: $150,000 - $200,000 per year. Plus equity and benefits.

Eligibility

US Person Required : Must be a U.S. Citizen or Green Card Holder due to ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) / EAR (Export Administration Regulations) compliance requirements. Seniority level Seniority level Mid-Senior level Employment type Employment type Full-time Job function Job function Engineering and Information Technology Industries Software Development Referrals increase your chances of interviewing at Sift by 2x Get notified about new Back End Developer jobs in San Francisco, CA . San Francisco, CA $40,000.00-$70,000.00 1 month ago San Francisco, CA $150,000.00-$230,000.00 3 months ago Full-Stack Software Engineer (Jr/Mid level) San Francisco, CA $150,500.00-$269,200.00 3 weeks ago Backend Engineer, Real-time supply management San Francisco, CA $112,140.00-$218,900.00 5 days ago San Francisco, CA $140,000.00-$210,000.00 3 months ago San Francisco, CA $120,000.00-$190,000.00 8 months ago San Francisco, CA $150,500.00-$269,200.00 2 weeks ago Backend/API Engineer, Money as a Service (US) San Francisco, CA $130,000.00-$185,000.00 2 months ago San Francisco, CA $75,000.00-$150,003.00 10 months ago San Francisco, CA $165,000.00-$165,000.00 2 years ago San Francisco, CA $40,000.00-$100,000.00 1 month ago San Francisco, CA $60,000.00-$120,000.00 1 month ago San Francisco, CA $150,000.00-$200,000.00 2 months ago San Francisco, CA $150,000.00-$300,000.00 3 weeks ago San Francisco, CA $140,000.00-$200,000.00 9 months ago San Francisco, CA $140,000.00-$200,000.00 1 month ago San Francisco, CA $160,000.00-$190,000.00 1 year ago San Francisco, CA $170,000.00-$220,000.00 8 months ago San Francisco, CA $90,000.00-$150,000.00 2 months ago San Francisco, CA $120,000.00-$150,000.00 1 month ago San Francisco, CA $140,000.00-$180,000.00 1 month ago San Francisco, CA $120,000.00-$250,000.00 8 months ago Full-stack Software Development Engineer (FS SDE) San Francisco, CA $99,998.00-$199,998.00 1 year ago We’re unlocking community knowledge in a new way. Experts add insights directly into each article, started with the help of AI.

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