Senior Backend Engineer, Platform

ClickUp ClickUp · Enterprise · United States · Engineering

This Senior Backend Engineer role at ClickUp focuses on building and integrating customer feedback into API tooling and shared services, creating distributed systems, and advocating for API governance. The role will support platform capabilities powering ClickUp's AI initiatives like Brain and Agents. While the company is AI-native and expects AI fluency, the core responsibilities are in backend platform engineering, API integration, and distributed systems, rather than direct AI/ML model development.

What you'd actually do

  1. Build upon and integrate customer feedback, both internal and external, into our API tooling and shared services.
  2. Create new architectural foundations and mission-critical distributed systems while collaborating closely with other teams.
  3. Work within an agile, scrum-based engineering team focused on core platform capabilities.
  4. Advocate for, create, and maintain API governance across engineering through collaboration, automation, and outreach.
  5. Own integrations within our API Gateway layer and service lifecycles from design to production.

Skills

Required

  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent work experience
  • Strong understanding of API standards, design approaches, and integration patterns
  • Strong understanding of CAP Theorum and distributed systems design patterns
  • Proficient with TypeScript
  • Proficient with Golang
  • Excellent communication skills
  • Strong sense of ownership and accountability
  • Strong consideration for developer experience in everything you build

Nice to have

  • Pragmatic approach to software design, development, and delivery
  • Experience working with Kafka and related event-based patterns
  • Experience working with and designing Backend for Frontend (BFF) patterns
  • Experience supporting modern AI technologies, including MCP protocol and standards
  • Experience building shared services and platform capabilities that enable AI products and agent-based systems

What the JD emphasized

  • AI fluency as part of our hiring process