Staff Backend Engineer

About Scribe

Scribe is where exceptional people come to do the best work of their careers. More than 94% of the Fortune 500 use Scribe to own their specialized intelligence: the unique way their teams work, decide, and get things done. Our Specialized Intelligence platform automatically captures how work happens and turns it into a living asset for people and AI agents.

We're growing fast. Since our founding in 2019, we've reached 7 million users across 600,000 businesses. Based in San Francisco, we're a LinkedIn Top Startup, valued at over $1B, and backed by leading investors. Join us in our mission to transform how people work.

About the role

As a Staff Backend Software Engineer, you'll shape the systems behind how millions of users create, share, and consume documentation, contributing to system design, elevating engineering culture, and mentoring engineers across the team.

• Agents – AI assistants and in-app guidance that help people finish tasks inside the software they use, including a new desktop AI work hub

• Docs – Our core product for automated document generation and viewing, relied on by millions of users

• Growth – Signup, onboarding, checkout, billing, seats and SSO, helping people find Scribe, see its value fast, and grow their plan

• Optimize – The AI-driven intelligence layer that helps enterprises understand, measure and improve how work gets done, turning raw activity into workflow data leaders can trust

What you'll do

• Lead development of new features in our Django monolith, focused on core document viewing, editing, embeds, and exports

• Improve performance and scalability by optimizing database queries, endpoints, and caching layers across critical workflows

• Partner with product and design to deliver intuitive, reliable editing and rendering experiences at scale

• Make architectural calls on when to extend the monolith versus invest in service extraction for high-scale systems

• Raise the bar on engineering excellence through code reviews, mentorship, and strong practices in testing, observability, and performance

What we're looking for

• You've built backend applications at high scale and availability for 8+ years

• You have deep, extensive experience with Python

• You know how to optimize endpoint performance and database queries

• You advocate strongly for automated testing

• You've implemented engineering best practices, not just read about them

• Nice to have: Experience with Django, startup experience

Why you'll love working here

• Hard, open problems. Nobody hands you a finished spec. You'll decide what to build with your PM and designer, then own how it performs.

• The reach of a unicorn, the headcount of a startup. We went from $1M to $100M ARR in under four years, with fewer than 200 people. That means more pie than people: scope grows with your impact. Customers like T-Mobile, LinkedIn, HubSpot, New York Life and Northern Trust run on Scribe, so what you own reaches some of the biggest names in business.

• Smart is the floor. Kind is the bar. Low ego, high standards. We compete as a collective and love to see each other win, and One Team, One Dream is one of the most shouted-out values in #values.

Compensation & location

Hybrid, based in San Francisco. We work from the office 3 days per week, with Mondays and Wednesdays being anchor days.

All full-time employees receive equity in Scribe. Final offers depend on experience and scope.

Benefits

• Healthcare Coverage – Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans, including two $0/month medical plan options for employees

• Equity – Ownership in what we're building

• 401(k) Plan – through Vestwell

• Flex Benefit – $500/year for home office equipment, productivity tools, learning & development or fitness/wellness

• Commuter Benefits – $100/month for SF based employees

• PTO – Flexible paid time off and company holidays

• Parental Leave – Paid leave to support growing families

• Wellness & Family Support – Free Talkspace membership, One Medical access (location-dependent), and Kindbody discounts for family planning

Engineers, show don’t tell. Skip the button and send a POST to https://apply.scribe.com with full_name, email, github_url, and resume_url in the json body. Prefer the button? It works great too.

At Scribe, we celebrate our differences and are committed to creating a workplace where all employees feel supported and empowered to do their best work. Scribe is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Our Worker Privacy notice can be found here.