Pocket is a small AI device that turns everything you say and hear into clear notes, action items, and search. We combine custom hardware, AI, and software to build the best note-taking experience for people who talk and move fast.
- Open roles
- 19
Company signals
Score: 83Job facts
- Location
- Remote · San Francisco, California, United States of America
- Workplace
- Remote
- Type
- Full-time
- Salary
- $110K – $160K
Last verified live 2 weeks, 6 days ago · checked directly on the company's Y Combinator Work at a Startup
More roles at Pocket
- Customer Support Engineer · San Francisco, CA, US
- Founding Data Lead · San Francisco, CA, US / Remote
- Fractional General Counsel · San Francisco, CA, US / Remote
- Head of Product · San Francisco, CA, US
- Product Designer · San Francisco, CA, US
- Customer Support Specialist · San Francisco, CA, US / Remote
Backend Engineer
at Pocket
You’ll build and scale the systems that power Pocket’s AI experience, from real-time transcription pipelines to cloud sync and intelligent APIs.
You’ll work closely with our mobile and AI teams to make Pocket faster, more reliable, and infinitely scalable. This isn’t a founding role, but it’s core to the product. You’ll join a small, high-output team that ships at the level of world-class consumer tech companies.
What you'll own
Backend Development
- Design and build RESTful APIs in Node.js and TypeScript (Express.js or Nest.js).
- Architect and maintain PostgreSQL databases; optimize schema design and queries.
- Implement background jobs and queues using Redis for ingestion, summarization, and notifications.
- Build and maintain caching layers (Redis, CDN, HTTP cache) for low-latency responses.
- Implement authentication, authorization, and data privacy best practices.
- Add real-time capabilities (WebSockets, Server-Sent Events) for live sync and streaming.
- Build observability into every service: logging, metrics, and tracing by default.
- Deploy and manage backend services on AWS (EC2, ECS, RDS, S3, Lambda).
Systems & Architecture
- Design clean, maintainable service architectures with clear ownership boundaries.
- Plan and execute safe database migrations and schema evolutions.
- Ensure consistency and reliability across distributed systems.
- Optimize performance across I/O, CPU, and memory bottlenecks.
- Implement CI/CD pipelines and release automation (GitHub Actions, Docker).
- Contribute to infrastructure reliability: scaling, monitoring, and cost efficiency.
Quality & Security
- Write unit, integration, and contract tests with clear coverage thresholds.
- Enforce linting, type safety, and static analysis as part of CI.
- Conduct security reviews and dependency audits; follow least-privilege design.
- Document services, endpoints, and decision trade-offs clearly.
What we're looking for
Technical Requirements
- 2+ years of backend experience with Node.js and TypeScript.
- Strong understanding of PostgreSQL (schema design, indexing, query optimization).
- Experience with Redis (caching, queues).
- Hands-on AWS experience (EC2, RDS, Lambda, ECS, S3).
- API design fluency: REST, real-time (WebSockets/SSE).
- Strong fundamentals in scalability, concurrency, and distributed systems.
- Comfort with Docker, Git workflows, and CI/CD automation.
- Familiarity with security and performance best practices.
Nice to Have
- Experience with GraphQL or gRPC.
- Exposure to event-driven architectures or microservices.
- Familiarity with observability tools (OpenTelemetry, CloudWatch, Sentry).
- Experience building for high-traffic consumer apps.
Technologies We Use
Backend: Node.js, TypeScript (Express/Nest.js), PostgreSQL, Redis
Cloud: AWS (EC2, RDS, Lambda, S3, ECS, CloudWatch)
Infra: Docker, GitHub Actions, CI/CD
What we offer
- Work directly with us and learn fast
- Direct impact on how the company operates day to day
- High-trust, high-responsibility environment
- Competitive compensation