A good job description does two things: it attracts the right candidates and filters out the wrong ones. Most JDs fail at both — they're either so generic that everyone applies, or so specific that strong candidates self-select out.
This template is designed for a Senior Backend Engineer role at a startup or scale-up. Copy it, adapt the specifics for your stack and team, and use it as-is or as a starting point.
Senior Backend Engineer — [Company Name]
Location: [Remote / Hybrid — City / On-site — City] Type: Full-time Team: Engineering Reports to: Engineering Lead / CTO
About the role
We're looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to join a small, high-output engineering team building [brief description of what your product does]. You'll own backend systems end-to-end — from database schema design through to API contracts and deployment — and work closely with product and frontend to ship features that matter to users.
This is not a role for someone who wants to maintain existing systems. We're growing fast, and you'll be designing new systems as often as maintaining old ones.
What you'll do
- Design and build scalable, maintainable backend services in [Python / Node.js / Go / Java — pick yours]
- Own API design — RESTful and/or GraphQL — and maintain the contract between backend and frontend
- Design and optimise database schemas and queries (we use [PostgreSQL / MySQL / MongoDB])
- Review code from peers and contribute to engineering standards and best practices
- Participate in on-call rotation (we have [X] engineers, incidents are rare)
- Work with product to scope backend work, estimate timelines, and push back when needed
- Mentor mid-level engineers — not a management role, but we expect senior engineers to raise the team
What we're looking for
Required:
- 5+ years of backend engineering experience, with at least 2 years in a senior or lead role
- Deep experience with [Python / Node.js / Go] in a production environment
- Strong SQL skills — you can write a complex join without an ORM crutch
- Experience designing and building REST APIs consumed by external clients or a frontend
- Familiarity with cloud infrastructure: AWS, GCP, or Azure (we use [AWS])
- Track record of shipping features, not just tickets
- Strong written communication — we're [remote / async-first] and writing clearly matters
Nice to have:
- Experience with event-driven architectures (Kafka, RabbitMQ, SQS)
- Background in a high-growth startup (Series A–C)
- Contributions to open-source projects
- Experience with container orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes)
- Familiarity with ML pipelines or AI-adjacent systems
What we offer
- Salary: [£90,000–£120,000 / $130,000–$160,000] depending on experience
- Equity: [X]% options vesting over 4 years with a 1-year cliff
- Remote: [Fully remote / hybrid — describe your policy honestly]
- Health: [Your benefits package]
- Learning: £[X] / $[X] annual budget for courses, books, conferences
- Holidays: [X] days + bank holidays
Our hiring process
- Application review (we respond within 5 business days)
- 30-min intro call with the hiring manager
- Take-home technical task (~3 hours, compensated)
- 90-min technical interview (code review + system design) — see Python Developer Interview Questions for a question bank by seniority level
- 45-min culture fit / values conversation with team members
- Offer
We aim to complete the process in under 3 weeks. We'll tell you where you stand after every stage.
Tips for using this template
Be specific about your stack. Candidates self-select better when they know exactly what they'll be working with. Vague phrases like "modern tech stack" waste everyone's time.
Be honest about the hard parts. If on-call is heavy, say so. If the codebase has tech debt, acknowledge it. Candidates who join knowing the real situation stay longer.
Don't inflate requirements. Every "required" item that's actually a "nice to have" filters out strong candidates who assume the list is serious.
List a compensation range. Research consistently shows that salary ranges increase application quality and reduce time-to-hire. Candidates who apply knowing the range are more likely to accept the offer.
Use Rekvo to match CVs against this JD. Once you start receiving applications, upload CVs to Rekvo and run an AI match against this job description. You'll get a ranked shortlist in under 2 minutes — no manual CV reading required. See How to Use AI for Candidate Screening for the full workflow.