About Sierra Studio Sierra Studio is an innovative product development firm dedicated to empowering founders and business leaders in their quest to create impactful, meaningful products. We have a relentless commitment to creating world-class user experiences built on sound technical foundations. As a company created by a Venture Studio in Los Angeles, we foster a culture of innovation and experimentation, offering our team members the unique opportunity to be part of ideating, validating, and launching new companies. At Sierra, we value diversity and care deeply about the people we work with, knowing that high-trust relationships are key to everything we do.Position Summary As a Lead Developer with a Backend focus, you will play an instrumental role in shaping our backend technology decisions and leading a team of developers. You will work with a Frontend Lead, Product Lead and Designers as part of a team that digests business use cases and develops software for clients. As an early employee of a growing company, you will also be responsible for co-creating our culture and core business processes. Key ResponsibilitiesLead backend architecture and development – Define and evolve our backend technology stack and patterns to enable scalable, high-quality solutionsManage a team of backend developers – Recruit, mentor, guide, and grow our backend engineering teamCraft high-quality code – Produce clear and efficient code, actively engage in code reviews, and champion technological excellence.Write tech docs – Translate business needs into creative and technically robust solutions.Manage an Agile Team – Provide leadership, structure, mentorship, guidance, and pay close attention to the progress of the group and own the resultsEngage with clients – Collaborate closely with clients and product owners, transforming their visions into technical realities.Document thoroughly – Create comprehensive technical documentation, simplifying the onboarding process for newcomers.Refine best practices – Proactively seek and implement improvements in engineering and organizational workflows.Required Skills and Experience5-10+ years of experience in backend development, with at least 1 year in a lead roleDeep experience with Python, Go, or other backend languagesExperience with database technologies knowledge such as PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MySQL and related ORMs such as Prisma, GORM, or Kysely.Familiarity with CI/CD tools such as: Github Actions or CircleCI.Bonus skills:grpc, NeonDB, PlanetScale.Edge architecture (e.g. Vercel Edge functions).Containerization with Docker/Kubernetes.Infrastructure tools: Terraform, Puppet, AWS/Azure/GCD, Datadog, Splunk, Ansible, Prometheus.Proven experience in building RESTful APIs.Strong understanding of web and mobile application architectures.Passion for delivering robust and maintainable solutions.Comfortable with taking ownership of projects.Analytical approach to discovering root causes and articulating solutions clearlyStrong written and verbal communicator, collaborates well clients & colleaguesEagerness to learn new languages and technologies as neededOpenness to working across multiple projects using different technology stacksWillingness to quickly pick up new frameworks and programming languages in order to meet business needs.Actively shares knowledge: Tech Talks, code walkthroughs, demos, etc.Personal Attributes We seek a self-motivated individual with a proactive attitude. We try to keep our egos out of the workplace, so we are looking for someone who values learning and doesn't mind being wrong. Given our fast-paced and dynamic environment, excellent upfront communication skills are a must for this role. The ideal candidate should possess the drive to complete tasks with minimal supervision and be able to articulate technical concepts clearly. Why Join Us?At Sierra Studio, we believe in nurturing talent and cultivating a good vibe in our workplace. We seek inclusion and embrace our differences. Our goal is to empower the world around us, and that starts by empowering each other. We're all about "growth mindset", and we look to magnify our strengths, take chances, and always learn from our mistakes. We don't try to fit our teammates into boxes, and instead we understand that each person has their own unique set of skills and values that they bring to the table. If you join us, we'll embrace who you are today, and give you the space and tools to keep growing.
