Senior Backend Engineer - Platform engineering

About the role Phoenix is the platform engineering squad - the team responsible for the shared backend infrastructure that all squads build on. API gateway, service mesh, shared platform services, the AI SDK integration layer, and the IAM/RBAC SDK are all Phoenix territory. Senior Backend Engineers on Phoenix are building the surfaces other engineers use. Your customer is not the end borrower - it is the 12 squads that depend on Phoenix's APIs, SDKs, and shared services to build their features. Platform engineering is a product discipline, and the quality of what you build determines the velocity of the entire engineering organisation. Key Responsibilities Platform Service Development • Build and maintain the shared backend platform services - the IAM/RBAC SDK, the AI SDK wrapper, the notification service, the event bus, and the feature flag system that every squad consumes • Own the IAM/RBAC SDK implementation - translating the Cloud-Native Platform Architect's design into a production-ready SDK that twelve squads can integrate with confidence • Build the AI SDK integration layer - the secure, consistent interface for squads to call LLM APIs with rate limiting, cost tracking, PII redaction, and fallback handling built in • Design and implement the shared event bus patterns - how domain events are published, subscribed to, and replayed across services using SQS or Kafka • Write the platform SDK documentation and integration guides that product squad engineers use to onboard themselves without requiring Phoenix involvement API Gateway & Service Mesh • Own the API gateway implementation - routing configuration, authentication enforcement, rate limiting rules, and the observability instrumentation that feeds into the platform monitoring stack • Implement service mesh configuration for inter-service communication - mTLS, circuit breakers, retry policies, and traffic management for the twelve-service landscape • Define and enforce API standards in collaboration with the Cloud-Native Platform Architect - contract-first development, OpenAPI spec, versioning, and backward compatibility discipline • Build the API testing infrastructure - consumer-driven contract tests that catch breaking changes before deployment and give squads confidence in the API gateway configuration AI-Native Platform Engineering • Use Cursor and Claude as primary development tools - the Phoenix engineering standard is AI-augmented development; all code, tests, and documentation are AI-assisted • Build the n8n and AppSmith integration hooks - the platform-level API endpoints and webhooks that allow Rangers' automations to interact safely with platform services • Implement observability instrumentation across platform services - distributed tracing (OpenTelemetry), structured logging, and metrics that give the organisation visibility into platform health Quality, Reliability & Mentoring • Set and maintain code quality standards within Phoenix - code review, refactoring discipline, test coverage, and the mentoring of Intermediate and Associate engineers • Own platform service reliability - SLO monitoring, incident response, and the postmortem process when platform services affect product squad delivery • Contribute to the Platform Guild - share platform engineering knowledge, present implementation decisions, and participate in cross-squad technical discussions Requirements Professional Experience • 6 to 8 years in backend engineering with experience building shared services or platform components consumed by other teams - understanding that your customer is internal engineering is essential • Has designed and maintained SDKs or shared libraries in production - knows what SDK stability means and has experienced the pain of breaking changes • Experience with API gateway configuration and service mesh management in a microservices environment • Active AI tool user - uses Cursor and Claude for development today; AI-assisted engineering is standard practice Mindset & Soft Skills • Platform identity: Platform identity: 'my customer is other engineers' - takes pride in developer experience, documentation quality, and SDK ergonomics • Reliability: Reliability obsession: platform services fail twelve squads simultaneously when they go down - takes on-call, postmortems, and SLO management seriously • AI-native: AI-native developer: Cursor and Claude open all day - models the AI-augmented engineering practice Phoenix is responsible for demonstrating • Documentation: Documentation culture: platform code without great docs is unusable - writes runbooks, SDK guides, and ADRs as part of the definition of done Technical Skills Backend Engineering - Core Java / Spring Boot & Microservices / platform service design REST API design (OpenAPI) & Event-driven architecture (SQS / Kafka) SDK design and development & Distributed systems patterns Platform Engineering - Core API gateway implementation & Service mesh (Istio / Linkerd) IAM / OAuth2 / RBAC implementation & Feature flag systems OpenTelemetry / distributed tracing & Contract testing (Pact) AI Native - Core Expectation Cursor for daily development & Claude for coding and documentation AI SDK integration design & LLM API patterns (rate limiting / fallback) Added advantage Kotlin & AWS (API GW / SQS / Lambda Kong / Envoy & Kafka Domain-driven design Benefits SarvaGram is on a mission to revolutionize financial services for millions in rural India. We're building the nation's first data-driven platform that combines cutting-edge technology with a human touch to unlock financial possibilities for underserved households. This is your chance to be at the forefront of innovation. Join us and: • Shape the future of FinTech: We're not just building a product, we're creating a new category.

Be a part of defining the future of financial inclusion for rural India. • Embrace a high-growth, high-impact environment: This is a non-linear growth opportunity. Build a platform used by millions and witness the network effect drive massive scale. • Tackle real-world challenges: Apply your skills to solve critical problems and directly empower rural communities. • Craft solutions that touch lives: Develop innovative products used by diverse household members, each with unique needs