Senior Backend Engineer

WHO WE ARE

Hi, we're DuckDuckGo, the online protection company and remote-first team of 300+ on a mission to raise the standard of trust online. Founded in 2008 and profitable since 2014, annual revenue now exceeds $100m USD and millions use our browser on on Mac https://spreadprivacy.com/introducing-duckduckgo-for-mac/, Windows https://spreadprivacy.com/windows-browser-open-beta/, iOS https://spreadprivacy.com/duckduckgo-privacy-browser-ios14/, and Android https://spreadprivacy.com/introducing-app-tracking-protection/, our search engine https://duckduckgo.com/, and the DuckDuckGo subscription https://duckduckgo.com/pro. We also offer private, useful, and optional AI, including Duck.ai https://duck.ai/, which lets you chat privately with ChatGPT, Claude, and other AIs, all in one place. Our culture https://duckduckgo.com/how-we-work of trust, inclusivity, and empowered project management underpins everything we do, where each team member takes full ownership of their projects, from scoping and execution to postmortem. If you're seeking end-to-end ownership of your work, you've come to the right place!

YOUR TEAM AND ROLE

Working on the Backend Functional Team, you'll lead complex projects across key company-wide objectives. Using Perl (Version 5), Go, and Node.js, you’ll write pragmatic, performant, testable code that works consistently, and work on related projects. Recent projects include:

• Implementing AI-assisted answers and integrating them into our Search product while maintaining our privacy-first approach

• Delivering improvements to Duck.ai to help us make it a competitive AI chat alternative for both free and paying users

• Implementing sophisticated data processing pipelines that maintain search relevancy

As a Senior Backend Engineer, you'll collaborate remotely with your peers and take responsibility for solving product issues impacting our all-in-one privacy solution, whether large or small. In time, you'll formally mentor other engineers, supporting their career growth and the growth of the Backend Team at DuckDuckGo.

ABOUT YOU

• 7+ years of professional experience, primarily focused on backend systems that power consumer-facing products

• Product acumen to reason about technical tradeoffs in terms of user impact

• Familiarity with AI agent tooling: evaluation frameworks, RAG pipelines and prompt engineering

• A fundamental understanding of complex data structures and algorithms — you can develop and apply new solutions and confidently navigate and improve existing code.

• Data-driven analytical skills for decision-making, stakeholder alignment, and experiment-oriented delivery

• Solid project management abilities

• Excellent written and verbal communication to validate and articulate decisions

• Previous experience leading and mentoring experienced engineers, supporting their career goals, and unlocking their potential.

COMPENSATION

$178,500 USD annually and stock options. Compensation is transparent across the organization, and all team members within the same professional level and global region receive the same compensation.

Eligibility for company-sponsored health benefits is limited to team members based in the United States. This program does not extend to team members located in other countries, such as Canada or the UK.

Our Team Member Support Guide https://duckduckgo.com/assets/hiring/team_support_guide.pdf explains how we prioritize your wellbeing including paid parental leave, office setup, and co-working allowances.

HIRING PROCESS

Hiring works best when it's a two-way street. Learn how we help you get to know DuckDuckGo, envision your future role here, and find out more about how we hire https://duckduckgo.com/how-we-hire.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

DuckDuckGo provides equal work opportunities to all team members and applicants, and it prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, caste, religion, age,