Senior Backend Engineer

Job Description

Dispel builds network isolation and access infrastructure for critical industries, where a breach is an operational failure with real-world consequences. Our customers include critical infrastructure operators, defense contractors, and industrial enterprises that hold their software vendors to an exceptionally high bar.

Engineering at Dispel is a technical and social experience. In our team, every person participates in solving problems and improving code, infrastructure, and the way we work together. This is a journey, and we want it to be rewarding and fun.

As a senior member of the engineering team, you will take ownership of complex backend systems and help guide the technical direction of projects. You will work both independently and collaboratively to design, build, and operate high-quality solutions that support our customers and our internal teams.

We strive to maintain a professional and creative work environment where your contributions will be valued and recognized, and where experienced engineers help raise the bar for the entire team.

Requirements

Responsibilities:

Execution

• Design and implement complex backend features and services with minimal guidance.
• Break down ambiguous product or technical problems into clear technical solutions.
• Own significant areas of the codebase, including architecture, reliability, and long-term maintainability.
• Improve system performance, scalability, and resilience.
• Review code and technical designs to maintain high engineering standards.
• Identify and address technical debt and opportunities for system improvements.

Enabling Others

• Mentor engineers and support their technical growth through code reviews, pairing, and knowledge sharing.
• Help define engineering best practices and improve development workflows.
• Collaborate with product, design, and other engineers to shape technical solutions and project direction.
• Ensure work is effectively tracked, communicated, and delivered from inception through production deployment.
• Contribute to architectural discussions and help guide long-term technical decisions.

Qualifications:

• 5–8+ years of professional software engineering experience, preferably with a focus on backend systems.
• Strong experience designing and implementing scalable backend services and APIs in production environments.
• Ability to take ownership of complex problems and deliver solutions with limited direction.
• Experience reviewing code and contributing to system design decisions.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills. Team culture is very important at Dispel, and we value engineers who actively contribute to a supportive and thoughtful environment.
• Comfortable in Python

Bonus Points:

• Experience designing and optimizing SQL schemas and queries.
• Experience with testing practices including unit and integration testing (Jest, Vitest, or similar).
• Familiarity with distributed systems, observability, or performance optimization.
• Experience mentoring engineers or leading technical initiatives.

Benefits

Why Dispel/Benefits

At Dispel you’ll be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear direction on what it takes to succeed in your role as well as provide development for other roles you may be interested in.

• Salary range for role: $135,000 – $150,000
• 401(k) with company match
• Opportunity for incentive units grant
• Generous paid time off and holidays
• Performance bonus and equity eligible
• Remote work
• Medical, vision, dental insurance