Senior Backend Engineer — Amari AI

Location: San Francisco, CA (Onsite)

Base Salary: $180,000–$260,000

Equity: 0.2%–0.5%

Visa: H-1B transfer, O-1, OPT supported

About Amari AI

Amari AI is building AI agents for customs brokers and the broader logistics industry, a $10 trillion market still reliant on manual, document-heavy workflows. The platform automates customs entries, tracks regulatory updates, and integrates directly with Gmail, Microsoft Teams, Slack, CargoWise, and Descartes. Achieved product-market fit with 30+ customers, 100%+ MoM revenue growth, and 30,000+ hours returned to brokerage teams. Backed by First Round Capital and Pear VC with $5M raised.

Role Overview

High-ownership backend engineering role focused on designing and scaling the core data infrastructure powering AI-driven logistics systems. You will build distributed systems, data pipelines, and search infrastructure that enable real-time processing and automation at scale. Zero-to-one environment with direct founder collaboration.

Core Responsibilities

• Architect and scale distributed backend systems including queue pipelines and communication layers
• Design systems for resilience using retry strategies, circuit breakers, and graceful degradation
• Own database architecture including schema design, indexing, and query optimization
• Build AI search infrastructure for real-time logistics data and AI-driven features
• Define service boundaries and backend engineering standards
• Collaborate directly with founders on roadmap, architecture, and technical direction
• Support hiring and mentorship of future backend engineers

Requirements

• 4–6+ years of backend software engineering experience
• Experience in high-growth startup or production environments
• Proven ability to design and ship backend systems end-to-end
• Strong understanding of distributed systems and architectural trade-offs
• Ability to operate independently in ambiguous environments
• Willingness to work onsite in San Francisco

Nice to Have

• Experience with Kafka, RabbitMQ, or SQS
• Familiarity with AI/ML pipeline infrastructure
• Experience with Elasticsearch or pgvector
• Background in logistics, customs, or regulated industries