Senior Backend Engineer

(tl;dr) Neverland—a fast-growing (🌱 pun intended) early-stage startup is seeking a Backend Engineer with 5+ years of experience who can be us build and scale all of our web and backend infrastructure powering our marketplace. As a backend engineer at Neverland, you'll be working directly on high-impact, user-facing products and backend infrastructure. Your work will be the first thing users see and will define the core marketplace and community experience for the 77% of Americans who participate in plants, gardening, and lawn activities. We're a tight-knit and remote-first distributed team obsessed with making nature accessible to all. Click on the arrows for details below!

About Neverland

Neverland (YC W21) is the first online home garden and lawn marketplace. Our app takes the guesswork and confusion out of day-to-day plant care. Our mission is to make nature accessible to all. The Neverland team draws from a combined decade of deep expertise building successful consumer tech and marketplace companies. We're backed by world-class funds and individuals with expertise in consumer, marketplaces, and sustainability including: Y Combinator, Kindred Ventures, Kimbal Musk (Board @Tesla & @SpaceX), Manik Gupta (Former CPO @Uber), and many more to be announced publicly soon. Learn more about us by visiting our Website, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook pages.

** Click on arrows for more details*

• Role overview and responsibilities 👇

  • Define the vision for the backend infrastructure and guide the team in executing against that vision.
  • Design, build, and maintain highly scalable and reliable infrastructure, APIs, and services.
  • Contribute and lead system design discussions, stand up meetings, and code reviews.
  • Develop and own best practices for backend systems with focus on high performance
  • You have excellent communication skills and are a team player.
  • Debug production issues across services and multiple levels of the stack.
  • Collaborate with other engineers and founding team.
  • Be open to exploring and learning new tech stacks if necessary for the business.

• Who we're looking for 🦄

  • 5+ years of relevant industry experience
  • BS/BA degree in CS is a plus but not required (we value exp. over degrees, please apply either way)
  • Experience owning, shipping, and scaling all of our web backend and infrastructure
  • Ability to solve complex design, scaling, latency, or performance problems
  • Proficiency with modern backend platforms like Node, with NoSQL data stores like Mongo and with cloud technologies like AWS
  • Proficiency with modern languages (Python, JS, etc.)
  • Proficiency with SQL databases like Postgres and/or building distributed systems is a plus
  • Self-starter attitude and the ability to execute new ideas with autonomy
  • Ability to find the right balance between perfection, scale and shipping quickly

• Why you might be excited about us ✨

  • We're tackling a big problem with a massive opportunity. Our mission is to make nature accessible to all, and become the central destination for all things home gardening and lawn.
  • You'll be working alongside a talented team that values diversity & inclusion. We've built a culture of collaboration, inclusivity, and creativity that gives us a competitive edge.
  • We share an attitude of constant growth, optimism, and intellectual curiosity. We strive to reach our full potential by constantly improving ourselves and the product.
  • You'll be able to work remotely and (mostly) set your own schedule. We're a remote-first (US-timezones only) team and we create a great remote environment.

• Why you might not be excited about us 👀

  • We're a small but mighty growing team (~ 10 people in the company now), so if you like more established companies, this role isn't for you.
  • If you see differences as divisions. Diversity and inclusion are a core part of Neverland, and we believe that diverse teams improve our business. We've built a talented team with a culture of collaboration, inclusivity, and creativity that gives us a competitive edge.
  • We're a remote-first company, and therefore fantastic communication skills (verbal and written) is vital.
  • We're an early-stage startup. Projects and priorities are likely to shift.
  • Everyone on the team is extremely mission-driven, and works incredibly hard to push towards our lofty vision. If you prefer a 9-5 job or to rest-and-vest, this job isn't for you.
  • You are a team-player who is able to thrive in ambiguity. This is not the kind of job where you show up and we tell you exactly what to do every day.

• Life at Neverland 🌻

  • This role comes with a competitive salary, equity, and generous employee benefits including fantastic healthcare, vision, dental, and a One Medical membership.
  • An allowance for plants and gardening supplies.
  • New laptop/equipment to suit your needs.
  • Flexible vacation time.
  • 2 offsites per year (currently on-hold due to COVID-19): every 6 months we arrange an offsite for the whole company to get together in-person since we're a remote-first company. The location is ever changing, so you'll get to see new places!

• The interview process 👋🏽👋👋🏿

  Our interview process is designed to ensure that A) we truly get to know one another and B) to give you a taste of what it will be like working at Neverland. We respect everyone's time, and run a speedy & transparent interview process. 🙂

  👋🏽 Aloe there chat

  We'll start off with a 30-minute introductory Zoom call with Hayley. We'll talk about Neverland, you and your background, Neverland's plans for the future, and answer any questions you have about the business, the team, our culture, and roadmap. If we're both excited to take the next step, we'll introduce you to other members of the team.

  🌱 Neverland Mint-to-be Project

  A small project (paid) where you will collaborate with our engineering team that will focus on backend infrastructure.

  🤖 Technical Interviews

  You can expect real-life scenarios we'd work through if you were a part of our Neverland team. We don't do text book questions. Interviews include:

  • Systems Design Interview
    • We're looking for how you think about addressing scaling pains (performance, redundancy, scale, etc.)
  • Data Model Interview
    • We're looking for how you break down, architect, and design a project within an existing system
  • Coding//Algorithmic interview
    • We're looking for how you make decisions and approach problem solving
  • 1-2 collaborative interviews
    • To get to know you, what excites you, what growth you're looking for, and learn more about projects you've worked in the past.

  ☎️ Reference convos

  We approach reference conversations as an additional way to learn more about you and how you like to work. We'll reach out to 2-3 folks you've worked with previously.

  🥳 Thyme to celery-brate!

  If we enjoy working together on our mint-to-be project, we'll extend a full-time offer and properly celebrate you joining the team! 🎉

• Apply 🚀

We're growing rapidly and hiring across many roles, so please reach out and say hi if you're interested in joining our team! View all open roles →

At Neverland, you are welcomed for who you are—no matter where you come from or what you look like. Everyone has a seat at the table. We are dedicated to building a diverse team that celebrates and amplifies different experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds. We strongly encourage people of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and non-binary people, veterans, and individuals with disabilities to apply. Together, we'll create the future of gardening and make nature accessible to all.