Senior Backend Engineer

About Prospectus
Prospectus helps people navigate career transitions after a layoff. We combine labor-market data, LLM-generated career analysis, and human coaching into a single product — so someone who just lost their job gets a clear read on where they stand and a real person to work through it with.

We were created inside LG NOVA, LG's North America innovation arm, and we're the first venture spinning out of it. That means unusual footing for an early-stage company: institutional backing and enterprise access from day one, with the pace and scope of a small startup. We've shipped our MVP and are moving into our first priced round.

The team is small. Decisions reach production the same week they're made. If you want to see the line between your code and someone finding their next job, it's short here.

The role
You'll own the backend: a Python/FastAPI service on Supabase that runs the LLM pipelines behind our Career Snapshot and pathway recommendations, the market-data integrations, and the coach-facing portal.

This is a build-and-operate role. You write the migration, you run it against production, and you're the one the alert reaches when it breaks.

You'll report to the Head of Engineering and work directly with the founders on product decisions.

What you'll work on

• LLM pipelines that turn intake into structured career analysis — prompt design, structured output, evaluation, cost and latency
• Market intelligence: ingesting and reconciling third-party labor-market data
• Postgres schema and row-level security for a product holding sensitive personal and employment data
• The operational surface — background jobs, scheduled email, alerting, and the runbooks that make an on-call page actionable

What we're looking for

• Deep experience building production Python services, and comfort owning one end to end
• Strong SQL and Postgres. You read query plans and know how your schema behaves under load
• You've shipped something with an LLM in the critical path and know where the sharp edges are
• Judgment about data protection: you notice when a log line or an analytics event carries something it shouldn't
• You write tests because they let you move faster
• Fluent with AI coding tools and clear-eyed about them. You know what to delegate, what to verify, and you own the output either way

Nice to have

• Supabase, or production experience with Postgres RLS
• Google Cloud Run, or containerised services on any managed platform
• CI pipelines you built or debugged yourself
• Experience on a team where the same person wrote the code and owned it in production
• HR tech, marketplace, or anything involving sensitive user data at scale

How we work

• Python 3.12, FastAPI, Supabase/Postgres, Google Cloud Run, GitHub Actions
• Mypy strict, 80% coverage floor, migrations reviewed before they run
• Code review is technical and direct. Disagreements get settled in the MR.
• Small enough that you'll shape product decisions alongside the code

Compensation and benefits

• Base salary: $180,000–$200,000. Where you land in the range depends on experience and depth of ownership in prior roles.
• Equity: meaningful early-employee equity, granted in connection with our spinout and subject to board approval.
• Benefits: medical, dental, and vision; 401(k); flexible PTO; home-office and learning budget.

Details

Location: San Mateo, CA. Hybrid — Tuesday to Thursday in office.

Reports to: Head of Engineering

Equal opportunity
Prospectus is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, medical condition, marital status, veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. We comply with the California Fair Employment and Housing Act and consider qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with the California Fair Chance Act.

If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in the application or interview process, let us know at [email protected] and we'll work it out with you.