Software Engineer, Backend (Product)
claylabs
Job Score
100 ptsAbout Clay
Our mission is to help organizations turn any growth idea into reality.
We see growth as a creative practice, not a formula. Finding and reaching your best-fit customers takes unique ideas and constant iteration. As AI makes execution faster and tactics easier to copy, creativity is the only lasting advantage. We're already helping thousands of customers — including Anthropic, Notion, Google, and Ramp — go to market with unique data, signals, and AI research.
In 2025, we raised a $100M Series C backed by world-class investors including Sequoia, CapitalG, and First Round — and crossed $100M in revenue.
In 2026, we announced our second employee tender offer in 9 months at a new $5B valuation. We also launched a community equity round, for our customers, agency partners, and club members.
Some things to know about us:
Our community includes 11,000+ customers, 150+ integration partners, 125+ agencies, 50+ Clay clubs, and 30k members on Slack.
Our culture is unique inside and outside of work. Our team members are also DJs, activists, writers, clowns, marathoners, skydivers, psychedelic therapists, social workers, and more.
All employees can work for free with world-class coaches who specialize in creativity, management, and more.
Our operating principles — including negative maintenance and non-attached action — guide our work. Read more about them here.
Read about us in the NYT, Forbes, First Round Review, and more.
Hear from our employees directly on our Glassdoor page!
The Role:
We're looking for a backend product engineer to own the systems behind the parts of Clay our customers use every day. Clay is a product where the backend is the product — enrichment, signals, workflows, and agents are all surfaces where the engineering decision and the product decision are the same decision.
You'll own a surface end to end: deciding what to build with your design and GTM partners, shipping it quickly, watching real customers use it, and then making it faster, more reliable, and more capable. You'll wear both a PM hat and an engineering hat. There'll be no shortage of fun problems to explore and technical challenges to solve.
What You'll Do
Own a product surface end to end. From problem definition through shipped, measured outcome. You'll help decide what gets built, not just how.
Wear the PM hat. Scope your own work with design, data science, and GTM partners. Write the spec, cut what doesn't matter, make the call, and defend it.
Talk to customers directly. Sit in on calls, read the tickets, watch people work inside Clay. The best backend product decisions here come from watching someone hit the wall in real time.
Ship fast, then learn. Small teams, short cycles, low process. We'd rather get a real version in front of customers this month than a perfect one next quarter.
Build the systems that make features possible. Design the data models, APIs, and jobs behind new product capabilities — and keep them fast and reliable as usage climbs. Given our growth, real scaling problems land on your desk regularly, and solving them is part of shipping the product well.
Up-level the codebase. Negative maintenance is one of our operating principles. You'll improve the performance and reliability of Clay and raise the development velocity of the engineers around you.
Mentor and learn from other engineers. Help the team grow in the areas you're strong in, and learn from teammates with different strengths.
What You'll Bring
A proven track record of execution. 4+ years of hands-on engineering experience building products people actually use.
You want to be a product manager as well as an engineer. Our product engineers drive and own their surfaces end to end. If you'd rather be handed a fully-specced ticket, this isn't the role.
Strong backend fundamentals. API and schema design, SQL (preferably Postgres), query optimization, and the instinct to know when something will fall over before it does.
A bias toward impact and toward shipping. You're results-oriented, you sequence toward the version that teaches you the most, and you'd rather learn from production than from a doc.
You're an empathetic communicator. You express nuanced ideas clearly at different levels of abstraction for different audiences. In disagreements, you prioritize curiosity over confrontation, making sure everyone feels heard and understood.
You care about craft. You translate a solution into bug-free, easily understandable code and raise the engineering bar for those around you.
Having a diversity of perspectives is important to you. You believe that having people with different backgrounds and perspectives creates a better team and a more holistic product.
Nice To Haves
Experience working with systems and data at scale — large-scale high-performance data pipelines, event ingestion systems, or larger production systems generally.
Depth in any of: Redis, Postgres, ElasticSearch, or OpenSearch.
Advanced proficiency optimizing serverless workloads on AWS.
Experience building with LLMs or agents as a product surface, not just a tool.
Experience with our current tech stack:
React, Typescript, Python, Node.js
AWS services: Aurora (Postgres), Elasticache (Redis), Elastic Container Registry (ECR), ECS (Fargate), Lambda, OpenSearch
IaC: Terraform
Deployment tools: CircleCI, Netlify, Playwright
Observability tools: Cloudwatch, Datadog, Mezmo
About Software Development
Software Development is one of the most dynamic and constantly evolving fields in the job market. Professionals in this area are responsible for creating, maintaining, and optimizing web, mobile, and desktop applications that impact millions of users daily.
Key languages and frameworks include JavaScript (React, Node.js, Vue.js), Python (Django, Flask), Java (Spring), PHP (Laravel), and TypeScript. Demand for full-stack developers continues to grow, especially in tech companies and startups.
Salaries range from entry-level to senior positions, with growing opportunities for remote work and international freelancing.
About Product Management
Product Management is one of the most strategically relevant areas in technology organizations. The Product Manager is responsible for defining product vision, prioritizing features, and coordinating multidisciplinary teams to deliver value to users.
Essential skills include strategic thinking, data analysis, communication, leadership, and technical knowledge. Tools like Jira, Confluence, Miro, and analytics platforms are fundamental in daily work.
Salaries for PMs range from entry-level to senior positions at major tech companies, with growing opportunities for international remote work.
About Business Analysis
The Business Analyst (BA) is the professional responsible for identifying problems, opportunities, and solutions in organizational processes, acting as a bridge between business areas and the technology development team. They gather and specify requirements, map value streams, design future processes, and help ensure that software deliveries align with the company's strategic goals.
About Public Relations
The Public Relations (PR) area focuses on managing the reputation, image, and communication of an organization with its various stakeholders (such as clients, investors, employees, media, and the community). PR professionals develop corporate communication strategies, manage media relations (press relations), organize institutional events, and work in image crisis prevention and management.
Discover Other Areas
Understand the scope of work, key skills, and tools used in different career areas.
About Photography
The Photography area encompasses the capture, editing, and processing of static images for commercial, advertising, editorial, or artistic purposes. Professionals in this field master lighting techniques, visual composition, camera and lens operation, as well as the use of specialized editing and post-processing software such as Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom.
About Backend
The Backend area is responsible for all server logic, APIs, databases, and infrastructure that support web and mobile applications. Backend professionals ensure that systems are scalable, secure, and performant.
Key skills include languages like PHP, Java, Python, Ruby, Go, and Node.js, frameworks like Laravel, Spring Boot, Django, and Express, databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis), software architecture (clean architecture, DDD, microservices), and API security (OAuth, JWT).
Backend developers in technology companies are highly valued, especially those who master microservices architecture, cloud computing, and high-scale performance. The field offers opportunities from junior developer to software architect, with a focus on scalability, security, and efficiency.
About Branding
Branding is the area responsible for building, managing, and strengthening a brand's identity and market value. Branding professionals create strategies that define how the brand is perceived by the public, from the logo to the complete customer experience.
Key skills include brand strategy, visual identity, brand guidelines, positioning, naming, brand voice, market research, brand equity, and brand management. Knowledge of graphic design (Figma, Illustrator, Photoshop), storytelling, and brand experience is a differentiator.
Branding professionals in technology companies are highly valued, especially those who master employer branding, digital branding, and can build strong, memorable brands in competitive markets. The field offers opportunities from brand designer to head of brand, with a focus on identity, differentiation, and perceived value.
About Administrative
The Administrative area is responsible for ensuring the efficient functioning of all organizational operations. Administrative professionals manage processes, human resources, procurement, and facility management.
Key skills include process management, Office 365, administrative ERPs, compliance, and people management. Knowledge of automation and AI tools is becoming increasingly relevant.
The digitization of administrative processes has created new opportunities for professionals who master technology and management.
About Office Suite
Proficiency in Office Suite is an essential skill for professionals across various areas. Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook are fundamental tools in the corporate day-to-day, while Google Workspace and other collaborative solutions are gaining increasing space.
Key skills include advanced Excel (formulas, pivot tables, Power Query, VBA/Macros), Word (formatting, mail merge, styles), PowerPoint (presentation design, animations), Outlook (email and calendar management), and collaborative tools like Google Sheets, Notion, and Airtable.
Professionals with advanced Office Suite proficiency are valued in administrative, financial, data, and operational areas. Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certifications are important differentiators. The combination of advanced Excel with data analysis skills is one of the most in-demand competencies in the market.