Senior Staff Backend Engineer - Discovery AI Infrastructure & Enablement
Job Description
Faire, a leading online wholesale marketplace, is seeking a Senior Staff Backend Engineer to join their Discovery AI Infrastructure & Enablement team. This role represents an exciting opportunity to shape the future of e-commerce through advanced AI and search technologies.
The position combines deep technical expertise with strategic leadership, focusing on building and scaling next-generation Search and AI infrastructure. You'll be working at the intersection of machine learning, distributed systems, and search technology, implementing cutting-edge solutions including LLMs, semantic search, and vector retrieval systems.
As a technical leader, you'll be responsible for architecting systems that deliver personalized results with sub-100ms latency, while also developing infrastructure to support state-of-the-art search algorithms. The role requires balancing technical excellence with business impact, as you'll work closely with Data Scientists, Product Managers, and ML Engineers to translate business needs into scalable solutions.
Faire offers a compelling environment for experienced engineers, with a mission to empower independent retailers globally. The company is well-funded by top-tier investors and has a strong engineering culture that values rapid iteration, data-driven decision making, and impactful contributions. The hybrid work environment (2 days in office, increasing to 3 days in 2026) provides flexibility while maintaining collaborative opportunities.
The compensation package is competitive, ranging from $216,000 to $297,000 annually, plus equity and benefits. This role is perfect for someone who combines deep technical expertise in distributed systems and search infrastructure with a passion for using technology to level the playing field for independent businesses.
The ideal candidate will bring 8+ years of industry experience in distributed systems and 5+ years specifically in search and ranking systems. You should be comfortable with modern backend languages, have extensive experience with search frameworks and ML-driven systems, and possess strong leadership and communication skills.
Join Faire to be part of a mission-driven company that's using technology and data to revolutionize wholesale commerce and support local businesses globally. Your work will directly impact millions of entrepreneurs and help shape the future of local retail.
Responsibilities For Senior Staff Backend Engineer - Discovery AI Infrastructure & Enablement
- Build and optimize next-generation Discovery Search and AI stack
- Lead design and productionization of natural language search and intelligent discovery systems
- Tackle technical challenges in query understanding, retrieval efficiency, and ranking pipelines
- Develop infrastructure to support state-of-the-art search algorithms
- Shape technical strategy for applied AI across search and discovery
- Collaborate with Data Scientists, Product Managers, and ML Engineers
Requirements For Senior Staff Backend Engineer - Discovery AI Infrastructure & Enablement
- 8+ years of industry experience building and scaling distributed systems
- 5+ years working on search, ranking, or query understanding systems at scale
- Hands-on experience with traditional, semantic, and hybrid search frameworks
- Expertise in search indexing, retrieval, and ranking pipelines
- Experience with ML-driven search systems
- Strong knowledge of latency optimization
- Familiarity with AI/ML infrastructure
- Proficiency in modern backend language (Java, Kotlin, Go, or Python)
- Solid understanding of APIs, distributed data storage, and streaming systems
- Excellent communication skills and proven track record of technical leadership
Benefits For Senior Staff Backend Engineer - Discovery AI Infrastructure & Enablement
- Equity
- Benefits package (not specifically detailed in posting)
