Censys’ mission is to be the one place to understand everything on the internet. Frustrated by the lack of trustworthy Internet intelligence, we set out to create the industry’s most comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date map of the Internet. Today, Censys delivers real-time Internet intelligence and actionable threat insights to global governments, over 50% of the Fortune 500, and leading threat intelligence providers worldwide.
Location:
This position is remote within the United States or Canada.
Role Summary:
We’re seeking a Backend Engineer to join our Threat Hunting and Advanced Solutions team. This team is responsible for building high-impact product features and workflows on top of the Censys platform.
In this role, you’ll design and deliver apis that power core experiences in the platform. You’ll collaborate closely with product, design, and engineering peers to deliver secure, resilient, and user-friendly workflows. Your work will directly shape how customers discover, investigate, and respond to threats on the Internet.
What You’ll Do:- Develop and maintain backend APIs in Go, including integrations with distributed data and AI-powered services.
- Design production-grade systems end-to-end, with a focus on scalability, fault tolerance, and spec-driven development.
- Model and query relational data (e.g., Postgres, MySQL), applying a deep understanding of SQL and database semantics (consistency models, isolation levels, indexing, and query optimization).
- Help push software to production by contributing to CI/CD pipelines, testing automation, deployment strategies, and implementing observability and monitoring practices to validate system behavior in distributed environments.
- Work cross-functionally with product managers and designers to plan and deliver impactful features.
What You’ll Bring:
- Backend Development
- Professional experience with backend languages (Go, Python, Java, etc) for building production services.
- Proficiency with SQL and a strong understanding of database semantics.
- Hands-on experience designing and implementing performant gRPC services.
- Collaboration with Frontend Engineers
- Partner closely with frontend engineers to deliver seamless end-to-end experiences..
- Ensure smooth integration between backend services and frontend applications.
- Quality and Reliability
- Strong commitment to building resilient, high-quality systems backed by effective testing strategies.
- Experience validating distributed system behavior beyond unit/integration tests.
- Familiarity with observability and monitoring tools; comfort handling sensitive data securely.
- Collaboration & Communication
- Ability to communicate technical information clearly to different audiences.
- Comfortable working in fast-paced, iterative development environments.
- Partner cross-functionally with product, design, and engineering peers to align on priorities and deliverables.
Bonus Points:
- Experience integrating backend services with AI/LLM systems.
- Familiarity with frontend performance considerations in data-heavy applications.
- Systems & Architecture
- Experience reasoning about system design tradeoffs (scalability, performance, resilience, fault tolerance).
- Familiarity with distributed systems concepts and messaging patterns (idempotency, retries, consensus, pub/sub).
- Proficiency with containerization and orchestration technologies (Docker, Kubernetes) and deploying services in cloud environments (GCP, AWS).
For high cost of living areas, the expected salary range for this position is $137,000 - $164,000.
For all other locations, the expected salary range for this position is $116,450 - $140,500.
In addition to our great compensation package, our benefits are effective on day one and include but are not limited to: 401k match, health, vision, dental, and more! Please see our careers page for more details.
Our roots are in Ann Arbor, Michigan and our innovation is fueled by the team’s global perspectives. For this role, we are open to remote employees across the continental US and Canada.
Note to external recruiters/agencies: We are not currently engaging with third-party agencies for this role and will not accept unsolicited outreach. We kindly ask that you do not submit resumes or candidate profiles to our team.
California Privacy Rights Notice
Pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), we are providing you with notice that we collect personal information from job applicants for business purposes, including evaluating your candidacy for employment, conducting interviews, and, if applicable, completing the hiring process. The categories of information we may collect include identifiers (such as name and contact information), professional or employment-related information (such as work history, education, and references), and other information you provide in your application. We do not sell or share your personal information. For more information on how we use and protect your personal information, and your rights under the CCPA, please refer to our Privacy Policy.
Top Skills
What We Do
At Censys we believe that cybersecurity is critical to the future of our global economy. And in order to evolve cybersecurity defenses, both the public and private sector need access to best-in-class intelligence data. By arming our customers with the visibility and insights that they need to protect against critical threats, Censys provides the intelligence needed to bolster cybersecurity capabilities worldwide.
Why Work With Us
We are a rapidly growing cyber security startup based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Our innovation is fueled by the team’s global perspectives and diverse backgrounds. We welcome healthy debate, constructive conversations, and outside-the-box thinking to ensure we are moving fast, learning things, and iterating quickly.
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