Senior Software Engineer - Backend/Python (USA Only - 100% Remote)

❄️ Please note: Our team will be on Winter Break from December 23rd - January 3rd. We will not be reviewing applications during this time. We will do our best to share an update on your candidacy promptly in the new year.

We are looking for US-based Software Engineers to join our team. Base salary range for Senior I & II is $140,000 to $210,000.

About Us

Close is a bootstrapped, profitable, 100% remote, ~100 person team of thoughtful individuals who prioritize taking ownership and making a meaningful impact. We’re eager to make a product our customers fall in love with over and over again.

We 💛 small scaling businesses. Since 2013, we’ve been building a CRM that focuses on better communication, without the hassle of manual data entry or a complex UI. We are out to supercharge sales productivity with the most modern, thoughtfully designed, all-in-one, communication-focused CRM. 

Our backend tech stack consists primarily of Python Flask web apps with our TaskTiger scheduler handling many of the backend asynchronous task processing chores. Our data stores include MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch, and Redis. The underlying infrastructure runs on AWS using a combination of managed services like EKS, MSK, RDS and ElasticCache and non-managed services running on EC2 instances. We have CI/CD pipelines that build Docker images, run automated tests and deploy to Kubernetes clusters. We also use these images in our local development environment allowing coding locally against all of our services. We have a well-documented public API that is consumed by our front-end JavaScript app as well as numerous integrations. Our infrastructure is heavily automated using Terraform, Ansible and other AWS tools.

Our product development process is inspired by Shape Up. We love open sourcing our code and ideas on our GitHub and on The Making of Close, our behind-the-scenes Product & Engineering blog. Check out our open source projects like SocketShark, TaskTiger, LimitLion and ciso8601.

About the Role

You will be joining one of our six cross-functional teams. These are the CRM, Admin & Onboarding, Conversations, Messaging & Scheduling, Automations & Integrations and Data Insights teams. You will be regularly collaborating with other backend & frontend engineers, product managers, designers, and other teams here at Close.

About You

We’re looking for high achieving, full-time Software Engineers to join our engineering team. Someone who has a good understanding in web technologies and wants to help design, implement, launch, and scale major systems and user-facing features.

You're comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with a small and talented team where you're supported in your efforts to grow professionally. You're able to manage your time well, communicate effectively, and collaborate in a fully distributed team.

Come help us with projects like...

• Conceiving, designing, building, and launching new user-facing features
• Implementing new AI features to turbocharge our customers’ daily tasks
• Improving the performance and scalability of our GraphQL and REST API
• Improving how we sync millions of sales emails and calendar events each month
• Working with Twilio's API, WebSockets, and WebRTC to improve our calling features
• Building user-facing analytics features that provide actionable insights based on sales activity data
• Improving our Elasticsearch-backed powerful search features
• Improving our internal messaging infrastructure using streaming technologies like Kafka and Redis 
• Building new and enhancing existing integrations with other SaaS platforms like Google’s G Suite, Zapier, and web conferencing providers
• Enhancing our web app with real-time updates powered by GraphQL Subscriptions
• Leveraging the latest AI LLMs from providers like OpenAI, Groq and AssemblyAI

Help manage our ever growing data processing needs…

• Billions of Mongo documents
• Millions and millions of rows of PostgreSQL data
• 55 Terabytes of logs / month
• 500 billion OTEL spans over the last 30 days
• 10+ million events / day
• Tens of thousands of docker containers
• 7 million minutes of call recordings / month
• Petabytes / month of network traffic

Requirements...

• Senior 1 & 2 level candidates should have 5+ years of experience building modern back-end systems. Staff level candidates should have 8+ years of experience. Mid-level candidates should have ~3 years of similar experience and be eager to level up with the right opportunity.
• Professional Python experience is preferred but a working knowledge of Python with additional experience in other languages is acceptable if you have a desire to work with Python.
• You have built web APIs that were Internet facing or supported other high volume loads.
• You have hands-on production experience working with MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch, or similar data stores. 
• You have experience designing, scaling, debugging, and optimizing systems to make them fast and reliable. 
• You have participated in code reviews and provided overall code quality suggestions to help maintain the structure and quality of the codebase. 
• You care about the craftsmanship of the code and systems you produce.
• Located in the USA (lower 48 timezones).

Bonus point if you have…

• Contributed open source code related to our tech stack.
• Led small project teams building and launching features.
• Built B2B SaaS products.
• Implemented features that leveraged AI to deliver unimaginable new product capabilities.
• Worked with complex architectures that support multiple APIs (e.g. REST, GQL, WebSockets) as well as async task and event processing frameworks.

🌏 Why Close?

• Watch our most recent culture video featuring our annual team retreat in Italy
• 100% remote company
• 5 weeks PTO + Winter & Summer Holiday Breaks with 2 additional PTO days for every year with the company
• 1 month paid sabbatical every 5 years
• Paid parental leave
• Medical, Dental, Vision with HSA option (US residents)
• 401k matching at 6% (US residents)
• Dependent care FSA (US residents)
• Our story and team 🚀

Our Values

• Build a house you want to live in -- Examine long-term thinking and action
• No BS -- Practice transparency and honesty, especially when it’s hard
• Invest in each other -- Build successful relationships with your coworkers and customers 
• Discipline equals freedom -- Keep your word to yourself and others
• Strive for greatness -- Constantly challenge yourself and others 

How We Work Together

• Productivity, Quality & Impact: We don’t track hours. We trust you’re an adult and know best how to prioritize, meet your goals and contribute at a high level. 
• Asynchronous communication & collaboration: We have team members all over the world. We don’t expect anyone to work untraditional hours, that means our default is async. Most teams have 2-5 hours of internal meetings weekly. 
• Appreciation for Deep Work: *During your normal work day, not after a day of meetings*. 
• Autonomy & Freedom: Create a work environment that is sustainable for you. We place a high amount of trust and responsibility with our team members from the start. 

Working from 22+ countries, we’re a collection of talented humans rich in diverse backgrounds, lifestyles, and cultures. Close has been 100% remote since 2016, creating an intentional workplace around asynchronous communication and collaboration. Every year we meet up somewhere around the world to spend time with one another. These gatherings are an opportunity to strengthen the relationships within our global community.

We practice a mature approach to the workplace -- manage your time effectively, communicate thoughtfully with your teammates and customers, and produce high quality work. We have impressive tenure amongst the team; we stay at Close because we love working with our colleagues, we appreciate the autonomy, and we thrive in an environment that challenges us to do our best work.

Unanimously, our favorite value is “Build a house you want to live in.” We make decisions that are rooted in helping our customers become more successful. We care equally about the health of our business and the wellbeing of our people. 

Our application process was designed to promote equitable and unbiased hiring practices. We ask a small series of questions that are similar to what would be asked in the first interview. This helps us learn more about you right from the start so please be sure to answer each question thoughtfully. Regardless of fit, you will hear back from us letting you know if we'll be moving forward.

While we are excited by all the opportunities that generative AI has unlocked, we request that you refrain from relying on AI tools when completing an application. We ask these questions because we want to get to know you, your experience, and your communication style. All responses are read closely by multiple humans and any obviously AI generated applications will be disregarded.

Interested in Close but don't think this role is the best fit for you? View our other positions.