Senior Software Engineer

At Hiya, we're making calls safe, useful, and human again.

Voice is the most human form of communication, yet it's become one of the least trusted. Spam, scams, and AI manipulation have eroded what was once a simple way to connect.

Each month our AI voice technology analyzes 28+ billion calls, protecting over 550 million users and 800+ businesses worldwide. Partnering with a growing global network including, AT&T, Samsung, British Telecom EE, Rogers, MasOrange,Bell Canada, MasMovil, and Virgin Media O2, we're not just stopping bad actors, we're helping people feel good and confident about picking up the phone again.

This is a pivotal moment for voice. As new threats and technologies accelerate, so does demand for trusted voice communication. Hiya is growing 40%+ year over year, expanding globally, and defining what voice becomes next.

Join us. You won't just work on what voice is today, you'll shape what it becomes tomorrow: smarter, safer, and genuinely worth answering again.

This role is part of a foundational team working at the intersection of backend systems, real-time voice infrastructure, and applied AI. You won't be maintaining legacy code or tweaking existing services—you'll be designing and building the backend platform from the ground up.

We're looking for engineers who get excited about greenfield architecture, who want to make early decisions that shape how a product scales, and who thrive when there's more whiteboard than runbook. As a Senior Backend Software Engineer, you'll design and build the backend services and APIs that power Hiya's next-generation voice products. This is a backend-first role with opportunities to work across the stack when it adds value.

Our team builds the platform at the intersection of voice, telephony, and artificial intelligence. Our work spans both audio intelligence (e.g., deepfake detection, speaker verification) and conversational AI, focused on building resilient, scalable systems that integrate into operator networks and enable our platform to perform in real-time telephony integrations.

• Design and build backend services and APIs from scratch using TypeScript / Node.js

• Build real-time voice systems: SIP/RTP media handling and STT/TTS pipelines with strict latency requirements

• Make foundational architecture decisions that will shape the platform for years to come

• Build systems that operate in real-time, high-availability voice environments

• Work with data stores and event streams, and manage deployments using Docker and Kubernetes (AWS)

• Collaborate with a distributed team (Seattle and Europe) with async-first norms

• This is a hybrid role with 3 days per week in office in Seattle and some travel required on an as-needed basis

• 4+ years of professional experience as a backend or backend-leaning full-stack engineer

• Strong fundamentals in backend architecture, API design, and data-driven systems

• Experience working with cloud infrastructure and CI/CD pipelines

• Comfort with ambiguity—you know how to make good decisions without a playbook

• Interest in applied AI, voice technology, or telephony (direct experience a plus, not required)

• Excellent communication and self-organization skills

Required:

• 3+ years of professional software engineering experience

• Strong depth in TypeScript or Python; demonstrated ability to work meaningfully in other languages

• Experience with Node.js backend development and modern web service patterns (REST APIs, async processing, event-driven systems)

• Familiarity with DevOps basics: containers (Docker), deployment workflows, and reading infrastructure configs (Terraform, Helm, or similar)

• Ability to work across Android or iOS code — you don't need to be a mobile specialist, but you can navigate a Kotlin or Swift codebase and make focused changes

• Strong written and verbal communication — you write clear tickets, clear PRs, and proactively flag blockers rather than going quiet

• Pragmatic judgment — you make sensible tradeoffs between speed and perfection and can explain why

• Autonomous on well-scoped work — once you understand the goal, you drive to completion without needing hand-holding

• Honest about what you don't know — you ask good questions early rather than disappearing and surfacing problems late

• Reliable throughput — you ship consistently and follow through on commitments

• Active use of AI tooling — you leverage AI-assisted coding as a force multiplier and have a point of view on where it creates real leverage in this kind of work

Preferred:

• Experience with VoIP or telephony (SIP, RTP, WebRTC) or interest in learning it

• Carrier or B2B platform context

• Experience with Databricks, Kafka, or streaming data pipelines

• Familiarity with AWS (DynamoDB, S3, Kinesis, EKS)

Hiya is not a passive environment. We expect people to take ownership, form opinions, and engage directly with hard problems.

We work with a high degree of transparency and autonomy. Context is shared openly, and decisions are discussed, challenged, and then made. Once a call is made, we commit and move forward.

You’ll be expected to work through ambiguity, weigh tradeoffs, and take responsibility for results—while keeping a high bar for quality and customer trust.

Every team member at Hiya is expected to live our core values:

• Serve, our customers and partners by holding a high bar for trust and quality

• Own, share in success and open up to failures

• Lead, listen, show up with a point of view but commit entirely once a decision has been made

• Improve, even if it means changing course or contradicting ourselves

• Do, rather than observe

At Hiya, our interview process is designed to evaluate candidates through real, experience-based work. We focus on understanding how you think, exercise judgment, use leverage (including AI), and collaborate, rather than how well you perform in traditional interviews.

Our standard interview process follows this sequence:

• Initial Screen: We confirm baseline alignment, role interest, relevant experience, and logistics.

• Hiring Manager (HM) Screen: We evaluate role fit, expectations, and execution readiness.

• Onsite Interview Loop: Each interviewer focuses on specific competencies, evaluating how you make decisions, navigate tradeoffs, and collaborate in real time

  • Live Working Assignment You’ll then participate in a live, role-relevant working session as part of an interview loop with multiple interviewers. This experience is designed to reflect how work is done at Hiya and focuses on your real-time problem-solving and collaboration skills.

    During the session, you’ll work through a problem live and walk interviewers through your thinking as you go. Interviewers will explore how you structure problems, communicate your reasoning, respond to questions and feedback, and adapt your approach in the moment. .

  • Future Hiya Value Interview: An independent conversation focused on your long-term potential, judgment under ambiguity, and ability to create sustained value as scope and complexity increase.

• Reference Check: As a final step, we connect with 2–3 past supervisors to gain additional perspective on your experience and working style, and to further understand how you align with Hiya’s values.

• Base Salary: $113,000-$197,000

  • Compensation is determined by role scope, skills, experience, location, and market data.

• Equity Compensation: ownership aligned with your impact and the company’s growth

• Employer-sponsored Insurance

  • Medical, dental, and vision (PPO & HDHP); 50% dependent coverage

  • Health, flexible spending, and dependent care accounts

  • Life, AD&D, and accident coverage, with company-paid life and long-term disability

• 401(k) with 3% company match (via Fidelity)

• Flexible vacation policy and paid company holidays

• Paid parental leave

• Work-from-home equipment stipend

• $1,000 annually to invest in your learning and growth

• $1,000/year in charitable donation matching

• Team lunch 2x per week

We're building a team with diverse perspectives, identities, and professional experiences. We evaluate candidates through a business lens and believe that diversity and unique viewpoints make our company stronger, more dynamic, and a great place to build a career.

We've been recognized by Built In, GeekWire, Comparably, G2, Forbes, and Deloitte Technology Fast 500 for our culture, innovation, leadership, compensation, and more. At Hiya, we're a people-centric company focused on helping each employee grow both personally and professionally. We create a culture of support and empowerment that challenges the status quo, resulting in an energized team that's passionate about their work. You'll love working here if you're looking for an innovative challenge that's disrupting an industry. Come join us!