Recognized as the No. 1 site trusted by real estate professionals, Realtor.com® has been at the forefront of online real estate for over 25 years, connecting buyers, sellers, and renters with trusted insights and expert guidance to find their perfect home. Through its robust suite of tools, Realtor.com® not only makes a significant impact on the real estate industry at large, but for consumers, navigating the biggest purchase they will make in their life, by providing a user experience that is easy to use, easy to understand, and most of all, easy to make decisions.
Join us on our mission to empower more people to find their way home by breaking barriers to entry, making the right connections, and building confidence through expert guidance.
We are seeking a Sr. Backend Software Engineer — News & Insights (T3) to join our technology team. The News & Insights team shapes the platform behind Realtor.com's content platform (realtor.com/news), a decoupled, headless system that serves millions of readers and distributes content to top-tier partners like MSN, Yahoo, and The Wall Street Journal.
In this role, you will serve as our primary backend and operational SME, working alongside our dedicated frontend engineer and WordPress content partners. You will own our backend services, manage cloud infrastructure, and build the data integrations that power new high-scale initiatives—including our upcoming AI-powered hyperlocal content platform. Working in a small, high-impact team, you will bridge the gap between backend engineering, cloud deployment, and system observability.
What you’ll do:
Backend Systems & AI Application Ownership
Core Backend & Node.js Services: Own, design, and scale performant Node.js microservices, GraphQL schemas/persisted query workflows, and API surfaces connecting frontend applications and CMS databases.
Hyperlocal Content Platform: Serve as the primary backend owner as we integrate and scale an AI-generated local content engine—expanding publishing capabilities across thousands of localized market destinations.
Caching & Performance: Manage multi-layered caching architectures (CDN/edge caching, object caching, ISR) to maintain high system throughput, low latency, and rapid data freshness.
DevOps, AWS Infrastructure & Operations
CI/CD & Deployments: Take operational ownership of our automated deployment pipelines (e.g., CircleCI), ensuring safe, fast, and repeatable production releases.
AWS & Infrastructure Management: Maintain and optimize cloud infrastructure (AWS) supporting our News & Insights application stack.
Observability & Health: Drive platform stability by implementing logging, monitoring, and alerting frameworks to diagnose system bottlenecks and prevent downtime.
Engineering Quality & Leadership
AI-Native Workflows: Integrate modern AI coding tools into daily development processes to boost engineering velocity while evaluating generated code for security and performance.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with product managers, newsroom stakeholders, and frontend engineers to define backend roadmaps, lead technical design sessions, and participate in Agile ceremonies.
Architectural Mentorship: Lead backend execution at the Senior (T3) level while collaborating with Principal Engineers on higher-level architecture and scaling decisions.
What you’ll bring:
Experience & Expertise
5+ years of software engineering experience with a strong backend foundation and proven production ownership.
Backend Stack: Deep experience with modern JavaScript/TypeScript on the server side (Node.js heavily preferred).
Infrastructure & Operations Exposure: Hands-on experience managing CI/CD pipelines, containerized deployments, cloud hosting (AWS), and monitoring/logging platforms.
Technical Skills
APIs & Data Layers: Experience with GraphQL (schema design, query optimization, persisted queries) and RESTful API architectures.
Caching & Delivery: Understanding of edge caching, CDN behavior, and cache invalidation strategies for high-traffic platforms.
AI & Content Systems (Nice-to-Have): Familiarity with AI applications/agents, content management systems (CMS), or scaling localized data pipelines.
Testing & Quality: Proficiency with automated test suites (unit, integration, end-to-end) to safeguard production reliability.
Professional Qualities
Broad Ownership Mindset: Comfortable moving flexibly between backend code and infrastructure rather than staying strictly in a narrow engineering lane.
Pragmatic Problem-Solving: Ability to evaluate technical trade-offs and communicate backend architecture clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent professional experience.
Note: Direct WordPress expertise is not required, as day-to-day WordPress development is handled by dedicated team specialists. We are looking for a strong backend engineer who can comfortably own server-side systems and continuous delivery.
Do the best work of your life at Realtor.com®
Here, you’ll partner with a diverse team of experts as you use leading-edge tech to empower everyone to meet a crucial goal: finding their way home. And you’ll find your way home too. At Realtor.com®, you’ll bring your full self to work as you innovate with speed, serve our consumers, and champion your teammates. In return, we’ll provide you with a warm, welcoming, and inclusive culture; intellectual challenges; and the development opportunities you need to grow.
Diversity is important to us, therefore, Realtor.com® is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of age, color, national origin, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital status, status as a disabled veteran and/or veteran of the Vietnam Era or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. In addition, Realtor.com® will provide reasonable accommodations for otherwise qualified disabled individuals.
Skills Required
- 5+ years of web development experience
- Strong knowledge of modern JavaScript or TypeScript and frameworks such as React or Next.js
- Backend development experience in any language, such as Node.js, PHP, Python, Java, or Ruby
- Experience designing APIs and working across frontend and backend systems
- Experience with GraphQL, including schema design, queries, and GraphQL clients, or strong API design fundamentals with willingness to learn GraphQL
- Knowledge of TypeScript and modern CSS approaches
- Experience with responsive layouts, accessibility, and performance optimization
- Ability to troubleshoot frontend performance, Core Web Vitals, bundle size, SSR, SSG, ISR, caching, accessibility, layout, and cross-browser issues
- Experience with SEO and page performance optimization
- Experience with CDN or edge caching, object caching, and static or incremental rendering
- Experience with digital accessibility and WCAG; manual assistive-technology testing is a plus
- Experience with Jest, React Testing Library, and Playwright or similar testing tools
- Experience with AWS services and modern CI/CD systems
- Experience with build systems and transpilers such as webpack, Babel, or SWC
- Ability to present technical concepts and trade-offs to engineering and business audiences
- Strong communication skills and a growth and learning mindset
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, a related field, or equivalent professional experience
What We Do
For years, millions of home shoppers have turned to realtor.com® to find their dream home. Operated by Move, Inc., realtor.com® offers a comprehensive list of for-sale properties, as well as the information and tools to make informed real estate decisions. Today, more than ever, realtor.com® is The Home of Home Search℠. Realtor.com® also offers homeowners a bevy of useful tools and resources through the My Home℠ dashboard. My Home℠ dashboard allows property owners to manage their home like the important investment it is by tracking their home’s value over time, researching and managing home improvements, and scouting other similar properties in the neighborhood.
Why Work With Us
The way home begins with you. With a diverse team of experts alongside you, you’ll help us reach new heights at the forefront of the digital real estate space. Bring your extensive knowledge and deep expertise and collaborate with other passionate visionaries to lead our industry and revolutionize the way people find home, in every form.
Gallery
Realtor.com Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
Enjoy the flexibility of our hybrid policy—simply choose whichever three days a week work best for you to come into any of our offices.
