Staff Software Developer, Backend Streams
Posted Updated
Summary
Staff-level backend engineer at Leap Tools (makers of Roomvo) who drives the architecture of the ETL and data-processing systems that ingest customer product catalogs, focusing on scalable, high-throughput distributed systems. Core stack: Python, Django, Kubernetes, PostgreSQL, OpenSearch, AWS; remote-first from Toronto.
At Leap Tools, we are building the world's most advanced solutions for the interior décor industry. With customers in 80+ countries, our clientele includes Fortune 500 companies such as Home Depot, local retailers such as Alexanian's, and everything in between. We have been recognized as one of the fastest-growing tech companies by Deloitte for multiple years in a row, and we are looking for ambitious challenge-seekers to fuel our momentum and help us create an iconic global tech company.
About our product
Our technology lets you preview products in your own room before you buy them. Imagine you want to redesign your home and have been searching for new tiles for your kitchen, or a new rug for your living room. You definitely want to make sure it will look good in your space. We enable you to do that through our proprietary cutting-edge technology, presented in an extraordinarily simple and accessible way. Try our rug demo now! Simply upload a picture of your room using your mobile phone, and slide the rug under your coffee table: https://www.roomvo.com/rugdemo...
About you
You have a passion for solving complex problems and working on products used by millions of people. You enjoy setting the bar high and clearing it. You can lead by example, but you know when to step aside and let the team run with the ball. Your technical knowledge is matched only by your passion to design, create, and succeed with others.
You are comfortable working deep in complex data and distributed systems. You enjoy reasoning about throughput, latency, reliability, bottlenecks, failure modes, and large-scale data movement. You know that making a system 10x faster or dramatically more reliable often requires understanding it from first principles rather than simply adding more infrastructure.
You want to build on your experience. You are interested in making a big impact, but perhaps you are currently limited in your growth potential. Join us and you will work directly with our talented engineering team to push our product to new heights
We hire humans, not job descriptions. You should apply even if this role doesn't align with your experience. We’re happy to create unique roles and compensation for the right talent.
About our stack
- Python, Django, Kubernetes, PostgreSQL, AWS
What you'll do
- Drive the architecture and evolution of the ETL and data processing systems that ingest customer product catalogs into Leap Tools' internal product catalog platform.
- Design systems capable of reliably processing large and highly variable datasets from thousands of customers, dealing with complex schemas, transformations, validation rules, dependencies, and imperfect source data.
- Identify and eliminate performance bottlenecks across data ingestion, transformation, persistence, indexing, and retrieval, continually improving throughput and end-to-end processing latency.
- Design distributed processing systems that scale horizontally while maintaining strong guarantees around correctness, idempotency, fault tolerance, retries, and recovery.
- Help evolve the architecture of one of the most complex and foundational areas of the Leap Tools platform as our product catalog continues to grow in size and complexity.
- Partner with product and engineering leadership to define technical direction, identify foundational investments, and plan for scale and performance.
- Serve as a force multiplier by mentoring senior engineers, conducting architecture reviews, and enabling high-quality, high-velocity development across teams.
- Champion engineering excellence and set the technical bar for backend systems in terms of scalability, resiliency, observability, and maintainability.
- Lead cross-functional initiatives that span multiple teams and stakeholders across the business.
- Help shape the long-term technical vision and culture of the engineering organization.
- Influence hiring, onboarding, and growth strategies to ensure a strong and healthy team over time.
We’re looking for someone with
- 8+ years of software development experience building and operating scalable, reliable systems in production environments.
- Strong experience designing and operating complex ETL pipelines, data processing platforms, or other high-throughput data-intensive systems.
- Strong understanding of distributed systems concepts, including concurrency, partitioning, consistency, idempotency, retries, failure recovery, and horizontal scaling.
- Experience with performance engineering: profiling complex systems, identifying bottlenecks, understanding resource utilization, and materially improving throughput and latency.
- Experience working with large datasets and designing efficient approaches to transformation, persistence, indexing, and retrieval.
- Deep understanding of computer science fundamentals, including algorithms, data structures, networking, and databases.
- Proven experience designing and scaling distributed systems with a focus on performance, observability, reliability, and fault tolerance.
- Strong architectural instincts and the ability to make high-leverage technical decisions that impact multiple teams and systems.
- Demonstrated ability to influence and mentor senior engineers, guide teams through ambiguity, and elevate engineering practices across the board.
- Exceptional ownership mindset — you drive initiatives forward, raise the bar, and deliver lasting impact.
- Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.
- Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, high-autonomy, product-driven environment.
- Experience with data engineering, data ingestion platforms, product catalogues, e-commerce data, search systems, or similar domains is strongly preferred.
- Familiarity with our stack (Python, Django, Kubernetes, PostgreSQL, OpenSearch, AWS) is strongly preferred, but deep expertise in analogous systems and a willingness to learn are welcome.
About our culture
- We're a remote-first company that encourages our employees to work from where they're most productive.
- We work in tight-knit teams to cultivate an ownership mentality.
- We cherish curiosity and an obsession for details because we know these details are invaluable over the long run.
- We're hyper-focused on our achievements and our ability to execute our promises. We act with urgency.
- Work anywhere in the world for up to 3 months!
- We value families, by offering a parental leave program
- We offer a work-from-home stipend
- Your birthday (and our company's birthday) is a day off!
About our hiring process
- You upload your resume and complete a brief questionnaire.
- Three rounds of technical assessment.
- Culture fit assessment.
- Final interview with leadership.
- Offer
AI in Recruitment - At Leap Tools, we leverage AI technology to enhance our recruitment process. These tools assist with tasks such as resume screening, sourcing prospective candidates, and to support administrative tasks for enhanced operational efficiency. Founders and senior leadership are directly involved in our recruitment process, and AI is never used to make the final hiring decision. We are committed to the responsible use of AI in our hiring practices.
This is a net new position on the team.
Leap Tools is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive, equitable, and accessible environment. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the interview process. If you require any accommodation, please contact us at ta@leaptools.com
Take the Leap. Apply now.
Our demo, in case you missed it:
You should apply to this job even if you don't fit this role perfectly because we can create a new role for you with corresponding compensation.
