Software Engineer, Backend
Tessera Labs is hiring a Software Engineer, Backend in San Jose, United States. It pays $180k-$250k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Tessera Labs.
Level's read on this job
- Little AI ●○○○ is how Level rates this software engineer role: aI is not part of the work.
- Pay on this posting starts 8% higher than the typical software engineer posting on Level.
- The posting mentions AI agents and AI automation among its tools and skills.
- Level classes it as a mid-level role.
- Tessera Labs has 34 other open roles on Level.
AI in this role
At Tessera Labs, we’re revolutionizing business process automation with cutting-edge AI technology. Backed by Foundation Capital and led by a world-class founding team, we’re building a high-impact engineering group to bring AI-powered automation to the enterprise world.
Our multi-agent AI systems transform complex business workflows—eliminating inefficiencies, optimizing operations, and enabling seamless integrations across platforms like SAP, Salesforce, and Workday. We move fast, solve hard problems, and build at the bleeding edge of AI.
About the Role
We’re looking for a Backend Engineer (Mid-Level) who thrives in a fast-paced, high-ownership startup environment. You’ll help design, build, and maintain the backend systems that power Tessera’s AI automation platform — including scalable APIs, data pipelines, and integrations with enterprise systems.
This role is hands-on and ideal for someone who enjoys building distributed systems, solving challenging backend problems, and contributing to architectural discussions in a collaborative, fast-moving team.
Key Responsibilities
Core Development
Design, develop, and maintain RESTful APIs and backend services using Python (FastAPI, SQLAlchemy).
Build reliable microservices that support data processing, automation, and AI system integrations.
Implement and optimize database schemas, queries, and caching for performance and scalability.
Contribute to data pipelines and synchronization services across enterprise integrations.
AI & Systems Integration
Connect backend services with AI model servers, vector databases, and automation workflows.
Enable smooth data exchange between AI agents and enterprise systems like Salesforce, SAP, and Workday.
Scalability & Reliability
Identify and fix performance bottlenecks in backend code and databases.
Implement caching, monitoring, and logging to ensure system reliability and observability.
Collaborate with DevOps to deploy and maintain cloud-based services on AWS or GCP.
Security & Quality
Implement secure authentication and authorization (OAuth2, RBAC, SSO).
Follow best practices in code quality, testing, and documentation.
Participate in code reviews and contribute to improving backend architecture.
Collaboration & Ownership
Work closely with frontend, AI, and product teams to deliver new features.
Take initiative in identifying improvements and building practical, scalable solutions.
Balance speed and long-term scalability in a fast-moving environment.
Qualifications
3–5 years of backend development experience with a focus on APIs, distributed systems, or cloud infrastructure.
Proficient in Python, with experience using FastAPI, SQLAlchemy, or similar frameworks.
Experience with PostgreSQL/MySQL and data modeling best practices.
Familiarity with Redis, message queues (Kafka, RabbitMQ, Pub/Sub), and asynchronous processing.
Experience with cloud storage solutions such as AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Azure Blob Storage.
Understanding of API authentication, security, and scalability principles.
Strong debugging, testing, and performance optimization skills.
Bonus Points
Experience integrating AI/ML models into backend systems.
Familiarity with event-driven architectures or workflow automation systems.
Prior experience in startups or high-growth tech companies.
No third party may recruit, solicit candidates, publish job opportunities, use Tessera Labs’ name or branding, or represent that they are acting on behalf of Tessera Labs without prior written authorization. Any such activity conducted without explicit written consent is strictly prohibited.
How we rate this
Software Engineer, Backend at Tessera Labs rates 15 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Little AI. AI is not part of the work.
- ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
- ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
- ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
- ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39
Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Also common in software engineer jobs at this level
Pay
- This job starts at
- $180k
- Typical software engineer job
- $167k
This posting starts 8% above the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs
Questions you could be asked
- How do you decide when an AI agent can act on its own versus asking for approval first?
- Tell me about a workflow you automated with AI tools, end to end.
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: AI agents and AI Automation. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
- Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
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