Senior Backend and Data Engineer - Strategy & Operations

Who we are:

Alignable is the largest online network of small business owners, with over 10 million members across North America. Our mission is to empower small businesses by helping them build trusted relationships and grow through referrals, connections, and community.

We don't just connect business owners—we unlock the hidden potential in their existing networks by revealing second- and third-degree relationships that drive real business growth. Think of it like this: when a software engineer realizes their college roommate's older brother is the hiring manager at the startup they want to join, or when a founder discovers their neighbor's former colleague is exactly the technical co-founder they need—that's our platform at work, but for small businesses. We built the technology that makes those invisible connections visible.

Here's the technical challenge we've solved: we're processing relationship data across 30,000+ communities, building recommendation engines that surface the most valuable connections, and creating trust-based networking algorithms that actually work. This isn't just social networking—it's relationship intelligence at scale.

With 20,000+ new freemium members joining every week, we’re scaling proven technology that millions of entrepreneurs depend on. As a profitable Series C company, we’re expanding a business that already works.

Your work here directly impacts the backbone of the American economy. Small businesses employ nearly half of all U.S. workers, and when your code helps them find customers, suppliers, or services through trusted referrals, you’re making a tangible difference in millions of lives.

If you want to empower the small business owner through a networking platform unlike any other, let's talk.

What you will be doing:

Senior Backend and Data Engineer – Strategy & Operations (AI/Data)

(open to strong mid-level candidates as well)

This is more than a typical engineering role. You’ll be the dedicated engineer embedded in our small Strategy & Operations team, building AI-first solutions that ensure every facet of Alignable is AI-powered and data-driven—transforming how Alignable operates internally. From customer support automation to sales agents, data pipelines, and internal AI tools, you’ll own projects that change how the entire company runs.

Many engineers are like skilled mechanics: hand them a work order, and they’ll fix the car brilliantly. We need someone who goes further — who steps into the garage, looks at all the cars, talks to the drivers, and decides not just how to fix them, but which ones actually matter — and sometimes, whether we should skip the cars altogether and buy a bus.

You’ll work closely with executives and business leaders, reporting into our Sr. Director of Engineering with a dotted line to our VP of Strategy & Operations. This is a high-visibility role where your work impacts the whole company.

Your Focus Areas:

- Data Engineering & Infrastructure (50%) — Design and maintain Snowflake pipelines, DBT models, and ETL/ELT systems; Write complex SQL and ensure scalable, reliable data flows powering AI agents and BI

- Backend/API Development (40%) — Build backend services and integrations in Elixir, Ruby, or Python (language flexible); Create MCP servers, agent orchestration, and LLM integrations that unlock AI use cases

- AI Agent and Development Support (10%) — Utilize LLMS, models, and MCP tools to solve sticky business problems, hard development problems, and replace cumbersome workflows 

About our tech stack:

- Data Engineering (primary focus): Snowflake data warehouse, DBT for transformations, building and maintaining data pipelines, Cortex

- Backend: Phoenix/Elixir (modern stack), Ruby on Rails (legacy), GraphQL APIs

- Frontend: React with TypeScript (you'll touch this, not own it)

- AI Infrastructure: Evolving but currently includes Claude, OpenAI, N8N, agent orchestration, LLM integrations 

Who thrives here?

- You’ve built data pipelines that solved real business problems (not just moved data around)

- You can sit with a Sales VP or business user, ask the right questions, and walk away knowing what to build to solve their problem

- You get excited about making AI agents do useful work, not just impressive demos

- You’re comfortable saying “I don’t know this tech yet, but I’ll figure it out”

- You prefer shipping working solutions over perfect architecture

• In your first 30 days, you’ve shipped something real — a working pipeline, automation, or backend service that immediately makes someone’s job easier.
• By 90 days, you’ve delivered multiple AI-powered solutions (agents, workflow automations, dashboards, or integrations) that measurably improve efficiency, reduce manual work, or unlock new insights.
• Within 6 months, you’ve built reusable backend and data infrastructure (Snowflake/DBT models, MCP servers, APIs) that other teams can leverage.
• You consistently balance urgency and scale — knowing when to hack fast to unlock value, and when to invest in longer-term durability.
• You’re a trusted partner to executives and stakeholders, taking messy, high-value problems and rapidly turning them into clear, working technical solutions.

• Ability to combine technical chops with business judgment
• Naturally ask “why are we building this?” and “what’s the fastest path to impact?”
• Make smart speed/quality tradeoffs without waiting for permission
• Can independently digest messy business requirements and turn them into solutions
• Strong business analysis instincts — know the right questions to ask stakeholders
• Work seamlessly with business stakeholders (not just technical peers)
• Proactively identify problems and solutions before being asked
• Already use AI tools daily and have experimented with MCP servers, AI agents, or similar
• Excited about building AI systems, not just using them
• Comfortable in the “figure it out” world of rapidly evolving AI tools
• Comfort being the sole engineer on projects while knowing when to loop in peers
• Thrive in a remote-first environment with dotted-line reporting across Strategy & Engineering

• 8–10 years of backend or full stack engineering experience, with hands-on exposure to front-end tools (e.g., React/TypeScript) for light UI work when needed. Backend/data engineering should be your core strength.
• Strong SQL and data modeling skills (Snowflake experience a big plus)
• Proficiency in ETL/ELT pipelines (DBT preferred; Airflow/Fivetran also welcome)
• Experience building backend services and APIs (any modern language; Elixir is a bonus)
• Comfort picking up new languages/frameworks quickly

• Hands-on use of AI tools, agents, or LLM integrations (personal or professional)

• High-Impact Work: Your projects won’t sit in a backlog—you’ll be building the AI systems that change how a 10M+ member SaaS company operates and scales.
• Visibility & Growth: You’ll work directly with senior leadership, gaining exposure beyond engineering—perfect for future founders, tech leads, or operator-engineers.
• Exceptional Remote-First Culture: Collaborate with colleagues who’ve scaled companies like Invisalign, Constant Contact, and Vistaprint. Work from anywhere (East Coast hours required).
• Inclusive Environment: Our culture emphasizes psychological safety, diversity of thought, and continuous learning. Bring your authentic self—we want the whole you.

• Smart, supportive co-workers
• Competitive compensation
• Equity
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• Unlimited vacation policy
• Virtual working environment
• Flexible working hours
• Paid Parental leave
• Professional Development Program
• 401(k)

• 🎉 Enjoy the Journey: We're passionate about our mission but don't take ourselves too seriously. We celebrate customers, teammates, and key moments.
• 🤝 Be Stronger Together: We combine strengths, build trusted relationships, and treat everyone as partners. No egos welcome.
• 🌈 Be Different Together: We create space for everyone to show up as their truest selves and seek diverse perspectives.
• 👑 Act Like an Owner: We proactively act on behalf of the entire company and customers, not just ourselves. No passing the buck.
• 🎯 Change the Game: We start with first principles, assume nothing is impossible, and go after 10x outcomes relentlessly.
• 📈 Adapt & Evolve: We accept we won't be right every time and create an environment where people feel safe to admit failure and lean into learning.
• 🧠 Exercise Excellent Judgment: We turn knowledge into understanding based on equal parts data and intuition.
• ⚡ Profound Bias for Action: Speed matters. We value calculated risk-taking while avoiding one-way doors.
• ❤️ Be Customer Obsessed: We work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust in everything we decide to work on and how we do it.

Alignable is an equal opportunity employer and encourages all applicants from every background and life experience without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.