Staff Platform/Backend Engineer

At Gabb, we're on a mission to bring back the magic of childhood.

Think outdoor adventures and real connections! We create safe tech that lets kids be kids, even in a digital world. Why? Because families deserve to stay connected without sacrificing safety. Our team is full of optimistic folks who love a good challenge (and having fun!). Join us as we champion a fearless approach to safe tech and help build a brighter future for families everywhere. ✨

What You'll Do

Gabb is seeking an exceptional Staff Platform Engineer to serve as a technical leader who will be at the forefront of our company's technology and execution in keeping kids safe. As a Staff Platform/Backend Engineer at Gabb, you will architect, develop, and maintain highly resilient backend services and platforms that operate with 24/7 uptime—because keeping kids safe cannot tolerate outages. You will drive technical excellence across teams, establishing and maintaining rigorous standards for high availability, scalability, and system reliability. This role requires someone who thinks holistically about the customer experience and can execute large-scale initiatives that directly fulfill the needs of families relying on Gabb's safe technology. You will be responsible for transforming systems that struggle with resiliency, uptime, or scalability into highly scalable, bulletproof architectures as quickly as possible. Your technical leadership will elevate engineering teams around you to consistently meet the highest standards of quality and reliability.

• Architect and implement consumer-facing, high-scale, high-availability systems with 99.9%+ uptime requirements
• Establish and maintain rigorous SLOs and SLAs, achieving them through quality architecture, comprehensive testing, monitoring, and proactive observability
• Design resilient system architectures including event-driven systems, microservices, and modular monolithic patterns with intelligent failover and recovery mechanisms
• Lead cross-functional technical discussions and communicate complex technical concepts effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Drive technical strategy for API gateways, caching layers, and service contracts that ensure system reliability and performance
• Mentor and elevate engineering teams, fostering a culture of technical excellence and customer-first thinking
• Proactively identify and resolve scalability bottlenecks before they impact our families
• Own end-to-end delivery of large-scope technical initiatives alongside engineering teams
• Implement comprehensive monitoring, alerting, and observability practices that prevent issues before they occur

• 8+ years of experience in software development with demonstrated expertise in building consumer-facing, high-scale, high-availability systems
• Proven track record of architecting and maintaining 24/7 uptime services with stringent SLA requirements
• Extensive experience in Python and/or PHP ecosystems, with deep knowledge of frameworks like Django and Laravel
• Strong experience with AWS infrastructure ecosystem and cloud-native architectures
• Expert-level understanding of event-driven architecture, microservices, API gateways, caching strategies, and distributed system patterns
• Demonstrated ability to design and implement resilient systems with automatic failover, circuit breakers, and recovery mechanisms
• Experience establishing monitoring, observability, and testing practices that proactively ensure system reliability
• Proven ability to take struggling systems and rapidly architect them into highly scalable, resilient platforms
• Exceptional communication skills with ability to influence and elevate technical teams
• Track record of thinking holistically about customer needs and translating them into technical solutions
• BS/MS degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent industry experience
• Experience with load testing, performance optimization, and capacity planning for high-traffic systems

• Experience in child safety, family tech, or mission-critical consumer applications
• Background with payment processing systems and PCI compliance
• Experience with container orchestration, service mesh architectures, and infrastructure as code
• Knowledge of security best practices for consumer-facing applications

While we value talent from everywhere, we are currently limited to hiring employees who reside in Utah. We appreciate your understanding.

Why You'll Love Gabb

🌎 Mission driven to protect kids and make a difference in the world

⚖️ Work-life balance with unlimited PTO, flexible/hybrid schedules, and more

🏥 Generously covered insurance premiums (up to 100% based on tenure)

💰 Stock options and 401(k) plan with employer match

🚀 Fast-paced startup environment with room for career growth

😎 Energetic and collaborative company culture (plus the coolest coworkers around)

🐶 Pet insurance to keep your furry friend happy and healthy

🫶 Get paid to give your time to the community 

Everyone’s Welcome Here

Gabb is an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. We welcome and encourage applications from all qualified individuals, regardless of background or identity. All applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability status, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic.