About this role.
Future is hiring a Staff Backend Engineer to build and scale APIs, core services, data pipelines, business systems, and customer-facing health-product features. The role requires 8+ years of backend/API development experience and strong hands-on expertise in Go, AWS, Docker/ECS, PostgreSQL/RDS, and microservices. This engineer will partner closely with product managers and cross-functional engineering teams while balancing reliable infrastructure work with rapid feature delivery. Responsibilities include database performance optimization, automated testing, monitoring, alerting, and roughly one week of on-call support per month. The position is remote-first for employees located in the continental United States.
Role DNA
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Core skills
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Sample interview questions
I would begin by clarifying user flows, data ownership, privacy needs, expected traffic, and failure modes. I would define a versioned API contract, establish clear service boundaries, implement authentication and authorization, and use observability from the start. I would validate the design with stakeholders, build automated unit and integration tests, and set measurable latency, reliability, and error-rate targets.
I start with production metrics and slow-query data to identify the highest-impact bottlenecks. I use EXPLAIN ANALYZE to understand query plans, then address issues through appropriate indexing, query rewrites, reduced data scans, pagination, connection management, and schema changes where necessary. I verify improvements through load testing and monitoring while ensuring changes are safely rolled out.
I would use reproducible, minimal container images; infrastructure as code; secure configuration and secret management; health checks; resource limits; autoscaling; and staged deployments. Each service should emit structured logs, metrics, and traces, with dashboards and alerting tied to user-impacting service-level objectives. I would also maintain runbooks and test rollback procedures so on-call engineers can resolve incidents quickly.
I distinguish between reversible and hard-to-reverse decisions, moving quickly on experiments while investing more design effort in foundational systems and sensitive data paths. I define a minimum safe solution that includes tests, monitoring, and documented tradeoffs, then prioritize follow-up work based on operational evidence and product value. This preserves velocity without creating unmanaged reliability risk.
I would first assess impact, scope, and recent changes using dashboards, logs, traces, and deployment history. I would mitigate user impact quickly through rollback, traffic controls, or a targeted fix, communicate status clearly, and continue diagnosis once the service is stable. Afterward, I would lead a blameless review and turn findings into concrete prevention work such as tests, alerts, capacity improvements, or runbook updates.
About Us:
Future is building a personalized guidance system for lifelong health. We help people understand what to do next for their body, goals, and stage of life — then support them in turning those decisions into sustained behavior change. By combining AI, human expertise, personal health data, and accountability, Future helps members improve performance today while building the resilience, capacity, and healthspan they need for decades to come.
About the Role
Backend engineers at Future operate at all levels — building out core services, data pipelines, essential business systems, developer operations, and customer-facing features.
We’re responsible for the entirety of product surfaces across user and trainer experiences, and the initiatives we drive span across foundational core infrastructure to rapid feature iteration. Backend engineers work closely with several engineering teams & product managers to deliver the APIs, infrastructure, and scalability needed for every initiative.
You will:
- Design, implement, and test APIs for new products, features, and services
- Maintain and optimize existing systems, with emphasis on database-related performance
- Collaborate with other engineers across the stack as well as cross-functional stakeholders
- Keep up to date with the latest technologies and industry best practices, and encouraging fellow engineers to do so
- Serve as on-call engineer approximately one week per month, responsible for triaging incoming issues during non-working hour
You have:
- Great Product thinking. You think about the end user experience when you are building to consider whether the features you are building are not only meeting requirements but delighting users.
- 8+ years of production development experience, specifically working on backend / API
- Scrappiness and pragmatism. We are a small and fast-moving startup and value someone who can continually weigh tradeoffs to balance engineering excellence with velocity.
- Strong knowledge of Go, AWS, Docker (ECS), Postgres (RDS)
- Proven ability to employ software quality measures during development, such as unit/integration testing, monitoring, alerting
- Experience managing Docker-based microservice architecture
- Experience working in a fast-moving startup environment. You are adaptable to shifting priorities, and have a proven track record of cutting through asks to build what matters.
- Nice to have: experience working with ETL, with keen intuition for optimized database performance
Compensation, Benefits & Life at Future:
- Salary range: $200,000 – 230,000 / year + equity. The salary range is set based on multiple considerations including business needs, market demands, talent availability, experience, and unique skills and attributes. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future.
- Health coverage: All employees have access to comprehensive medical, vision, dental, and disability insurance + tax savings accounts
- 401(k) plan
- Flexible Paid Time Off
- Future Membership: Enjoy our platform for free!
- Health, Wellness & Development: Health and fitness monthly stipend contributes to our employees’ overall wellbeing, with access to a mental health platform, reimbursement for medical travel, and an annual learning & development stipend.
- Remote First: Employment eligible to employees located anywhere in the continental US. No travel required.
- Join a diverse, passionate & driven team of all backgrounds.
#LI-Remote
Life at Future
Equity: Meaningful equity package.
Health Coverage: All employees who meet eligibility requirements receive comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and disability insurance, plus tax-advantaged savings accounts.
Retirement: 401(k) plan.
Wellness: Monthly wellness stipend for fitness, recovery, and overall wellbeing, plus access to mental health resources and therapy support.
Flexible Time Off: Flexible PTO so you can rest, recharge, and take care of life outside of work.
Learning & Development: Annual budget for courses, conferences, coaching, and tools that help you grow in your craft.
Future Membership: Enjoy our platform for free.
Equal Employment Opportunities at Future
We are committed to building a future where every member of our community, is healthy, cared for, and advancing forward together. Future is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, age, civil or family status, disability or race.
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