Senior Backend Engineer – Platform & Cloud Infrastructure

Compensation: $90k – $120k • 0.5% – 1.0%

About River

River is the human layer of the internet. The consent and ownership infrastructure that puts people back in the loop. Users see their data, control who accesses it, earn 70% of the value it creates, and get AI that finally serves them, not the platform.

We are pre-revenue, raising a $3M seed at a $30M pre-money, and preparing for market launch. Our founding CEO brought MTV and NetJets to Europe and we are backed by technology luminaries from Google, Sun Microsystems, and beyond.

We are looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to own the backend systems and cloud data infrastructure that power River's platform – from the services behind our live social product to the data layer underpinning our desktop AI client. This is a foundational hire that will underpin our expanding team. You will be the person who architects and builds the backend infrastructure that makes individual intelligence possible at scale.

What We're Building

River is three products, one platform:

• River Social – live and growing. A social platform where you own your data, control your identity, and get paid when it's used. 70% of value goes back to you.

• River Source – enterprise consent infrastructure. The bridge that gives AI platforms and brands access to high-fidelity, consented user data at scale.

• RiverAI – launching 2026. A desktop AI client built on your personal data graph, with real agentic capabilities that work for you, not just talk to you.

What You'll Be Doing

• Building and scaling River's backend cloud infrastructure – designing, developing, and operating the cloud data infrastructure that powers all three River products, including data storage, processing pipelines, caching layers, and service orchestration on AWS.

• Architecting high-performance backend services – building event-driven microservices, RESTful and GraphQL APIs, and real-time data pipelines that handle the demands of a growing social platform, enterprise consent layer, and AI client simultaneously.

• Developing the RiverAI desktop application backend – building the native backend components and system-level integrations for River's desktop AI client, including local data management, secure API communication, and agentic workflow execution.

• Implementing River Source's data infrastructure – building the enterprise-grade backend that gives AI platforms and brands secure, consented access to high-fidelity user data at scale, including ingestion pipelines, access control, and metering.

• Writing performance-critical systems in Rust – building core platform components where performance, memory safety, and reliability are non-negotiable, from data processing pipelines to native application modules.

• Designing and managing data infrastructure – working across SQL and NoSQL databases, message queues, and streaming systems to ensure River's data layer is fast, reliable, and scalable as the platform grows.

• Owning CI/CD and infrastructure automation – implementing and evolving deployment pipelines, Infrastructure as Code, monitoring, alerting, and incident response across all three products.

• Making architectural decisions in real time – evaluating tradeoffs, choosing the right tools, and making pragmatic build-vs-buy decisions in a fast-moving environment where requirements evolve daily.

What We're Looking For

BS/MS in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.

5+ years of experience in professional backend software development, with demonstrated expertise in the following:

• Strong proficiency in TypeScript/JavaScript (ES6+) and Node.js-based frameworks (Express, Fastify, NestJS).

• Familiarity with Rust, ideally with production experience. We use Rust for our desktop application and are looking for someone comfortable working in it alongside TypeScript.

• Deep understanding of RESTful APIs, GraphQL, and microservices architecture.

• Experience with event-driven architectures, asynchronous programming, and message queues (Kafka).

• Strong experience with both SQL and NoSQL databases (PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, MongoDB) and understanding of when to use each.

• Extensive experience with cloud infrastructure and services (AWS strongly preferred) – you've designed and operated production systems, not just deployed to them.

• Experience building and managing data pipelines, ETL processes, and data infrastructure at scale.

• Familiarity with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, ECS).

• Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail.

• Experience building applications – you've shipped desktop or standalone apps (not just web services) and understand the unique challenges of building software that lives on a user's device, including local storage, system integration, and offline capability.

Above all, you must have:

• A startup mentality – you thrive in fast-paced environments with ambiguous requirements, can context-switch between designing cloud architecture and debugging a production issue, and are energized (not daunted) by building something from scratch.

• Full ownership mindset – you will own River's backend and infrastructure end to end. You don't wait for specifications; you identify what needs to be built, make the call, and ship it.

• Strong communication skills and the ability to work closely with product, data science, and frontend engineers to deliver cohesive systems.

• A passion for ethical technology and data sovereignty principles, sharing our vision that AI should empower users, not exploit them.

Nice to have:

• Experience with macOS application development and system APIs (AppKit, Swift/Objective-C interop, XPC services, sandboxing, notarization).

• Experience with AWS managed services (API Gateway, Cognito, ECS, MSK, DynamoDB, CloudFront, SageMaker).

• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (CDK, CloudFormation, Terraform).

• Experience with monitoring, observability, and logging tools (CloudWatch, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack).

• Familiarity with graph databases (Neo4j, AWS Neptune) or vector databases (pgvector).

• Understanding of AI/ML integration patterns – building backend services that orchestrate and surface AI capabilities.

• Experience with desktop application frameworks (Electron, Tauri).

Why You Should Join River

Most engineering jobs are maintenance work on someone else's idea. This isn't that.

The core technology is built, the patents filed, and the partnerships in place. The work ahead is the work that matters: taking what we've proven into the hands of real users, at scale, and building the company around it. You will ship things that millions of people will use.

The team blends operator experience, engineering depth, and startup hustle. You get significant equity, real ownership of what you build, a direct line to the founders, and the rare chance to work on problems no one has solved yet.

The market is ready. Join us.

How to Apply

Email [email protected]

This role is remote. Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States and will be required to provide evidence of their right to work as part of the hiring process. Standard business hours are based on the Pacific Time Zone and availability during these hours is essential. References will be sought for shortlisted candidates.