About this role

Zenskar is building the operational backbone for how B2B companies run their business. As a Senior Backend Engineer, you will work on the hardest class of problems we have: systems where correctness is non-negotiable, scale is unforgiving, and the edge cases never stop coming. This is not a feature-factory role — you will design systems from first principles, make architectural calls that shape the platform for years, and push back when requirements are wrong.

• Design and build core platform services that handle complex business logic reliably at scale

• Architect and own integrations with external enterprise systems — each with their own quirks, rate limits, and failure modes

• Build APIs that enterprise engineering teams love integrating with, not just ones that technically work

• Own production debugging end-to-end — diagnose issues across services using logs, traces, and metrics; make incidents boring, not fires

• Work closely with product, implementation, and customer success — not as an order-taker, but as the engineer who understands the system deeply enough to push back

• Embed security and compliance thinking into your systems by default — not as a retrofit

• Lead design reviews and code reviews, setting the architectural standard for your domain

• Mentor engineers around you — raise the bar without slowing the team down

THE IMPACT YOU'LL MAKE

• Your systems will be the foundation that Zenskar's enterprise clients depend on — correctness and reliability at this layer directly affects how they run their business

• Architectural decisions you make now will define how the platform scales over the next several years

• You will shorten the time from 'new enterprise requirement' to 'production-ready system' — enabling the company to move faster without breaking things

• You will raise the engineering quality bar for the team around you through the standards you set and the code you ship

• You will work on problems that don't have obvious solutions — and your judgment will determine the outcome

Key qualifications

Must have:

• 4–6 years of professional software development experience building production systems at real companies

• CS degree or equivalent (B.Tech/B.E./B.S.) — strong fundamentals in data structures, algorithms, OS, and networking

• Can describe the hard problems they have solved, why they were difficult, and what changed as a result — not just a list of technologies used

• Proficient in at least one backend language — language matters less than depth and engineering judgment

• Strong system design instincts — can reason through tradeoffs, failure modes, and long-term maintainability under pressure

Good to have:

• Hands-on observability — comfortable diagnosing complex issues across distributed services using logs, traces, and performance metrics; not just setting up dashboards

• Security and compliance awareness — SOC 2, DPDPA, or similar; understands the engineering implications, not just the checkbox

• Experience with event-driven architectures — Kafka, NATS, or RabbitMQ in production

• Cloud platform experience (AWS preferred) — deploying and operating services at scale

• Early-stage startup experience — comfortable with ambiguity, evolving requirements, and wearing multiple hats

• B2B SaaS / enterprise software background — multi-tenant systems, external integrations, enterprise workflows

• Strong testing culture — unit, integration, and e2e as a default, not an afterthought

• Containerization and CI/CD — Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions

• AI-assisted development — uses tools like Cursor or GitHub Copilot to move faster without compromising quality

• Experience with financial systems, billing platforms, or fintech applications

• Knowledge of SaaS business models and compliance frameworks

• API design and integration experience

• Prior experience working at a startup

• Not taking yourself too seriously :)

WHAT DRIVES YOU:

• You can go deep on the hard problems you have solved — the why, the tradeoffs, the outcome

• You ask 'what happens when this fails?' before shipping anything

• You own problems, not tasks — you follow through until the system is healthy, not just until the PR is merged

• You have strong opinions on system design but hold them loosely — you change your mind when the evidence does

• You thrive in a fast-moving environment where the requirements evolve and the answers aren't always obvious

Location

• Hybrid - 2 days per week

• Office Location: Indiranagar, Bengaluru.

• Address: 3rd Floor, A wing No 1, Carlton Towers, HAL Old Airport Rd, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560008.

Interview Process

Our interview process is designed to be structured, transparent, and efficient:

• R0 – Recruiter Screening: Quick conversation to assess basic fit and role expectations.

• Round 1 – Introductory Chat: Focuses on understanding your past experience, projects, and ownership. We recommend reviewing the job description & CEO’s recorded videos before this step.

• Round 2 – Take-Home Assignment & Discussion: Evaluates your technical-depth, problem-solving approach and how you think through real-world problems.

• Reference Checks: We request contact details of two former direct managers. The hiring manager will connect with them to better understand your working style and alignment with Zenskar’s culture.

• Round 3: A final round-up of all the conversations

The process may vary slightly depending on the role and whether we feel it would be useful for you to connect with additional members of the team