Staff Backend Engineer

OpenSea is the gateway to web3’s next chapter—where NFTs, fungible tokens, and emerging digital assets converge to create open, user-owned economies. As a foundational player in the crypto space, we’re building infrastructure that supports millions of users and sets new standards for how people discover and exchange digital value.

Our team is small but mighty: hands-on, fast-moving, and deeply committed to shipping meaningful work. We're remote-first by design, AI-empowered by default, and guided by values that prioritize ownership, trust, and progress. At OpenSea, you’ll be challenged to grow fast while being supported by a talent-dense team shaping the future of crypto.

We're looking for an ambitious, detail-oriented Staff Backend Engineer with an enthusiasm for building and scaling feature-rich, well-tested, and polished applications with modern technologies. This individual will spearhead core features of the OpenSea 2.0 backend.

Responsibilities

• Form, communicate, and execute on a technical vision for the next generation of OpenSea’s architecture that leverages highly scalable and event-driven patterns

• Write reliable, low latency marketplace infrastructure software that will eventually process billions of dollars a day worth of transaction volume, including highly performant blockchain indexing systems, order management systems at scale, and REST & Websocket API endpoints

• Raise the bar for internal understanding of best practices in building highly performant & event-driven systems with “live” characteristics

• Mentor and train other team members and act as an internal thought leader and agitator for architectural rigor and cleanliness

Requirements

• At least 6 years of experience as a software engineer

• Strong fluency in event-driven system design patterns, leveraging technologies such as Kafka, Flink, and Debezium, as well as distributed systems more generally

• Strong fluency in JVM languages like Kotlin or Java

• Strong fluency and opinionated in database choice and schema design for highly performant and scalable applications

• Intrinsic interest in leveraging new tools (e.g. AI) to increase work efficiency and quality

• Passion for (blockchain) technology, NFTs, and the potential of digital ownership is a huge plus

The base salary for this full-time position in the United States, spanning multiple internal levels depending on qualifications, ranges between $190,000 to $345,000 plus benefits & equity. Compensation for internationally based candidates will vary to reflect local market conditions.

If you don't think you meet all of the criteria below but still are interested in the job, please apply. Nobody checks every box, and we're looking for someone who is excited to join the team.

Benefits & Perks

🏥 Health Benefits: We cover 100% Dental/Vision/Medical for employees and 80% for dependents

🌴 Flexible Time Off Policy: Our flexible time off policy is aimed at letting our employees take as much time off as they'd like to refresh so long as it doesn't interfere with their ability to meet their goals and contribute effectively to company velocity

👶 Parental Leave: 16 Weeks of Paid Parental Bonding & up to 8 additional weeks for the birthing parent

💛 Mental Health: We offer access to Spring Health, covering 8 therapy & 8 coaching sessions per year

📅 11 Company Holidays

🏦 Fidelity 401K Plan

📱 Internet/Mobile Reimbursement Plan

🧘 Reimbursement or Monthly Snack Delivery

✈ Company & Team retreats to get together for fun and collaboration

☕ Team Member Co-Working and Gathering Expense

🖥 MacBook Pro & WFH Stipend to make sure you are set up for success

🌯 Weekly $50 Uber Eats credit

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