Backend Engineer, Integrations & APIs

Interested in working on cutting-edge blockchain technology and creating equitable access to the global financial system? Since 2014, the mission-driven team at the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has helped fuel the tremendous growth of the Stellar blockchain network, an open-source platform that operates at high-scale today. Developers and companies around the world build on it, and the SDF team is expanding to support the rapidly growing and changing Stellar ecosystem. **About the Project & Team:** At the SDF, a small team of roughly 8 engineers is incubating a novel distributed systems prototype. Not a blockchain as you know it, something new. This is a rare opportunity for a zero-to-one build where much of the infrastructure and tooling does not exist yet. You will be building it. To be clear: this is not a maintenance role for our existing network, nor is it an academic research project. We are actively building a high-performance platform designed to handle real value. We operate as a fast-moving, highly technical team with no layers of management. You will work directly with the protocol architect and core systems engineers to take this completely greenfield project to production. If you thrive on the urgency of a new launch and want the agility of an early-stage startup with the stability of SDF, this is the place to be.

- **Public API Layer:** Design and build the JSON-RPC endpoints that external tools, SDKs, and wallets use to communicate with the core network (transaction submission, status queries, account state). - **Transaction Lifecycle:** Own the full path from client to consensus and back. Status tracking, error reporting, and timeout handling. - **Indexer & Query Backend:** Build the data backend that powers the block explorer, partner integrations, and historical state queries. - **Data & Observability:** Build out analytics pipelines (e.g., BigQuery population) and implement robust metrics and event logging using tools like Prometheus, Clickhouse, and Sentry. - **Cross-Functional Impact:** Work across service boundaries, getting comfortable reading code in components you don't own to understand how they behave.

- Strong systems or backend programming experience in Rust, C++ or both (our codebase uses both). - Proven track record of designing and building robust RPC/API services that handle real-world, high-scale traffic. - Deep understanding of database architecture, indexing, and query patterns. - You are a builder who takes ownership of production infrastructure, not just prototypes.

- Competitive pay with a base salary range for this position of $140,000 - $210,000 depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and location. - Competitive health, dental & vision coverage with most plans covered at 100% for the employee + any dependents. - Flexible time off + 15 company holidays including a company-wide holiday break. - Generous paid parental leave for all parents, plus paid pregnancy disability leave for birthing parents. - Gym reimbursement ($80 per month). - Life & ADD (up to $50K). - Short & Long term disability. - 401K with 4% match. - Health & Dependent Care FSA Accounts. - Commuter benefits with $250/month employer contribution. - Health Savings Account (HSA) with monthly employer contribution. - Family building benefits through Kindbody. - Wellbeing benefits (One Medical, Rightway, Headspace). - L&D budget of $1,500/year. - Daily lunch and snacks in office. - Company retreats.

The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is a nonprofit organization that supports the development and growth of the Stellar network, a public blockchain for borderless payments, asset tokenization, and DeFi solutions. It provides grants, funding, resources, and tooling to builders and organizations while maintaining the network's codebase to create equitable access to the global financial system.