Senior Backend Software Engineer (Ed-Tech x GenAI) Location: Gurgaon (In-Person Only) Why This Role Matters Education is about to be transformed — and you're the one writing the code. As a senior backend engineer at SigIQ, you'll directly shape the future of how students around the world learn. From zero-to-one GenAI experiences to high-scale deployments, your work will power the next generation of AI tutors. The revolution in learning starts here — and it starts with you. Compensation We offer top of the market compensation (₹70L to ₹1cr fixed cash) plus very commensurate ESOPs. For top performers, the upside is significant — you're joining at the earliest stage of a rocketship backed by global investors. Know someone else who might be a future Sigeek? Refer them — if they are hired, we’ll give you an iPhone 16 as a reward! About SigIQ.ai SigIQ.ai is an AI x EdTech company on a mission to make one-on-one, world-class learning available to every student on Earth. Our debut AI tutoring app, PadhAI, has already coached 200,000+ learners — and, in a live showdown, claimed National Rank #1 on the 2024 UPSC exam, outscoring 1.3M students and even GPT-4o/Claude 3. This historic achievement was covered by 70+ national news outlets across India. Backed by GSV Ventures, The House Fund, Peak XV (Sequoia India), Duolingo, and more, we just announced a $10M seed round — one of the five largest EdTech seed rounds in 2024.The Team SigIQ was founded in July 2023 by Dr. Karttikeya Mangalam (CEO & AI lead), a Berkeley PhD advised by Jitendra Malik. Over 7 years across UC Berkeley, Stanford, Meta AI, Google AI, and IIT Kanpur, Karttikeya has published 40+ papers cited 7000+ times. He is joined by Prof. Kurt Keutzer (co-founder) and a world-class team from UC Berkeley, Stanford, EPFL, IIT Bombay, and IIT Kanpur, across AI, Engineering, Product & Growth. Role Overview We’re looking for a talented backend developer with prior experience building consumer tech. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join a fast-moving, high-growth startup at the seed stage and build the foundation of AI-powered applications for the future. You’ll build highly scalable backend services supporting GenAI tutoring systems. You’ll work hand-in-hand with elite engineers, researchers, and educators to craft the future of learning. Qualifications Non-Negotiables Prior experience writing backends in Python for consumer tech (Django, FastAPI) Core stack: Django, FastAPI, Redis, Supabase (Postgres), Datadog Strong work ethic, high ownership mindset Belief in the vision: a superhuman AI tutor for every student 2+ years building real-world, user-facing backend systems — preferably in startups Demonstrated strength in architectural design, scalability thinking, and system-level problem-solving If you don’t meet all criteria but think you’re exceptional, tell us why. Evaluation Rubric (100 pts) Application Development – 25 pts 5 pts: Built WebSocket layer for 10K+ concurrent users 5 pts: Built distributed apps with caching and queues 5 pts: Containerized deployments with auto-scaling 5 pts: Set up blue-green or canary deployments 5 pts: Experience building async APIs with FastAPI at production scale Systems Experience – 20 pts 5 pts: Infra-as-Code (Terraform, OpenTofu) in multi-cloud 5 pts: Low-level system debugging (e.g., concurrency, memory, packet tracing) 5 pts: Performance optimization in real-time or high-scale backend systems 5 pts: Experience with graceful shutdowns, failover, and system reliability Application Lifecycle – 15 pts 5 pts: Backend observability (Prometheus/Grafana/Datadog) 5 pts: LLM observability (LangSmith or equivalent) 5 pts: Distributed tracing (OpenTelemetry etc.) Background – 20 pts 10 pts: 2+ YOE at a Series B or earlier, venture-backed startup 5 pts: Prior experience building either an EdTech and/or GenAI product 5 pts: Graduate from Tier-1 engineering college Bravado – 20 pts 10 pts: 1600+ rating on CodeChef, HackerRank, or ICPC Regionalist+ 5 pts: Maintained an impactful OSS or internal engineering tool 5 pts: History of grinding through hard problems (and stories to prove it) Eligibility Criteria Meet all the non - negotiables. Score at least 60 pts on the rubric. iPhone 16: If you score 90 pts+ and complete the interview process we would reward you with a free iPhone 16, regardless of hiring outcome Our Promise Best-in-class work environment. Leading market compensation (70LPA to 1cr+) with commensurate ESOPs. A cracked, mission-driven team. If you're a fire-in-the-belly engineer who believes in democratizing education, we want to hear from you. Apply Now Email your resume and total score (with justification) to:
Job Title
Lead Backend Engineer