Founding Backend Engineer

BACKEND DEVELOPER (Founding Engineer)3+ years of experience What we’re building: Sparky is a voice-first AI ‘friend’ for building Spoken English fluency for 1Bn+ English-as-second-language learners globally. English is a $100 Bn market globally, India being the largest English learner market. In India, English fluency drives 30-40% higher earning potential. It’s a population scale problem. With the power of Gen. AI, personalized 1:1 learning experiences are now affordable and can be scaled. The largest similar player (US company, Speak) just turned a unicorn and should be close to $100 Mn in revenue. Several thousand paying subscribers and lakhs of free users already use Sparky. We’re an early stage start-up backed by Better Capital, Sriharsha Majety and others. We’re second-time founders, previously backed by YCombinator, from IIM Ahmedabad, ex-Swiggy and ex-LEAD School. Our backend stack is in Python and RoR. What you will do:

• As part of the core founding team, build a world-class consumer product, evolving at the rate of change in the Gen. AI landscape, keeping consumer value at the center of it and alongside, make phenomenal real impact on people’s lives
• Work closely with founders, engineering leaders, designers & business team to collaboratively create an innovative product
• Design, build and maintain core backend stack, cloud infrastructure, develop and maintain serverless functions and microservices, implement security and data protection measures, improve system reliability & scalability and much more. We’re a small team, so you’ll be wearing many hats.

You must have:

• 3+ years of backend development experience
• Degree in Computer Sc., Information Technology, or a related field (B.Tech, MCA, or equivalent).
• Good understanding of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) principles and design . Strong proficiency in one or more of the following languages: Python, Ruby on Rails, Java, or any OOP language.
• Experience with RESTful APIs, GraphQL, or similar web services.
• Some knowledge of cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP) & basic DevOps concepts
• Familiarity with serverless computing models and microservices architecture.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Experience with databases such as PostgreSQL or MySQL databases.
• Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines and version control (Git).

Great to have:

• Full stack experience
• Experience building something, even if a personal project, with LLMs
• Understanding of token utilization and cost optimization when working with AI APIs
• Experience with containerization (Docker)
• Knowledge of caching mechanisms (Redis, Memcached) and performance optimization techniques.

We’ll be a great fit if you have: ● High sense of ownership & ability to work independently. A startup succeeds because the team makes it happen. If you don't, it won’t happen. ● Excitement towards work and a desire to build something you’re proud of, and the willingness to put in the work it takes. Startups require diligence and dedication as we’re creating things from scratch and moving fast. Do you bring energy?● Curiosity and bias for action. Each team member should push the bar higher. Location: Remote / Bangalore / Gurgaon Remuneration: Salary + ESOPs Someone who can join soon is preferred. To apply:

• Write to careers@sparkstudio.co with Subject “Backend Engg” and tell us in 5-7 lines what’s exciting about this / why you’re a great fit. (Do not write using GPT, it's fairly obviously detectable and your intent gets marked as low if you can't write this bit by yourself.)
• DO NOT DM on Linkedin