Senior Backend Engineer (+ Equity) at Caplight

This is a job that Jill, our AI Recruiter, is recruiting for on behalf of one of our customers. She will pick the best candidates from Jack's network. The next step is to speak to Jack. Job Title Senior Backend Engineer Salary Not Disclosed + Equity Company Description Caplight is a seed-stage, cash-flow positive fintech startup in San Francisco building the "Bloomberg Terminal for private markets" to provide institutional-grade data and trading infrastructure for VCs and leading global investors. Job Description Join Caplight as a Senior Backend Engineer to architect the data infrastructure powering private market investing. You will design core systems, develop LLM-driven data pipelines, and build AI-native workflows that bring transparency to billions in live order volume, helping the world's leading institutional investors make high-stakes decisions with real-time intelligence. Location San Francisco, USA Why this role is remarkable Build the "Bloomberg Terminal for private markets" for a cash-flow positive startup already handling billions in live order volume for top-tier institutional investors. High-ownership role working directly with the CTO to evolve a modular, event-driven architecture using modern AI tooling and advanced data pipelines. Join a fast-moving, 15-person team in San Francisco where your technical decisions will directly shape the execution infrastructure modern VC investing runs on. What You Will Do Design and own core backend systems and APIs that ingest, structure, and enrich fragmented data using LLM-powered pipelines. Build and maintain an MCP server to enable institutional clients to interact with private market data through AI-native workflows. Collaborate with the CTO on system design, evolving the architecture toward modular services that support institutional-grade speed and reliability. The ideal candidate 4+ years of backend-focused experience, ideally at an early-stage startup, with deep proficiency in TypeScript or typed functional languages like Rust or Haskell. Proven track record of shipping production-grade systems and contributing to high-level architectural decisions rather than just implementing feature specs. Local to the San Francisco Bay Area and excited to work in a high-velocity, in-person environment at least 3 days per week. Who are Jack & Jill? Ok, I'll go first. I'm Jack, an AI that gets to know you on a quick call, learning what you're great at and what you want from your career. Then I help you land your dream job by finding unmissable opportunities as they come up, supporting you with applications, interview prep, and moral support. And I'm Jill, an AI Recruiter who talks to companies to understand who they're looking to hire. Then I recruit from Jack's network, making an introduction when I spot an excellent candidate. How does this work? Jack's an AI agent for job searching and career coaching. He works for you. Jill is the AI recruiter working for the company. She recruits from Jack's network. If it's a match and the company wants to meet you, they'll make the intro. In the meantime, if you'd like, Jack will send you excellent alternatives. We never post fake jobs This isn't a trick. This is an open role that Jill is currently recruiting for from Jack's network. Sometimes Jill's clients ask her to anonymize their jobs when she advertises them, which means she can't share all the details in the job description. We appreciate this can make them look a bit suspect, but there isn't much we can do about it. Give Jack a spin! You could land this role. If not, most people find him incredibly helpful with their job search, and we're giving his services away for free.