Founding Backend Engineer

Founding Backend Engineer at Stimuler

About Us
At Stimuler, we're building Speech AI models to empower the next 2 Bn+ Non-Native English speakers to enhance their conversational skills. Our AI tutor provides real-time interaction, adapting to users’ speech inputs to build fluency faster. We’re looking for a Founding Backend Engineer to work directly with the CTO to architect and scale our core infrastructure. This is a critical early role, and you'd be a part of the core engineering team.

In terms of scale, we currently have over 4Mn+ app installs and over $100k in monthly revenue (90%+ of which is outside India) and aim to scale 10x from here in the next 12 months. We are backed by Lightspeed and a bunch of top investors from Singapore, Japan, and India.

Role & Impact
In this role, you will design, develop, and maintain the backend systems that power our AI tutor. You’ll work at the intersection of AI infrastructure, distributed systems, and real-time data processing—shaping the technology and the team as we grow.

Top percentile comp: 25-40 LPA Base + Significant ESOPs (in a fast growing pre-series A startup) + benefits

Key Responsibilities

Infrastructure & Architecture

• Design and scale distributed systems for real-time speech processing.
• Own data pipelines from ingestion to model serving.
• Ensure security, privacy, and compliance for user speech data.

Performance & Reliability

• Implement robust monitoring, logging, and alerting for 24x7 availability.
• Optimize system performance and scalability.

Must-Have Requirements

• Experience: 2-5+ years in backend or platform engineering (focus on distributed systems).
• Cloud & Containers: Proficiency with Kubernetes and AWS (or similar cloud platforms).
• Real-Time Streaming: Familiarity with audio/video streaming in high-availability, auto-scaling environments.
• Databases: Strong SQL skills (PostgreSQL preferred), including query optimization, schema design; caching layers (Redis, Memcached).

ps: Evidence of high ownership in complex engineering projects is something we place a big emphasis on. If you have tried building something of your own, that's a great bonus too.

Good-to-Have Skills

• AI/ML Pipeline: Exposure to GPU resource management and distributed tools (e.g., Rayserve).
• Domain Experience: B2C mobile backend knowledge.
• Cloud Expertise: AWS, Azure, GCP, or multi-cloud strategies.

Why work at Stimuler?

• You will have complete ownership - Stimuler is a product-led company, and every single member of our team has to own what they do!
• Everyone in our < 10-member team today is a rockstar & we want to keep the team incredibly lean and full of special folks who love what they do (and get to DO what they love :p)
• We move fast, and you will need to—as well! That means setting super-ambitious weekly targets and doing everything to meet them!
• You will solve for a global customer base - We have a running joke that there doesn’t exist a geography on earth where we don't have a Stimuler user (Tbf, Google does show we have users in 200 countries..). On a serious note - We have a truly global user base, with our top 5 focus geographies spread across three continents.

Making high learning delta, AI native and super engaging experiences at-scale, working smoothly for millions of daily users from every corner of the world is what keeps us charged up everyday. And, if this challenge sounds like something you would also enjoy working on, we'd have a great time catching up!

About Us:
We are building audio-AI to help the global population speak (English) better!

Our Advanced AI engines listen to you, provide detailed feedback on your essential speech metrics & then provides guided practice for improvement! 

Being Used in 200 Countries & Counting