Backend Engineer

Join Notability and shape the future of learning. We’re building the next generation of tools designed not just to capture notes, but to fundamentally improve how people learn, think, and collaborate. Our app brings the natural expressiveness of paper into the digital age, empowering millions of students, educators, and professionals worldwide to organize their ideas, deepen their understanding, and achieve their goals. Our mission is simple: we help you learn.

As part of our team, you’ll help create experiences driven by empathy, exceptional design, and the belief that great ideas can come from anywhere—including you. Come help us make learning better for everyone.

We're seeking an early-career software engineer to join Notability’s backend team.  We own the central systems used by all the Notability clients and deal with API requests, scalability challenges, build tooling, and more. You'll be part of a team building value for our business through rapid iteration, sound judgment, and clear, generous communication. We are the pillar holding up Notability’s future business growth.

Your responsibilities

• Own core features across our entire backend system, from direct interactions with client software to database queries to the nitty-gritty of scalability challenges.
• Ship stable, readable, well-tested code serving Notability’s whole business
• Communicate clearly, concisely and proactively in writing, conversation and use of AI: crisp problem statements and messages, readable PR descriptions, well-timed questions, honest status
• Drive your work to completion: you find a way around ambiguity, review feedback, and edge cases
• Jump into unfamiliar areas to solve tough problems
• Operate with respect for the ideas, victories, mistakes, and time of your collaborators
• Take in feedback from mentors and peers to continuously self-improve
• Bring ideas and opinions: balance product and tech needs through open collaboration

Requirements

• Evidence you've shipped something real, professionally or on your own
• Clear, concise communication, written and verbal: you make complex things simple for the people around you, and teammates are energized by working with you
• Good judgment, and ownership of outcomes rather than tasks
• Genuine care for the people you work with: you build trust, give and receive feedback well, and treat collaboration as the job rather than an interruption to it
• Solid grasp of web fundamentals (browser, network, async behavior, application state)
• Fluency with AI coding tools
• Demonstrated curiosity: something you built, wrote, or figured out on your own initiative

Nice To Have

• Comfort reading and reasoning about TypeScript, and modern web code
• Experience with GraphQL
• Experience with infrastructure as code and/or Docker
• Experience with Google Cloud Provider or Amazon Web Services
• Experience building with LLM APIs, agents, or AI-assisted developer workflows
• Writing, teaching or learning in public via a blog, repo, etc

For this position we are targeting a base pay between $120,000-$175,000.  Actual compensation offered will be determined by factors such as job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

This role follows a hybrid model, with a minimum of two days onsite at our downtown San Francisco office and flexibility to work remotely from home the rest of the week.

How We Work

Each member of our team contributes to all parts of our products.  We trust each other to make decisions independently while also considering our common goals and values.  We share ideas openly, and we collaborate across disciplines to ensure that our decisions make sense from all perspectives.

When We Work

We actively promote work-life balance.  Our schedules are flexible, our hybrid policy supports remote work when it makes sense, and we have a “as long as you get your work done” approach to time off.

Why You'd Love Working Here

We work in downtown SF near Market Street, just a short walk from two BART/Muni stations.  Our office has height-adjustable desks to help us stay limber, spacious conference rooms for both small and large team meetings, and a well-stocked kitchen full of goodies to enjoy :). Our team is growing, collaborative and down to earth.  We want everyone to do their best work and find passion in what they do.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation that includes base salary, bonuses and profit sharing
• Equity Awards in the form of Stock Options
• Comprehensive healthcare fully covered for you and your family including medical, dental, and vision
• Flexible work and vacation schedules
• 401k with matching contributions
• Matching gifts to nonprofits
• Lunch Stipend (When Working from HQ)
• Public transit stipend
• Home workstation reimbursement
• ISP stipend
• Monthly phone bill stipend

Notability is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. All aspects of employment are decided on the basis of merit, qualifications, and business needs. We do not discriminate based upon race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.