Principal Backend Engineer
Software EngineeringPosted 16 Mar 2026
Posted 16 Mar 2026
The original posting with the fluff stripped out
| Base salary | US$170,000 – US$300,000 / yr |
|---|
No unique specialisation
WeightWatchers is a global digital health company and the world’s #1 doctor-recommended, clinically studied behavioral weight health program. For sixty years, we have led the industry by blending science and community to help millions of people build sustainable healthy habits.
As the science of weight health rapidly evolves, so does WeightWatchers. We are redefining the category by developing new clinical pathways for GLP-1 medication access, creating specialized behavioral programs for members on weight-loss medications, and integrating medical care with our proven habit-change framework. By combining these clinical breakthroughs with our digital-first community, we are uniquely positioned to lead the future of weight health care.
Who we are
At WeightWatchers, our Engineering Team drives transformative change by leveraging technology to redefine how millions approach weight health and wellness. The team builds digital solutions that establish personalized connections and foster inclusive virtual communities, empowering members to adopt healthier habits and achieve lasting lifestyle changes. From pioneering a comprehensive telehealth platform, optimizing medication access, diving headfirst into exciting AI integrations we lead with data-driven innovations that revolutionize healthcare outcomes. Our culture thrives on urgency, collaboration, and a passion for impactful work that directly improves the lives of our members.
What you will do
As a Backend Engineer, you will be a key driver in building and scaling the systems that power the WeightWatchers member experience. You will own the technical design and implementation of critical backend services - ranging from member identity and food databases to personalization and tracking tools. Your goal is to ensure our platform is performant, reliable, and capable of supporting millions of members as we develop new clinical and behavioral health pathways.
In this role, you will tackle complex technical challenges, lead the development of durable backend systems, and mentor other engineers to maintain a high bar for technical excellence.
1) Develop and Scale the Member Experience Platform
Feature Ownership: Lead the backend design and implementation of services that connect our mobile and web clients to scalable APIs and data stores.
Performance Engineering: Identify and resolve latency and availability bottlenecks in critical member flows like food search, logging, and onboarding.
Standardization: Implement standardized patterns for service contracts, event-driven architecture, and data ownership to ensure consistent delivery across the platform.
2) Modernize Data and Tracking Foundations
Food Database Excellence: Build and maintain high-performance services to improve search relevance and data quality for our global food database.
State Management: Help define how member data is cached, synced, and audited across services to minimize inconsistencies and improve system observability.
Robust Interfaces: Establish clean interfaces between operational systems and ML pipelines to ensure personalization is powered by reliable data.
3) Reliability and Operational Excellence
SLO-Driven Development: Define and monitor SLIs/SLOs for your services, ensuring they meet member expectations for performance and uptime.
Resiliency Patterns: Implement backend resiliency strategies such as circuit breaking, retries, and graceful degradation for major member workflows.
Security & Compliance: Partner with Security teams to embed automated controls into backend services, particularly for sensitive health-related data.
Technical Design: Create detailed technical designs and lead code reviews for complex backend features, ensuring high standards of maintainability.
Execution: Drive the delivery of multi-sprint projects, balancing rapid iteration with technical debt management and long-term stability.
Mentorship: Provide technical guidance and mentorship to junior and mid-level engineers, fostering a culture of incident learning and operational readiness.
Collaboration: Partner closely with Infrastructure engineering, Product, Data Science, and Design to translate business requirements into efficient, scalable backend systems.
Problem Solving: Identify and resolve structural bottlenecks in existing services, such as data inconsistencies or brittle integrations.
Who you are
Experienced Backend Builder: You have a deep understanding of building large-scale distributed systems, APIs, and event-driven architectures.
Pragmatic: You make technical choices based on member outcomes and business impact, avoiding unnecessary complexity.
Collaborative: You build trust through clear communication, strong documentation, and predictable follow-through.
Ownership-Minded: You take pride in the quality of your code and the operational health of the services you manage.
Experience: 8+ years of experience building backend systems for large-scale consumer applications (e.g., APIs, microservices, data stores).
Technical Stack: Expertise in modern cloud architectures (AWS), database design, and building for high-availability.
Data Modeling: Proven ability to design data models that support complex product workflows and analytics needs.
Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills for documenting architectural decisions and collaborating across teams
Java or Go experience preferred
Base salary may vary depending on, but not limited to: skills, experience, and location. This role is also eligible for a comprehensive benefits package and annual bonus program.
US Pay Range
$170,000—$300,000 USD
At WeightWatchers, our mission is to build a worldwide community connected by healthy habits. If that resonates with you, then we would love to talk. WeightWatchers values developing community within our employee population as well. We have a hybrid work environment to allow our employees to find the right work-life balance.
It is our priority to cultivate a diverse and inclusive workplace. We are committed as individuals, as an organization, and as fellow humans, to advocate for and support our employees, our members, and our communities. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and we do not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, creed, national origin, marital status, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or disability.
By agreeing to participate in our process, you agree that any information we collect is subject to our Privacy Policy.
Maryland
Under Maryland law, an employer may not require or demand, as a condition of employment, prospective employment, or continued employment, that an individual submit to or take a polygraph examination or similar test. An employer who violates this law is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine not exceeding $100.
Massachusetts
It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.
WeightWatchers complies with all applicable Rhode Island Workers' Compensation laws (Chapters 29-38 of the R.I. General Laws). Eligible employees are covered by worker's compensation insurance for work-related injuries or illness.
At WeightWatchers, we prioritize the security of our candidates. To ensure you are communicating with a legitimate representative of our team, please keep the following security standards in mind:
Stay Vigilant: If you are contacted by someone claiming to represent WeightWatchers and the process deviates from these standards, please do not share any personal information. You can verify any open position by visiting our official careers page at https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/ww