Senior Backend Engineer

A fast-growing start-up headquartered in San Francisco, CA, USA in the heart of Silicon Valley. We recruit worldwide as our customer base is global. All employees outside San Francisco headquarters work remotely.


Elife is a Startup developing innovative technology in the passenger transport industry, providing any type of ground transportation worldwide.


Our market is the world. Our customers are everywhere. Our platform and apps are built on the cloud. We have endless exciting problems to solve, and we only use the best and latest technology.


Vision: Reliable ground transportation services globally with all types of vehicles.


Mission: Empower high-quality local fleets.


We are looking for an experienced Senior/ Staff Software Engineer (Individual

Contributor) with deep expertise in Python and proven experience in the ride-hailing
or mobility domain.


You will focus on hands-on design, architecture, and implementation of complex, high-impact systems. As a senior member of the team, you will drive technical excellence, own critical components end-to-end, mentor peers through code reviews and design discussions, and influence the technical direction of core ride-hailing features such as real-time matching, geolocation services, dynamic pricing, dispatch optimization, or payment systems.

Key Responsibilities:

Architect, design, and implement scalable, high-performance backend systems and microservices for core ride-hailing functionalities (e.g., ride matching engines, real-time tracking, surge pricing, ETA prediction, routing, or fraud detection).
Write production-quality, maintainable code primarily in Python, with a focus on reliability, performance, and observability.
Own end-to-end delivery of large, cross-cutting features or system improvements, from requirements refinement to deployment and post-launch monitoring.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including front-end, back-end, testing, and application design, to deliver integrated solutions.
Identify and resolve architectural bottlenecks, scalability issues, and technical debt in high-throughput, low-latency systems
Background in geospatial technologies (e.g., PostGIS, S2/H3 cells, Google Maps APIs) and handling real-time location data at scale.
Proven track record of designing and delivering complex, high-availability systems that handle massive concurrency and low-latency

Requirements:

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
Expertise in distributed systems, real-time data processing, and low-latency architectures.
Strong Python proficiency or deep expertise in Go/Java/Scala/C++ with the ability to work effectively in Python
Hands-on experience with geospatial technologies (e.g., PostGIS, S2/H3 cells, Google Maps APIs) and real-time location data processing.
Proven track record of building and operating high-throughput, fault-tolerant microservices in a cloud environment (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
Strong foundation in system design, data structures, and performance optimization.

Strongly Preferred Qualifications:

Direct hands-on experience in the ride-hailing, mobility, logistics, or on-demand services industry.
Experience in adjacent domains with similar technical patterns, such as logistics, delivery, fleet management, fintech, or other location-based services.
Familiarity with event-driven architectures using Kafka, WebSockets, or similar real-time streaming systems.
We value engineers who understand Python beyond frameworks and can design scalable, reliable backend systems under high concurrency.