Grindr · 7 hours ago
Staff Software Engineer, Backend
Chicago, IL
Full-time
Hybrid
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
$152K/yr - $254K/yr
7+ years expGrindr is building the global gayborhood in your pocket, and they are seeking an experienced Backend Engineer to join their growing team. The role involves leading projects, designing and developing backend services, and optimizing platform performance while mentoring team members.
DatingLGBTLocation Based ServicesMobile Apps
Responsibilities
You’ll join a backend team of 10+ engineers working on key features that support millions of active users daily
Leading projects and other engineers to implement new features and coordinate closely with the product and design teams
Own the design and development of Grindr’s backend services in a stable and scalable microservices architecture
Work with Product Managers, Designers, and other Engineers to refine feature design and functionality
Optimize key pieces of Grindr's platform using tools like Redis, Postgres, and Kafka on AWS services
Innovate by guiding data-driven decisions to adopt new technologies, architectures, and workflow
Maintain high availability of the Grindr platform by leveraging distributed systems and infrastructure engineering, while playing a key role in optimizations, cost reduction, and incident management
Help guide and mentor team members through pairing sessions, code reviews, and architecture reviews
Qualification
Required
7+ years of experience as a Software Engineer and contributing to Backend Systems (Service APIs, Data Processing, Messaging Services)
Experience designing and implementing large-scale systems for high load and data consistency in a microservice-based architecture
Experience designing systems that make heavy and efficient use of Cloud Service, AWS preferred
Passionate about testing software and systems
Deep understanding of concurrency concepts and trade-offs
You love figuring things out and understanding how they work end-to-end
Experience with the JVM and at least one JVM language such as Java, Kotlin, and Scala
Experience designing and productionizing large-scale distributed systems
Preferred
Experience developing Production systems using Kotlin, Postgres and Kafka
Experience in mentoring / skilling up less experienced developers
Benefits
Family Insurance: Insurance premium coverage for health, dental, and vision for you and partial coverage for your dependents.
Retirement Savings: Generous 401K plan with 6% match and immediate vest in the U.S.
Compensation: Industry-competitive compensation and eligibility for company bonus and equity programs.
Queer-Inclusive Benefits: Industry-leading gender-affirming offerings with up to 90% cost coverage, access to Included Health, monthly stipends for HRT, and more.
Additional Benefits: Flexible vacation policy, monthly stipends for cell phone, internet, wellness, food, and commuting, breakfast/lunch provided onsite, and yearly travel & leisure stipend.
Company
Grindr
Grindr is a location-based social application for gay, bi, trans, queer people and other members of the LGBT community.
51-200 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Grindr has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (5)
2024 (10)
2023 (5)
2022 (2)
2021 (7)
2020 (7)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$793MKey Investors
Capital One
2025-12-16Post Ipo Debt· $250M
2023-11-28Post Ipo Debt· $350M
2022-11-18Post Ipo Equity· $100M
Leadership Team
Irakly Arison
Chief Executive Officer
J
John North
Chief Financial Officer
Recent News
Business Wire
2026-01-11
2026-01-11
Company data provided by crunchbase