Principal / Staff Backend Engineer

About the company

Clera is a talent-matching platform that replaces traditional job applications by connecting candidates and hiring teams through curated introductions.

About this role

ABOUT THE ROLE A fast-growing proptech startup rebuilding the operating system for US real estate is looking for a Principal / Staff Backend Engineer to own the backend end to end. The company's AI-powered platform automates real estate transaction coordination — reading contracts, tracking deadlines, drafting paperwork, and enabling agents and brokerages to manage transactions from anywhere. The founding team includes a second-time entrepreneur with deep real estate industry experience, and the company is backed by investors with unicorn-building track records in the real estate vertical. Having achieved its first revenue in early 2026 and growing month over month, this is a seed-stage company with strong early traction and significant upside. You would report to and partner closely with the CTO, becoming the primary technical owner of the platform's architecture, data layer, and infrastructure. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Own backend architecture, databases, and infrastructure end to end - Set and raise the engineering bar for a platform that handles real estate transaction contracts — enterprise-grade care about downstream consequences, not just fast shipping - Build AI-natively: AI tooling is treated as a first-class part of the engineering workflow with a substantial annual AI/token budget - Make key architectural decisions and delegate effectively as the team scales - Collaborate closely with a small, high-caliber team in a high-ownership, high-impact environment WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR Required: - Staff or principal-level backend engineering depth — strong in systems design, databases, and infrastructure - Fully AI-native development workflow: you actively and effectively use AI tooling as a core part of how you build, not an afterthought - Based in the United States (fully remote within the US is fine) - Comfortable with high-intensity startup pace (~50 hours/week sustainably) - Exceptionally sharp — raw intelligence and a clear track record of capability matter more than years on a résumé Nice to Have: - Enterprise-grade engineering mindset — careful about downstream consequences in a product that owns legally significant transaction contracts - Experience in proptech, legaltech, fintech, or other regulated/high-stakes verticals - Background at companies handling complex document workflows, contract management, or compliance-sensitive data COMPENSATION & BENEFITS - Base salary: up to $250,000 (range: $150,000–$250,000) - Equity: meaningful equity stake with upside that scales with commitment - Substantial annual AI tooling / token budget - Full-time position LOCATION - Fully remote within the United States - No visa sponsorship available — must be authorized to work in the US