Senior Backend Software Engineer

Location:
US Remote

\*\*Candidates must currently live in the US and have work authorization to work for any US employer\*\*

About Us:

Friday Harbor is a modern AI mortgage underwriting platform. It helps lenders identify problems in a loan file upfront, resolving potential issues earlier, and assembling clean, complete, and compliant files from the start.

We’re a Seattle-based startup backed by top-tier investors (Abstract, Mischief, Wischoff, AI2 Incubator, CoFound) and trusted by leading lenders across the country, including several of the top-25 lenders in the country. While our headquarters are in Seattle, our engineering team is fully remote with quarterly off-sites. We offer flexibility and work-life balance while still fostering a collaborative and creative team environment.

Join our team of 5 engineers to build the AI systems that are changing how mortgages get underwritten. You'll work on LLM applications, integrate with third-party mortgage platforms, develop new product features, and optimize performance as we scale. The work spans cutting-edge AI (RAG, agentic workflows) and practical backend engineering (APIs, integrations, data pipelines).

Responsibilities:

• Architect and build scalable backend systems and APIs to support our AI-powered mortgage underwriting platform as we scale to meet rapid customer growth.
• Design and implement integrations with third-party mortgage systems (LOS platforms like Encompass, document providers, credit bureaus) and internal services.
• Build and optimize LLM-powered features using the latest in agentic AI systems and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to improve underwriting accuracy and automation.
• Own greenfield projects from concept to production while also scaling and refining existing systems to handle increasing loan volume.
• Optimize system performance, security, and reliability to maintain seamless operations as we process thousands of loans monthly for enterprise customers.
• Collaborate closely with our team of 5 engineers to define product features, technical architecture, and engineering best practices.
• Shape our technical culture and contribute to product strategy, bringing insights from both customer needs and emerging AI capabilities.

Requirements:

• 4+ years building scalable, high-performance backend systems. Expertise in a modern backend language required; must be comfortable working in Python or adapting swiftly.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related quantitative/technical field.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to design and implement efficient, maintainable software solutions.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, small team environment.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and rapid iteration. Experience in startups or fast-moving teams is a plus.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience integrating LLMs into production applications or building AI-powered workflows.
• Production experience with SQL databases and familiarity with key-value stores like Redis.
• Experience with cloud platforms, preferably AWS, and containerization technologies like Docker.
• Experience working on financial technology or regulated industry systems.

We offer a competitive cash salary ($150-200k), significant equity compensation, and a complete benefits package. Our compensation strategy is geared towards attracting world-class talent and creating the possibility for significant potential equity upside for our early employees.

This is your chance to learn and build cutting-edge AI systems, work with LLMs and RAG, and make a lasting impact in the US housing industry!