Mid‑to‑Senior Backend Engineer (Node.js) – Full Ownership

About the role

Wakapi is a fast‑moving sports media startup building a mobile app with video content and live scores. We need a mid‑to‑senior backend engineer who can take features from design through production and manage the underlying infrastructure.

Key responsibilities

• Own backend features end‑to‑end, from architecture decisions to deployment.
• Design and build high‑performance, scalable RESTful APIs.
• Deploy and manage AWS services (ECS Fargate, Aurora, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, S3).
• Write and maintain CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions or similar tools.
• Work with containerised environments using Docker.
• Diagnose and resolve production issues independently.
• Collaborate asynchronously with a small, distributed team.
• Produce clean, well‑documented, maintainable code.

Required profile

• 3–6+ years of professional experience with Node.js (Express, Fastify, or similar).
• Strong proficiency in TypeScript and PostgreSQL.
• Solid understanding of RESTful API design and system architecture.
• Experience with authentication patterns such as JWT and OAuth.
• Familiarity with microservices and real‑time systems (WebSockets, streaming, pub/sub) is a plus.
• Hands‑on experience deploying and managing services on AWS, including IAM and networking basics.
• Ability to create and maintain CI/CD pipelines and work with Docker.
• Proficient Git workflow and experience shipping production consumer apps.
• Comfortable working async in distributed, cross‑timezone teams and clear written English communication.

Required skills

• Node.js (Express, Fastify)
• TypeScript
• PostgreSQL
• RESTful API design
• JWT, OAuth
• Microservices architecture
• WebSockets / streaming / pub‑sub (optional)
• AWS (ECS Fargate, Aurora, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, S3)
• IAM, networking basics
• Docker
• CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions)
• Git