[Hiring] Staff Backend Engineer, Connect (API Platform) @Quo

Role Description

Quo is the phone system for modern businesses, and the Connect team is the front door for everything that talks to Quo without a human clicking in the app: the public API, MCP, OAuth, webhooks and integrations with tools like HubSpot, Jobber and Clio.

It's the fastest growing part of the company. The platform handles close to a billion API requests a day, roughly a quarter of all Quo traffic, and a growing number of customers use the API without ever opening the app. In the last 60 days alone, over 16,000 MCP connections have been set up against it.

This is the first true staff role on the team. You'll be the technical voice for Connect: the person who sets the architecture, fields the questions from product, partnerships and leadership, and makes it easy for every other team at Quo to ship through the API.

• Build the system, and the relationships, that let any team at Quo add their feature to the public API in a day or two, then get the rest of engineering to actually use it.
• Own the long-term architecture for the API platform. Python and TypeScript SDKs are on the roadmap for Q4, and the longer-term model is Stripe's: product teams describe their surface, the API and SDKs are generated from it, and an ecosystem grows around it.
• Be the technical point of contact for partnerships, product and leadership on what the API and integrations can do, set expectations, and protect the roadmap when a request would derail it.
• Mentor the senior engineers on the team through design reviews, PR reviews and coaching. You'll write less code than a senior, on purpose.
• Keep the platform fast, reliable and observable as traffic keeps climbing.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in engineering with real time at staff level.
• You've built or owned a public API, developer platform, SDKs or webhooks for a product people pay for.
• You've driven a big cross-team change at a company with 80+ engineers.
• You've worked through the stage Quo is at now: Series B into growth, 100 to 300 engineers.
• You're comfortable owning infrastructure alongside application code.
• You communicate clearly in writing and in person, and you're comfortable building rapport across teams.

Requirements

• Language is not a filter. If you've built the right things in Go, Python, Java or anything else, we'd rather talk to you than to someone who knows Node but hasn't.

Compensation

• The annual base salary range for this position is as follows, plus equity and benefits:
• SF Bay Area, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Boston, New York, and Washington, DC Metro: $205,000 - $242,000 USD
• All other US Locations: $186,000 - $217,000 USD
• Canada: $189,000 - $222,000 CAD
• Your total rewards package will include equity, extensive medical coverage, a monthly lifestyle stipend, and a flexible PTO policy.

Company Description

We're a remote-first company with a culture of trust, autonomy, and action. As we rapidly grow, we're intentionally building communities in a handful of hub cities while continuing to hire great talent wherever they happen to live.

We are committed to creating an inclusive and diverse work environment. It is important that you are able to bring your authentic self to work every day. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.