Senior / Staff Software Engineer (API)

At Linear, we are on a mission to bring magic back to software. To empower product teams to do their best work, we are building an issue tracking and project management tool that combines UI elegance with world-class performance. Founded in 2019, Linear has become the platform of choice for thousands of high-impact companies to build their products better.Linear was set up as a fully remote company from the start. Today, our small but mighty team is distributed across North America and Europe. What unites us is relentless focus, fast execution, and our passion for software craftsmanship. We are all makers at heart and care deeply about the quality of our work.As a small team, we’re all generalists and constantly picking up new challenges. Regarding systems and infrastructure, we’re looking to work with experienced engineers who can dive deep into design and performance problems, architect robust backend services, and build foundational APIs that scale. Our stack is built with TypeScript, Node.js, GraphQL, and PostgreSQL. We don’t expect you to have worked with everything we use, but we do expect a strong systems thinking mindset and solid backend engineering experience.Please note: We are an equal opportunity employer and remote-only company. At this time, we can only support hiring within North America for this role.Why NowThe way modern teams build products is changing. AI agents are starting to participate in workflows as collaborators—triaging issues, drafting specs, even coordinating projects. Linear is uniquely positioned to become the orchestrating layer where both humans and AI agents interact and drive product development forward.This shift demands a new generation of APIs: ones that are reliable, permission-aware, and deeply composable. As an API engineer, you won’t just be building for human developers—you’ll be shaping the interface through which AI agents understand and operate within Linear. This is foundational work, with the opportunity to help define an emerging interaction model.What you'll doTake ownership, build, and evolve the APIs that power all of Linear, from frontend features to public developer accessCollaborate with product engineers, design, and infrastructure to deliver performant, reliable, and secure data flowsImprove our developer platform with well-documented, discoverable, and stable APIsShape the API surface that AI agents will use to interact with Linear, enabling autonomous workflows and real-time decision-makingTechProprietary data synchronization library built for speed and offline support. Delta-packets are transported using WebSocketsMobX for binding the data model to the UIProsemirror-based content editorElectron desktop applicationPublic GraphQL API that has access to all of the user's dataNode, Postgres, and Redis in the backendHosted on Google Cloud with k8sGitHub, Slack, NotionDesign system with React component libraryWhat we offerInteresting and challenging workWork-life balanceCompetitive salary and equityEmployee-friendly equity terms (early exercise, extended exercise)Paid lunch and coffee during workdaysWork remotely, no commuting to the officePaid co-working space/desk at an officeHealth, dental, and vision insurance (US)Regular team events and off-sites5 weeks of paid vacation4 months of paid parental leaveLearn how we think and workRead Mea story about our missionWhy and how we do work trialsLinear blog postCrafting quality that enduresConfig keynote by our Co-founder & CEO, Karri SaarinenHow we structure our product teamstalk by our Head of Product, Nan Yu, at Config 2024Scaling our real-time sync engine talk by our cofounder, Tuomas Artman, at Linear's 2023 offsiteFirst Round Capital: The Unsung Ingredient: TasteOriginally posted on Himalayas

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