Backend Engineer

Laya is a modern accounting, tax, and advisory firm for businesses that want predictable monthly closes, decision-ready reporting, and a clear path from accounting to tax and advisory. We pair licensed experts with technology we build ourselves, and we run industry-specific playbooks — from startups and agencies to restaurants, retail, and professional services — so our clients' books reflect how their business actually works. We are a distributed team, working across the US, India, Latin America, and the Philippines.

Our product is financial truth, so we hire and retain against four values. They are ordered from least trainable to most trainable, and when two of them collide, the higher one wins.

• Integrity. Always doing the right thing and owning your actions — not situational, and not dependent on whether anyone is watching. The numbers are what the numbers are. Mistakes surface immediately and travel upward, and we own our decisions in writing.
• Talent. The raw ability to reason through a problem you have never seen before and to take on new domains quickly. We hold a high bar and would rather leave a seat open than fill it below that bar — and we owe real development to everyone who clears it.
• Grit. Doing whatever it takes to deliver an outcome you have claimed as yours. Setbacks produce a next step, not an explanation, and the unglamorous work gets the same commitment as the interesting work.
• Expertise. The judgment that comes from having seen the work — many clients, many edge cases, many closes. It ranks last only because it is the one thing we can build here; the first three you bring with you.

How we work follows from that. We define the outcome before the work starts — what "done" means, by when, and who owns it. We turn everything we do repeatedly into written process, because a process that lives in one person's head is a liability, not an asset. And we delight clients through the absence of surprise: reliability, proactivity, and clarity, always inside scope.

Everyone here is measured on the same three dimensions they were hired against — Reasoning, Process, and Communication.

Build and operate the software Laya uses to serve clients and run its business. You will own features from backend design through deployment, implement reliable AI workflows, and use AI coding tools to help deliver frontend experiences. You remain responsible for understanding, reviewing, testing, and maintaining the code you ship.

Approximately 80% of this role is full-stack product development, with an emphasis on backend engineering and AI implementation. The remaining 20% covers IT, Google Workspace administration, and DevOps.

This is a full-time, hybrid role based in Bengaluru, with four days in person per week. Candidates willing to relocate by their start date are welcome. Working hours are 1:30–10:30 PM IST, providing at least four hours of overlap with the US Eastern business day.

Success means useful features shipped end to end, dependable AI behavior, reliable systems, and teammates who receive timely support and clear updates.

Product development — approximately 80%

• Build and maintain APIs, database models, integrations, background jobs, and product workflows.
• Implement AI features using model APIs, structured outputs, tool use, and retrieval where appropriate. Evaluate output quality and handle failures, sensitive data, latency, and cost.
• Deliver frontend functionality with React/Next.js and AI coding tools. Review and debug generated code, and verify permissions, behavior, and usability.
• Own testing, deployment, monitoring, troubleshooting, and documentation for the features you ship.
• Clarify the user need, propose a practical scope, and communicate progress, tradeoffs, and blockers early.

IT, Workspace, and DevOps — approximately 20%

• Administer Google Workspace accounts, groups, permissions, and employee onboarding/offboarding.
• Help teammates resolve routine account, device, and software issues.
• Maintain cloud deployments, access controls, secrets, monitoring, backups, and recovery procedures.
• Investigate incidents, restore service safely, and turn recurring work into documented processes.

• Strong hands-on backend engineering: Python, SQL, API design, database changes, authentication/authorization, background work, and automated tests.
• Experience taking an AI integration into use by real users, with a clear explanation of your contribution, how you evaluated it, and how you handled errors.
• Practical experience deploying and troubleshooting cloud applications.
• Working frontend knowledge sufficient to understand, review, and debug React/TypeScript code, including code produced with AI assistance.
• Ability to own a feature independently from a user need through production support, while asking for input when needed. This will typically suit someone with 3–5 years of relevant experience; demonstrated ability matters more than a fixed number of years.
• Clear professional English, written and spoken, at B2 (upper intermediate) or above.
• Willingness to take ownership of routine IT support alongside product development.
• Based in Bengaluru or willing to relocate by the start date, available for four days in person each week and 1:30–10:30 PM IST working hours.

Our current stack includes Python/FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Google Cloud, React/Next.js, and AI provider APIs. Experience with comparable tools is welcome. Prior use of a particular AI framework is not required.

USD 1,750–2,500 per month, depending on relevant experience and demonstrated fit. Full-time, hybrid in Bengaluru, with four days in person per week and working hours of 1:30–10:30 PM Asia/Kolkata.