Senior Platform Engineer

We're partnering with a venture-backed AI startup building the future of 3D creative tools. Their platform gives professional creative teams (in film, advertising, and gaming) spatial, camera-centric control over generative AI, entirely in the browser.This is a foundational hire. You will be the platform team — owning everything behind the product: infrastructure, backend services, APIs, data storage, real-time collaboration systems, and the orchestration layer connecting multiple AI model providers. You'll set the technical direction and eventually build out the backend engineering function.What you'll own:The entire platform layer — architecture, backend services, APIs, infrastructureReal-time collaboration systems powering multi-user 3D scene editingAI generation pipeline orchestration across multiple third-party providersStorage and CDN strategies for large binary assets (3D scenes, generated media)Infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD, observability, and system reliability (four nines target)Cloud cost management — particularly for AI workloads at scaleWhat we're looking for:Senior-level platform/infrastructure/backend engineer (7+ years)End-to-end product shipping experience — you've built it, shipped it, scaled itFluent in Node.js and TypeScript at the platform level — this is the primary backend runtimeDeep experience with PostgreSQL — schema design, performance, and operating at scaleStrong with cloud platforms (GCP preferred), Docker, Kubernetes, and RedisExperience with real-time systems (WebSockets, distributed sync, shared state)Hands-on with async job queues, task orchestration, and multi-tenant SaaS architectureA strong communicator who can hold their own in technical discussions with senior peersNice-to-haves:Experience with creative tools, gaming, or real-time 3D platforms — game engine architecture, WebGL, asset pipelines, or collaborative creative softwareGCP-native operating experience (beyond general cloud familiarity)Experience orchestrating third-party AI model integrations in productionPrevious early-stage or founding infrastructure hire experienceActively building with AI — agent workflows, generative content pipelines, MCP integrations, or LLM-powered tooling