Software Engineer (React, AWS)
About the Company:
Babylist is a leading platform for expecting and new families, helping more than 10 million people shop, discover products and access trusted guidance every year. What began as a universal baby registry has grown into a broader ecosystem that includes Babylist Shop, Babylist Health, Babylist Money, physical showrooms in New York City and Los Angeles, and branded content. The company generated $750 million in revenue in 2025 and is building a long-term brand in the $235 billion baby and kids market. Babylist combines technology, data and AI to help parents feel confident, connected and supported throughout their parenting journey.
About the Role:
Babylist is hiring Staff Software Engineers to join its 85-person engineering organization. In this role, you will help shape the technical direction of a large-scale marketplace serving new and expecting families, with systems spanning registry, commerce, health, advertising and core platform infrastructure. Staff Engineers take ownership of complex problems that extend across teams, working directly with product, design and data partners to turn business needs into reliable software. The role also carries a strong focus on AI-assisted engineering, with expectations to improve how teams use AI, make sound architectural decisions and raise engineering standards across the organization.
Key Responsibilities:
Take ownership of ambiguous business problems from initial design through development and production, working across team boundaries with clear accountability.
Use AI tools throughout the software development lifecycle to improve productivity, strengthen engineering output and establish effective practices across teams.
Set technical direction for systems and services, making architectural decisions that balance delivery speed, software quality and long-term maintainability.
Work closely with product, design and data teams to shape solutions, challenge assumptions and make informed technical trade-offs.
Mentor engineers, including senior team members, through code reviews, design feedback and guidance on problem-solving and engineering decisions.
Identify gaps in engineering processes and implement improvements rather than simply highlighting issues.
Evaluate AI-generated output critically, determine when it is reliable and help other engineers develop sound judgment when using AI tools.
Document technical decisions and communicate the reasoning behind them to engineering teams and business leadership.
Contribute to systems supporting Babylist's revenue and growth, consumer products, registry experience, platform and infrastructure, based on organizational needs.
Help establish engineering practices that support scalable systems, effective collaboration and high-quality software delivery.
Required Qualifications:
- 10+ years of experience building and shipping production software systems at scale.
- Demonstrated ability to own outcomes across multiple teams and lead complex initiatives beyond the boundaries of a single team.
- Experience establishing effective AI-assisted engineering practices and helping other engineers use AI tools productively.
- Strong judgment in evaluating AI-generated code and analysis, including identifying limitations and deciding when outputs should not be used.
- Deep backend engineering fundamentals and broad system-design experience.
- Production experience with Ruby on Rails, or experience with Python/Django or Node.js combined with the ability to ramp up on Rails quickly.
- Ability to make technical decisions in ambiguous situations without waiting for complete information, document the rationale and involve the right stakeholders.
- Strong architectural judgment and the ability to work with product and design as a peer when evaluating technical and product trade-offs.
- Clear communication skills, including the ability to explain complex technical decisions to engineers and executives.
- A collaborative approach to mentoring engineers and improving technical practices across teams.
- A strong interest in using AI tools daily to improve development speed and the quality of engineering work.
- Technology StackRuby on RailsReactAWSSidekiqMySQLRedisNative iOS and Android development
- Work Arrangement
Babylist is a remote-first company with team members across the United States and Canada. Employees come together twice a year to strengthen relationships and collaborate in person. The organization emphasizes ownership, fast execution, continuous learning and the everyday use of AI in engineering work.
Compensation and Benefits:
The starting salary range for this role is $226,673–$273,100, along with a target annual bonus of 20% and competitive equity. Starting compensation depends on location, experience and qualifications. Future increases are tied to performance, role growth and internal pay equity. Benefits include company-paid medical, dental and vision insurance, a retirement savings plan with company matching, flexible spending accounts, generous paid parental leave and paid time off. Employees also receive a paid Winter Wonder Week at the end of the year, a remote-work stipend, and perks supporting physical, mental and emotional health, parenting, childcare and financial planning. Babylist supports professional growth through career advancement opportunities, performance-based progression and access to AI tools such as Claude and ChatGPT.Company Culture Babylist values focused work, thoughtful decision-making, strong management and meaningful collaboration. AI is integrated into everyday workflows rather than treated as a separate experiment. Engineers are expected to take ownership, challenge existing approaches when necessary and prioritize product quality and customer impact.
Interview Process and Important Notices:
Babylist uses an interview recording tool to record and transcribe interviews for evaluation purposes in accordance with applicable privacy laws. Participating candidates consent to this recording and transcription. AI tools are used throughout the application review and assessment process, but they support rather than replace human evaluation. All hiring decisions are made by people. Candidates are expected to ensure their applications and interviews reflect their own thinking and experience, using AI when encouraged and avoiding misrepresentation. Candidates who are interviewed will receive a hiring decision within 45 days of their final interview. Applicants who have a close personal relationship with a current Babylist employee should inform their recruiter to support a fair process. Official recruiting communications come from the Babylist Talent Team using an @babylist.com email address. Babylist will not request payment or financial information. Candidates can verify job openings through babylist.com/careers.