Senior Back End Developer

We are Thematic, a fully remote fast growing SaaS company with staff in New Zealand and the US. Thematic uses AI to analyze customer feedback to tell companies how they can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. Our customers are brands you know including DoorDash, Jetstar, Google and Electronic Arts.

We are looking for talented developers to help build Thematic across our tech stack. We believe in finding people that fit anywhere along the visual design->frontend->backend->infrastructure spectrum that will help build out our team and make us stronger. This role is for someone on the backend and infrastructure end of the spectrum.

Are you ready to join a compact, high-velocity engineering team where your work directly shapes the future? We’re building something bold: a real, in production, and useful AI product at the forefront of innovation, and we’re looking for a talented Senior Software Engineer to lead the charge.

Why this role stands out

• Make a tangible impact from day one: you’ll play a key role in building the core infrastructure and product architecture.
• Operate in a small but powerful engineering team. Your ideas, code, and decisions will matter.
• Work on a real and useful AI product. Not a prototype. You will help take AI models out of the lab and into meaningful real-world features.
• Learn and grow: leverage cutting-edge AI and dev tools, stay ahead of the curve, and help shape our engineering practices.
• Fully remote: you thrive working independently, remotely, and collaboratively. Proven track record required.

What you’ll do

• Design, build and maintain the infrastructure and services that power our AI product and platform.
• Collaborate with product, data engineering, and research teams to transform ideas into scalable features.
• Write clean, maintainable code that meets reliability, scalability and performance standards.
• Use AI engineering tools (code generation, data pipelines, model deployment) to accelerate development without sacrificing discipline.
• Drive engineering best practices: CI/CD, testing, monitoring, and performance optimization.
• Mentor and support fellow engineers; contribute to team culture and tech direction.

• Senior-level engineer (5+ years experience or equivalent) with a strong foundation in software engineering fundamentals: algorithms, systems design, APIs, data systems.
• Deep experience in backend, infrastructure, microservices or cloud-native environments.
• Comfortable working fully remotely: you have done it, enjoyed it, and can excel without a day in a traditional office.
• Demonstrated experience using AI-adjacent tools: code automation, model deployment, data pipelines, large-scale services.
• You bring a “traditional engineering mindset” while embracing the latest tools to create fast, efficient, robust outcomes.
• Excellent communicator and collaborator because remote requires strong self-management, clear communication and accountability.

Must-haves

What we are looking for:

• Passionate about building products people get value from 
• 4 or more years of experience in at least one of the core technologies we use
• Backend (Python, Flask)
• AWS Infrastructure (ECS, Batch, Lambda, monitoring, compliance)
• Uses AI tools, and has (or wants to) build AI systems
• Experience working in a remote environment with a distributed team
• Based in New Zealand with a right to work here
• Enjoy continuously learning and growing

What you might have:

• Experience building SaaS products
• Working in a small company
• Appreciation for understanding and translating what the customer wants
• Familiar with code-generation tools and AI-assisted development.

Perks & Culture

• Flexible working hours: trust-based autonomy, not micromanagement.
• Equity (ESOP)
• Flexible working hours / working arrangement
• Monthly 'remote work' stipend of NZD 400 to spend as you want
• Salary Range: $160k-$175k NZD
  

If you’re excited by the idea of building something meaningful, working alongside talented peers, and making a real difference then we’d love to hear from you.

Join us! Let’s build the future together.