Senior Backend Developer (freelance)

In short If you're a backend engineer who doesn't just build what's asked, but shapes how it's built, we want to talk. We're looking for someone who can own the technical direction of a project end to end: architecture, infrastructure, trade-offs, and the conversations that come with them. You'd join us on a freelance, time & material basis : you're paid for the hours you actually work on real client projects. Full capacity from the start. The first three months are about figuring out if we're a good match. When things work out, and that depends on the work itself, the project pipeline, and business timing, there's a real path to our core team with a permanent contract and full benefits. Why intent? We've been designing and co-creating connected devices since 2008. Wearables, smart audio, health-tech hardware for clients like Oura and BOSE, backed by investors like a16z and Founders Fund. We're 60+ people, fully remote, and AI-native since before LinkedIn influencers discovered the term. We use AI every day, in actual work, not just in company decks. Our backend isn't generic CRUD: it's the cloud spine of physical devices, the layer where firmware meets data pipelines, and where one bad architectural call shows up in a sensor reading six months later. Who this role is NOT for If your comfort zone is a well-defined Jira board, clear specs, and someone else making the architectural calls, this isn't going to work. We're not hiring a senior developer who executes well. We're hiring someone who decides what gets built, how it gets built, and why. Someone who walks into a room full of ambiguity and starts creating structure, not waiting for it. If you need a ticket to start moving, if "that's not in the requirements" is a sentence you use often, or if you'd rather not be the one explaining a technical trade-off to a client, we're probably not your people. We're AI-native and we expect you to treat AI tools as a daily multiplier, not a gimmick. What you'll do Own and evol