Software Engineer (Backend), Core Services

Location: 

This position is remote within the United States or Canada. 

Role Summary:

We’re hiring a backend Software Engineer II to join our Core Services team. In this role, you will be responsible for building and maintaining the critical infrastructure behind authentication, authorization, analytics, and user/account management across our platform. You will contribute to secure, scalable systems that power core business capabilities by turning clear requirements into high-quality software, collaborating with product and engineering stakeholders as you deepen expertise in our stack and domain.

What You’ll Do:

• Implement and extend services that deliver new core platform functionality.
• Support authentication, authorization, and analytics capabilities alongside the team.
• Build, test, deploy, and monitor a distributed set of services.
• Partner with product, design, and other engineering teams to ship features end-to-end.
• Help evolve the Censys public API as platform capabilities grow.
• Improve developer experience for internal teams and external API consumers.
• Own small-to-medium features from technical design through launch, with increasing independence; participate in design discussions with guidance from senior engineers.
• Share on-call responsibilities for your areas and handle straightforward incidents with team support as needed.

What You’ll Bring:

• Experience writing backend services in Go (Golang).
• Foundational understanding of distributed systems and common operational challenges.
• General knowledge of database design and typical access patterns.
• Hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure (e.g., AWS or GCP).
• Strong collaboration, communication, and analytical troubleshooting skills.
• A track record of delivering well-defined work at high quality, knowing when to ask for clarification or help, and learning quickly from mistakes.

Bonus Points:

• Experience building services on GCP.
• Experience with Kubernetes and Docker.
• Familiarity with SSO, SAML, and/or OIDC.

For high cost of living areas (San Francisco Bay, New York City, and Seattle), the expected salary range for this position is $143,000 USD - $177,000 USD, plus bonus eligibility and equity. 

For all other US locations, the expected salary range for this position is $125,000 USD - $165,000 USD, plus bonus eligibility and equity.  

Job level and actual compensation will be decided based on factors including, but not limited to, individual qualifications objectively assessed during the interview process (including skills and prior relevant experience, potential impact, and scope of role), market demands, and specific work location. The listed range is a guideline, and the range for this role may be modified. For roles that are available to be filled remotely, the pay range is localized according to employee work location by a factor of between 83% and 100% of range. Please discuss your specific work location with your recruiter for more information.

Censys offers a competitive benefits package to employees, including equity, health, dental & vision coverage, retirement with company contribution, parental leave, mental health & wellness benefits, flexible PTO, and a professional development stipend. Censys also offers sales incentive pay for most sales roles and an annual bonus plan for eligible non-sales roles. Censys’s compensation and benefits are subject to change and may be modified in the future. Please see our careers page for more details.

We will work to ensure individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to apply for a role, participate in the interview process, perform essential job functions, and receive other benefits and privileges of employment. If you require accommodation, please reach out to your recruiter. These modifications enable an individual with a disability to have an equal opportunity not only to get a job, but successfully perform their job tasks to the same extent as people without disabilities.

To ensure the integrity of our hiring process and facilitate a more personal connection, we require all candidates to keep their cameras on during video interviews. Additionally, if hired, we would love to bring you to our HQ in Ann Arbor for in-person onboarding.

By applying for this job, the candidate acknowledges and agrees that any personal data contained in their application or supporting materials will be processed in accordance with our Censys Privacy Policy.

Our roots are in Ann Arbor, Michigan and our innovation is fueled by the team’s global perspectives. For this role, we are open to remote employees across the continental US. We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Censys is an equal opportunity employer.

Note to external recruiters/agencies: We are not currently engaging with third-party agencies for this role and will not accept unsolicited outreach. We kindly ask that you do not submit resumes or candidate profiles to our team.