Backend Engineer

Full-time · Sydney (on-site) · Competitive salary

THE PROJECT

Neurode Labs is building brain-computer interface technology that puts privacy, security, and data integrity at its core. We're a small, focused team — and we're hiring a backend engineer in Sydney to help us build the infrastructure that sits between thousands of connected devices and the insights they generate.

This isn't a typical backend role. You'll be designing and owning a server architecture that manages persistent, secure connections from thousands of headsets simultaneously, ensures the integrity, provenance, and privacy of every data packet, and does it reliably at scale, from day one.

WHAT YOU'LL BE BUILDING

In your first six months, you'll be the primary engineer on our core backend infrastructure: a server architecture that:

• Handles bursty upload traffic of large payloads from thousands of edge devices in the field
• Enforces strict data integrity and provenance per client: idempotent ingestion, hash-verified payloads, append-only audits
• Handles high-throughput API traffic reliably and safely
• Is built with privacy and compliance (HIPAA/GDPR) in mind from the ground up
• Exposes a validated data-plane to our ML/data infrastructure

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

You're a full-stack developer with a clear backend bias. You've shipped systems that handle sensitive data at scale and you know what that actually demands — not just in theory.

• Strong Python backend skills — FastAPI preferred, but stack-flexible
• PostgreSQL fluency: schema design, query optimisation, data security and integrity
• Experience designing burst-capacity APIs: large-payload uploads, validation-gated ingestion, idempotency, backpressure
• Familiarity with AWS (we may migrate, but you need to navigate what's there)
• Practical exposure to HIPAA and/or GDPR — you know the rules, not just the acronyms
• Comfortable using AI-assisted development tools (Claude Code in particular)
• 5+ years of experience is ideal — but the right mindset matters more than tenure

The background that makes you stand out: hospital systems, fintech, insurance tech, defense tech, or anywhere secure + private data at scale was critical (think Signal, Telegram, Apple, healthcare infra, encrypted platforms).

WHO YOU ARE

• You assume you can figure it out, and you're usually right
• You're energised by hard problems, not intimidated by them
• You take ownership seriously; high autonomy and responsibility, you don't wait to be told
• You collaborate well: security doesn't exist in a silo, and you know it
• You communicate clearly across teams: translating technical constraints into plain language is part of the job
• When you spot a problem, your instinct is to solve it, not escalate it
• You learn fast, document well, and leave things better than you found them
• You're based in Sydney and want to work in person with a small, ambitious team

TECH STACK (PREFERRED, NOT REQUIRED)

We're open on stack — bring your tools. That said, familiarity with any of the following is a plus:

• Python (FastAPI or Django)
• PostgreSQL
• AWS
• Claude Code

HOW TO APPLY

Apply via the short survey below. We'll ask you to tell us briefly about a system you've built where security, scale, and data integrity were non-negotiable.

Apply via the link:

(https://7b08obg301p.typeform.com/to/nMBgrKMR)