Staff Software Backend Engineer - Remote

Members get unprecedented access to 200+ instructors and classes across a wide variety of fields, including Arts & Entertainment, Business, Design & Style, Sports & Gaming, Writing and more. Step into Nas’ recording studio and Gordon Ramsay’s kitchen, and go behind the big screen with James Cameron. Design your career with Elaine Welteroth, get ready to win with Lewis Hamilton, perfect your pitch with Shonda Rhimes and discover your inner negotiator with Chris Voss.

We’re a remote-first workforce with collaborative work spaces in San Francisco and Kitchener, Ontario, and employees in several U.If you’re interested in joining a dynamic, culture-driving company—where learning invaluable

As a Staff Engineer at MasterClass, you’ll operate as a technical leader and multiplier across our engineering organization. This includes thoughtfully leveraging AI to accelerate development, improve quality, and help teams work smarter at scale.

You’ll design and evolve systems that power millions of members, partner closely with Product and Design to shape our roadmap, champion effective AI-augmented engineering practices, and elevate engineering standards across teams. Influence product and technical strategy

Help define the next generation of our membership platform

If you’re motivated by building resilient systems, owning outcomes end-to-end, and raising the bar for technical excellence, this role is for you.

Lead architecture and system design for high-scale, member-facing systems, making thoughtful tradeoffs between velocity, reliability, and long-term maintainability

Partner cross-functionally with Product, Design, Data, and other Engineering teams to shape roadmaps and align technical strategy with company goals

Own outcomes, not just code — proactively identify risks, address technical debt, and improve system reliability and performance

Influence technical direction beyond your immediate team, helping establish scalable patterns and long-term architectural vision

Model and champion AI-augmented engineering practices, demonstrating how thoughtful use of AI can accelerate development cycles, improve code quality, and increase overall team leverage without compromising reliability or security

8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with demonstrated experience operating at a senior or staff level

• Experience leading large backend technical initiatives that materially impacted business metrics (e.g., engagement, retention, revenue, performance, cost efficiency)
• Fluency in programming languages like Ruby, Java, Go or similar; experience with modern web technologies and frameworks similar to Rails, React, AWS, Postgres, and Redis
• Actively uses AI to enhance your engineering effectiveness and proactively share practical learnings that raise the performance of those around you

You care deeply about craftsmanship, clarity, and long-term maintainability.

You enjoy solving ambiguous, cross-functional technical problems.

You’re energized by both strategic architecture and hands-on implementation.

Experience improving engineering processes or architectural standards across multiple teams Nice-to-haves are not required; We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law. In addition, MasterClass will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. If you have a disability or special need, we would like to know how we can better accommodate you.

In addition to salary, we also offer equity and comprehensive benefits (medical, dental, vision, flexible PTO, and more). The range listed is for the expectations as laid out in the job description, however we are often open to a wide variety of profiles, and recognize that the person we hire may be less experienced (or more senior) than this job description as posted. Ontario, CAN Salary Range: $171,000 CAD - $206,000 CAD