Senior Backend Engineer, Exposure Management

Role Summary

Censys is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to join our Exposure Management team.

Our Exposure

Management solution is a growth product for Censys and depends on a world‑class backend architecture to deliver real‑time, high‑fidelity visibility to our customers. We’re looking for an engineer who can design, build, and extend large‑scale, real‑time backend services that leverage Censys’ massive datasets to power internal product APIs and external customer‑facing applications. This role requires someone who is comfortable owning backend services end‑to‑end, integrating data from multiple internal systems, and operating in production environments where reliability, observability, and correctness matter.

As with all roles at Censys, we expect a strong customer focus, a collaborative mindset, and a desire to continuously learn and improve both our systems and our team. What You’ll Do Design, build, and own backend APIs and gRPC services that integrate data from multiple internal teams and systems in a clean, well‑architected manner Build and evolve real‑time and near‑real‑time backend services and data pipelines that power Exposure Management and Attack Surface Management products Leverage AI and LLMs to enhance automation, accelerate development workflows, and improve customer‑facing intelligence Partner closely with Product and other Engineering teams to prioritize features, influence the Exposure Management roadmap, and deliver customer value on tight timelines Provide technical leadership through design reviews, mentorship, and setting a high bar for code quality, performance, and operational reliability Design and maintain automated CI/CD workflows, including testing, monitoring, alerting, and deployment, to ensure services are production‑ready and observable What You’ll Bring A positive attitude biased towards action and iterative problem solving, learning as we grow every step of the way. 5+ years of experience in software engineering. 3+ years of experience with Golang.

Experience designing and consuming REST and gRPC APIs in service‑oriented or microservice architectures. Strong distributed systems fundamentals, including experience building horizontally scalable, fault‑tolerant systems. The ability to thoughtfully participate in technical discussions and drive towards data‑driven decisions amidst ambiguity and competing priorities.

Strong communication and documentation skills. Explaining complex technical concepts to other engineers, designers, salespeople, and content marketers is no problem for you.

What Sets You Apart

Strong interest in harnessing AI and LLM tools as a force multiplier – using it to code smarter, iterate faster, boost productivity and enhance product capabilities.

Experience with microservice‑based designs with GCP Pub/Sub and understanding their trade‑offs.

Experience building, deploying, and maintaining containerized services in a Kubernetes‑based environment. Understanding the value of building maintainable software: test coverage enforced by CI, linters, code‑complexity checks, good abstraction, and established design patterns. A deep understanding of how the Internet works.

For example, WHOIS, Certificate Subject Alternative Names (SANs), and DNS record types should not be foreign to you. For high‑cost‑living areas (San Francisco Bay, New York City, and Seattle), the expected salary range for this position is $157,000 USD – $188,000 USD, plus bonus eligibility and equity. For other US locations, the expected salary range is $137,000 USD – $175,000 USD, plus bonus eligibility and equity.

Job level and actual compensation will be decided based on individual qualifications and market demands. The listed range is a guideline and may be modified. Censys offers a competitive benefits package, 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. 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.

We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Censys is an equal opportunity employer.