Staff Backend Engineer, Core Product at Kalepa | Apply Now

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Staff Backend Engineer, Core Product at Kalepa: Build AI Systems That Reshape Insurance

Kalepa is hiring a Staff Backend Engineer, Core Product. Remote USA. Salary $210k to $290k plus equity.

Kalepa sits inside the seven trillion dollar global insurance industry. The sector still leans on manual labor for underwriting, claims, pricing, and operations. You can help change that.

This role puts you on the Core Product team as a Staff Backend Engineer. You will design reliable systems around fragmented, high value data. You will build an intelligence layer that makes decisions faster, clearer, and easier to explain.

The insurance industry is massive. Yet much of its daily work remains slow and repetitive. That gap creates real demand for engineers who know Python, cloud infrastructure, and data pipelines. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects software developer employment will grow 17 percent from 2023 to 2033, much faster than the average for all jobs.

This role matters because you will not just ship features. You will build the foundation for an AI operating system that professionals use across the entire insurance lifecycle.

Staff Backend Engineer, Core Product

Role Overview

You will own critical backend systems that turn messy insurance data into clean, reliable, and actionable signals. This is a high impact role for a self directed engineer who wants to solve hard infrastructure problems with Python, AWS, and PostgreSQL.

Responsibilities

• Design and build highly reliable backend services and data models that support business critical insurance workflows.
• Create data pipelines and evaluation loops that improve speed, accuracy, and transparency of decisions.
• Own services end to end, from architecture and implementation to deployment and monitoring.
• Collaborate with product and engineering teams to surface blockers early and keep stakeholders aligned.
• Experiment rapidly with new solutions, measure results, and iterate on what works.
• Improve data completeness and decision explainability across the Core Product platform.

Qualifications

• At least eight years of software engineering experience in production environments.
• Deep proficiency in Python as a primary backend language.
• Strong system design, debugging, and problem solving fundamentals.
• Hands on experience with AWS Lambda, EC2, and asynchronous workflows.
• Comfort with relational databases, especially PostgreSQL.
• Excellent communication skills and a self directed, high ownership mindset.

This role connects directly to Kalepa's mission. When you ship a more complete data model, you help an insurer approve a claim with fewer manual steps. When you improve an evaluation loop, you make an underwriting decision easier to explain to a customer. Your work becomes part of a system that learns from real decisions and gets smarter over time.

Company Overview: Kalepa's Story and Mission

Kalepa started with a simple observation. Insurance runs on expert judgment. Underwriters read documents, assess risk, and make decisions. Claims teams verify details and negotiate outcomes. Pricing analysts build models. These professionals are skilled. Yet they spend too much time on repetitive work.

Kalepa decided to build professional grade artificial intelligence that could read, reason, decide, and act inside real workflows. The company did not try to replace experts overnight. Instead, it built tools that augment professionals first. Those tools capture decision traces. Over time, those traces teach the system how to automate more of the work.

The result is a product already in production with top insurers. Kalepa aims to become the foundational AI operating system for decision making across insurance. Backers include IA Ventures and Inspired Capital. The team includes people from Facebook, Palantir, Google, Amazon, McKinsey, Mastercard, and Uber.

Kalepa operates on five core values. Hustle and determination means team members take full ownership of hard problems. Customer impact means every line of code is judged by whether it improves speed, accuracy, or profitability for insurers. Meritocracy means excellence gets rewarded with rapid growth. Transparency means honest, politically free communication where ideas are challenged, not people. Relentless experimentation means quickly testing and rigorously measuring new solutions.

The company supports remote employees across more than ten languages. Regional meetups and international offsites in places like Playa Del Carmen, Rome, Buenos Aires, Lisbon, and Cartagena keep the global team connected.

Salary and Benefits Insight

Kalepa offers a salary range of $210,000 to $290,000 USD for this Staff Backend Engineer role. You also receive a significant equity options package. That combination puts this position near the top of market rates for senior backend roles in the United States.

For comparison, data from Levels.fyi shows staff level backend engineers at major U.S. tech companies often earn base salaries between $180,000 and $260,000, with total compensation rising well above $350,000 when equity is included. Kalepa's base range sits competitively within that band, and the equity upside adds meaningful long term value.

The benefits package covers more than salary. You get one hundred percent covered PPO medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family. Kalepa provides twenty days of paid time off. A 401(k) plan includes automatic employer contributions. The company offers continuing education credits, healthy living stipends, and mobile phone bill stipends. Global offsites give you a chance to meet teammates in person and build relationships beyond Slack and video calls.

Work life balance gets real support through clear ownership and flexible remote work. You will not be micromanaged. You will be trusted to drive projects with minimal oversight and communicate blockers before they become problems.

Career Growth and Industry Outlook

A Staff Backend Engineer at Kalepa sits on a growth path toward principal engineer, engineering manager, or technical architect. You will own business critical infrastructure from day one. That ownership accelerates your trajectory because you learn how to balance reliability, speed, and business impact in a fast moving startup.

The insurance technology market continues to expand. According to a report from Grand View Research, the global insurtech market size was valued at $5.45 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 52.7 percent from 2023 to 2030. That explosive growth creates demand for engineers who understand data pipelines, machine learning evaluation, and cloud infrastructure.

Emerging skills matter here. Large language models and generative AI are reshaping how insurers read policies, summarize claims, and interact with customers. Distributed systems knowledge helps you design services that handle high volume data without losing reliability. If you already have experience with LLMs or distributed systems, you bring a valuable bonus to Kalepa's team.

This role gives you practical exposure to AI systems in production. You will not just experiment in a lab. You will ship systems that real insurers use daily. That experience transfers well if you later pursue roles in AI infrastructure, platform engineering, or technical leadership.

Job Application Tips

Start with your resume. Tailor it to the backend engineering role by highlighting Python projects, AWS deployments, and PostgreSQL data modeling. Show measurable outcomes. Instead of writing "built APIs," write "designed APIs that handled 5 million requests per day with 99.95 percent uptime." For more guidance, check out these resume tips.

Your LinkedIn profile matters too. Recruiters will look at it before your resume. Keep your headline clear, list your top technical skills, and link to relevant projects. Learn how to create a strong professional presence with this guide on building a professional LinkedIn profile.

For the interview, prepare to discuss system design in depth. You will likely face questions about designing reliable services, handling asynchronous workflows, and modeling relational data. Practice explaining tradeoffs clearly. Do not just say what you built. Explain why you made each decision and what you would do differently.

Communication matters at Kalepa. The team values transparency and proactive blocker surfacing. In your interviews, show how you communicated risk, aligned stakeholders, and moved a project forward without waiting for permission. For structured preparation, use these interview preparation tips.

Common pitfalls include vague project descriptions, weak Python fundamentals, and an inability to explain database tradeoffs. Be ready to write code. Be ready to debug. Be ready to discuss how you would handle a service outage at 2 a.m.

Networking can open doors before you apply. Connect with current Kalepa engineers, ask thoughtful questions, and demonstrate genuine interest in insurance technology. Learn how to build those relationships with this guide on networking effectively for your career.

If you are applying from outside the United States or remote, review Kalepa's requirements carefully. The role requires USA based work. For broader advice on finding legitimate remote opportunities, see this resource on finding legitimate jobs online.

Why This Role Matters in Today's Job Market

The tech job market feels tighter than it did a few years ago. Layoffs at large companies made headlines. Competition for senior roles increased. Yet demand for backend engineers with cloud and data experience remains strong. Companies still struggle to hire engineers who can design reliable systems and ship without constant oversight.

Kalepa offers a rare combination. You get startup speed, real equity upside, and a mission that touches an enormous industry. You also get remote flexibility and a culture that values ownership over politics.

Insurance is not going away. It grows with population, property, and risk. The industry needs better software. Kalepa is building it. You can be part of that build.

What You Need to Know About the Technical Stack

Kalepa runs on Python. If you know Python deeply, you will succeed. The company uses AWS Lambda and EC2 for compute. You should understand serverless tradeoffs. Lambda scales automatically but introduces cold starts and execution time limits. EC2 offers more control but requires more operational work. Kalepa needs engineers who know when to use each.

PostgreSQL serves as the primary relational database. You will design schemas, write efficient queries, and optimize indexes. Insurance data is relational and complex. Policies link to claims. Claims link to payments. Clean data models prevent painful migrations later.

Asynchronous workflows matter because insurance processes often involve long running tasks. You will build pipelines that handle retries, failures, and partial results. You will design evaluation loops that measure whether AI outputs improve over time.

Experience with large language models gives you an edge. Kalepa uses AI to read and reason over insurance documents. If you have worked with generative AI in production, you understand prompt design, output validation, and cost management. Those skills help immediately.

Glossary of Key Terms

• Backend Engineer: A software engineer who builds and maintains the server side logic, databases, and APIs that power applications.
• Core Product: The central software offering that delivers the main value to customers.
• Python: A popular programming language known for readability and a rich ecosystem for data and backend development.
• AWS Lambda: A serverless compute service that runs code in response to events without managing servers.
• EC2: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, a service that provides virtual servers for running applications.
• PostgreSQL: A powerful open source relational database system known for reliability and advanced features.
• Data Pipeline: A series of steps that move and transform data from one system to another.
• Large Language Model (LLM): An AI system trained on massive text data to understand and generate human language.
• Asynchronous Workflow: A process where tasks run independently without blocking the main application flow.
• Serverless: A cloud computing model where the provider manages servers, allowing developers to focus on code.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the salary range for the Staff Backend Engineer role at Kalepa?

Kalepa offers $210,000 to $290,000 USD per year, plus a significant equity options package.

Is this role remote or on site?

Kalepa supports remote employees across multiple languages and time zones. The role is open to candidates based in the USA.

What technical skills does Kalepa require?

You need deep Python experience, strong system design skills, AWS Lambda and EC2 knowledge, and comfort with PostgreSQL. Experience with LLMs and distributed systems is a bonus.

How many years of experience do I need?

Kalepa looks for at least eight years of software engineering experience for this staff level role.

What benefits does Kalepa provide?

You get fully covered PPO medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family, twenty days of PTO, a 401(k) with automatic employer contributions, education credits, healthy living stipends, and mobile phone bill stipends.

What is Kalepa's company culture like?

Kalepa values hustle, customer impact, meritocracy, transparency, and relentless experimentation. The team communicates directly and rewards high ownership work.

How do I apply for the Staff Backend Engineer position?

Use the official application link below to submit your resume and details through Kalepa's hiring platform.

Final Thoughts

You have a chance to join a company that builds real AI systems for a massive industry. Kalepa gives you ownership, competitive pay, strong benefits, and a team that values direct communication and smart experimentation.

If you have deep Python skills, AWS experience, and a desire to build reliable backend systems that drive real decisions, this role fits. Apply now and start the conversation.

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