Software Engineer - Backend, Standalone Apps Team
Menlo Park, CAJob$219–301K/yrSeen todaySeen in employer's feed today
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Job overview
Meta’s Standalone Apps Team is a small, early-stage team building new apps for user scenarios not well served today. The senior backend engineer will build and own the services behind the product, making them reliable and fast as usage grows, and partner with client and ML engineers on the end-to-end experience. The role offers high ownership and a short path from idea to shipment.
Skills & qualifications
Skills
Qualifications
Full job description
Summary:
We're Meta's Standalone Apps Team - we build new apps to reach new user scenarios and serve needs that aren't well met today. It's still early - a small team working 0→1.If you want high ownership, a short path from idea to ship, and the chance to shape a product from its first version, this is that kind of team.We're looking for a senior backend engineer to build the services behind the product. You'll design and own backend systems that power the app, make them reliable and fast as usage grows, and partner with client and ML engineers on the end-to-end experience.
Required Skills:
Software Engineer - Backend, Standalone Apps Team Responsibilities:
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Design, build, and own backend services and APIs that power the core product.
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Model data and design systems that stay reliable, fast, and cost-efficient as usage grows.
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Set technical direction for major backend areas
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raise the bar on quality, observability, and operational health.
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Partner with client, ML, and product to deliver features end to end.
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Mentor other engineers and improve how the team builds.
Minimum Qualifications:
Minimum Qualifications:
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12+ years of software engineering experience, with significant time building backend/server systems
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Strong grasp of distributed systems, data modeling, APIs, and service reliability
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Track record of designing and shipping backend systems at scale
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Experience leading the technical direction of a project and working independently with limited guidance
Preferred Qualifications:
Preferred Qualifications:
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Demonstrated ability to integrate AI tools to optimize/redesign workflows and drive measurable impact (e.g., efficiency gains, quality improvements)
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Experience adhering to and implementing responsible, ethical AI practices (e.g., risk assessment, bias mitigation, quality and accuracy reviews)
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Demonstrated ongoing AI skill development (e.g., prompt/context engineering, agent orchestration) and staying current with emerging AI technologies
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Experience taking a new product backend from 0→1
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Experience with high-throughput, low-latency systems or social/consumer-scale data
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Experience partnering closely with ML/recsys systems
Public Compensation:
$219,000/year to $301,000/year + bonus + equity + benefits
Industry: Internet
Equal Opportunity:
Meta is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Meta participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law. Please note that Meta may leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies in connection with applications for employment.
Meta is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at [email protected].
How this job compares
Set against the 3,289 open Backend Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 6, 2026.
- Pay
- This posting$219–301K/yr
- California median$170–247K/yr830 salary ranges
- US median$150–224K/yr2,606 salary ranges
This range's midpoint, $260K, is 25% above the California median midpoint ($208K) — in the top quarter of Backend Engineer salary ranges in California.
- Openings
- Olive Jobs lists 1,087 open Backend Engineer jobs in California and 3,289 across the US. 14% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
- Hiring the most in California
- OpenAI41 open
- Apple37 open
- Palo Alto Networks20 open
- Experience
- This posting asks for at least 12 years of experience — more than three in four Backend Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for (median 5 years, across 2,713 postings).
- Education
- 812 of the 3,289 open Backend Engineer jobs (25%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.
Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 6, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.
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