Staff Backend Engineer - Service Frameworks

Coupang Internal • Mountain View, California, United States • Full-time

$138,000

per year

Cloud Platforms Backend Engineer Distributed Systems AI/ML Developer Productivity

Job Description

We exist to wow our customers. We know we’re doing the right thing when we hear our customers say, “How did we ever live without Coupang?” Born out of an obsession to make shopping, eating, and living easier than ever, we’re collectively disrupting the multi-billion-dollar e-commerce industry from the ground up. We are one of the fastest-growing e-commerce companies that established an unparalleled reputation for being a dominant and reliable force in South Korean commerce.

We are proud to have the best of both worlds — a startup culture with the resources of a large global public company. This fuels us to continue our growth and launch new services at the speed we have been since our inception. We are all entrepreneurs surrounded by opportunities to drive new initiatives and innovations. At our core, we are bold and ambitious people that like to get our hands dirty and make a hands-on impact. At Coupang, you will see yourself, your colleagues, your team, and the company grow every day.

Our mission to build the future of commerce is real. We push the boundaries of what’s possible to solve problems and break traditional tradeoffs. Join Coupang now to create an epic experience in this always-on, high-tech, and hyper-connected world.

Role Overview

The Service Frameworks team is an integral part of Coupang’s eCommerce Engineering Platform Services organization, responsible for building foundational systems and frameworks that power the entire company. As a Staff Backend Engineer, you will design and develop scalable backend distributed systems, common frameworks, and developer productivity tools that accelerate innovation across teams.

We are looking for someone passionate about solving complex customer problems through technology, with a deep curiosity for leveraging AI, ML, and data-driven solutions to improve both developer efficiency and end-user experiences. This role will involve building data pipelines, integrating generative AI (LLMs, RAG), and optimizing common frameworks to drive seamless, intelligent solutions at scale.

What You Will Do

Design and build backend distributed systems and common frameworks that enhance developer productivity and scalability across teams.
Develop and optimize data pipelines and infrastructure to support machine learning workflows, including retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and large language models (LLMs).
Drive AI integration by collaborating with ML engineers and data scientists to enhance backend services with intelligent automation.
Solve real customer pain points by applying a deep understanding of system performance, reliability, and developer experience.
Partner with technical leaders and stakeholders across Coupang to define architecture and roadmap decisions.

Basic Qualifications

5+ years of experience in software development, with at least 1+ years in AI/ML and LLM-based applications.
Background in multi-agent systems and autonomous decision-making.
Experience of knowledge of LangChain, LlamaIndex, or similar agentic frameworks for orchestrating AI workflows
Understanding of graph-based reasoning, memory architectures, and AI planning techniques.
Knowledge of secure AI development, data privacy, and responsible AI practices.
Proven experience building and scaling mission-critical backend systems.
Strong experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure)

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in developing and deploying AI/ML-based systems, particularly LLMs, RAG techniques, and data pipelines.
Passion for solving real-world customer challenges through scalable, intelligent, and high-performance systems.
Strong understanding of developer productivity tools, framework optimizations, and service quality metrics.
Tenacity to dive deep into complex technical problems, identify root causes, and drive impactful solutions.

Pay & Benefits

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several US geographic markets. At Coupang, your base pay is one part of your total compensation.

The base pay for this position ranges from $138,000/year in our lowest geographic market to $309,000/year in our highest geographic market. Pay is based on several factors, including market location, and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

General Description of All Benefits

Medical/Dental/Vision/Life, AD&D insurance
Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) & Health Savings Accounts (HSA)
Long-term/Short-term Disability
Employee Assistance Program (EAP) program
401K Plan with Company Match
18-21 days of Paid Time Off (PTO) a year based on tenure
12 Public Holidays
Paid Parental leave
Pre-tax commuter benefits

General Description of Other Compensation

“Other Compensation” includes, but is not limited to, bonuses, equity, or other forms of compensation offered to the hired applicant in addition to their established salary range or wage scale.

Coupang is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or gender (including pregnancy, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, transgender status), national origin, age, disability, medical condition, HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C status, marital status, military or veteran status, use of a trained dog guide or service animal, political activities, or affiliations, citizenship, or any other characteristic or class protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. If you need assistance and/or reasonable accommodation in the recruiting process due to a disability, please contact us at [email protected].

Requisition Job ID: R0054964