About HookHook is a social music platform, backed by top-tier investors, building the next generation of music discovery, fan expression, and creator growth. We turn the songs people love into sounds they can play with — enabling fans and creators to reimagine music through intuitive, remix-friendly experiences with zero learning curve. By partnering directly with artists, labels, and rightsholders, Hook ensures music is discovered, shared, and expressed in ways that respect and reward the people behind it. At Hook, music isn’t just consumed — it’s experienced, expressed, and made personal.Role OverviewWe are looking for a Backend Engineer (Product & APIs) to design, build, and scale the APIs and core systems that power Hook’s product experience across mobile and web. You will own the backend services that enable content creation, discovery, user profiles, social interactions, rights management, and more.This is a product-facing backend role. You will work closely with frontend engineers, AI/recommendation teams, product managers, and designers to ensure our app is fast, reliable, and built to scale. You’ll help shape system architecture, improve performance, and build clean, extensible APIs that support rapid experimentation and growth.What You’ll DoDesign, build, and maintain scalable backend services and APIs that power the Hook productPartner closely with frontend engineers to define and implement clean, efficient API contractsArchitect systems that support high-throughput content creation, media processing, and social interactionsOptimize performance, reliability, and latency across core product flowsContribute to database design, schema evolution, and data modeling decisionsImplement monitoring, logging, and alerting to ensure system health and observabilityParticipate in technical design discussions and help shape long-term backend architectureSupport experimentation and rapid iteration by building flexible, modular systemsRequired Skills & Experience3+ years of backend engineering experience building production systemsStrong experience designing and maintaining RESTful or GraphQL APIsProficiency in at least one backend language (e.g., Node.js/TypeScript, Python, Go, or Java)Experience working with relational databases (e.g., Postgres) and/or NoSQL systemsStrong understanding of system design, scalability, and performance optimizationExperience collaborating closely with frontend and product teamsAbility to write clean, maintainable, well-tested codePreferred Skills & ExperienceExperience building consumer-facing or social applicationsExperience working with media systems (audio/video processing, storage, CDN)Familiarity with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or similar)Experience with event-driven systems or streaming architecturesExposure to recommendation systems or AI-powered product featuresExperience in high-growth startup environmentsWhy This Role MattersHook’s product experience depends on fast, reliable, and scalable backend systems. This role sits at the heart of how our app works — from powering content creation and discovery to enabling social interactions at scale. You’ll directly influence product velocity, system architecture, and the foundation that supports millions of creative interactions.CompensationCompetitive base salary, meaningful equity ownership, and the opportunity to help build a category-defining social music platform.
