About the job

BetterGroup (the team behind BetterPic and BetterStudio) is a profitable AI startup scaling fast, millions in revenue, millions of requests, and increasing GPU workloads across multiple products. On BetterPic, our AI makes professional headshots accessible to anyone, fast, affordable, and 4K studio-quality. Now we’re expanding into B2B, building high-impact workflows for teams and partners. On BetterStudio we’re solving photoshoots for fashion ecommerce.

We’re looking for a Founding Backend Engineer to own and scale the backend systems that power our core platforms in BetterPic. If you love building stable, fast, production-grade APIs with autonomy and purpose, read on.

Team Perks

Meet your Team

All headshots generated using Betterpic ❤️

About you

What You’ll Work On

Your Impact:

• Maintain, extend, and optimize our current Node.js backend while participating in a strategic migration to FastAPI

• Architect and build Python-based microservices using FastAPI, SQLAlchemy Core, and modern Python tooling

• Design migration strategies to transition features from Node.js to Python with zero downtime

• Build fast, secure APIs powering dashboards, integrations, and automation tools in both ecosystems

• Lead the establishment of Python best practices while maintaining Node.js services during transition
  

Tech Challenges You’ll Tackle:

• Migrating Node.js services to FastAPI while maintaining API compatibility

• Building secure and performant public APIs (auth, rate limiting, usage tracking) in Python

• Implementing SQLAlchemy Core patterns for multi-tenant and team-based access

• Working with production safe database migrations

• Designing resilient async systems using Python's async/await and background tasks

• Building scalable RBAC and permission systems

• Working with AWS services (S3, SES, Cloudfront) in a polyglot environment

• Optimizing performance for high-concurrency workloads in both Node.js and Python

• Implementing advanced caching strategies with Redis across different runtimes

• Ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) during migration

Daily Responsibilities

• Maintain critical Node.js backend features while gradually migrating to FastAPI

• Extend and enhance existing FastAPI services with new features

• Design and implement migration plans for specific services and endpoints

• Coordinate API specs and versioning strategies across both platforms

• Ensure seamless interoperability between Node.js and Python services

• Proactively monitor performance, logs, and stability across both stacks

• Help establish Python backend best practices, testing strategies, and deployment pipelines
  

What You Need

Must-Have:

• 4+ years experience with Python web frameworks (FastAPI, Flask, or Django) (ideally 8+ total dev experience)

• 2+ years backend experience with Node.js highly valued

• Proficiency with PostgreSQL, REST APIs, OpenAPI, and database migrations

• Experience with both Express.js and Python async frameworks

• Familiarity with SQLAlchemy (Core preferred) and Python async patterns

• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and distributed systems

• Track record of successfully migrating or refactoring production systems

• Good communicator, async-first mindset, comfortable in startup pace

• Ability to reason about system design, scale, and maintainability across languages
  

Bonus Points:

• Experience with FastAPI specifically and Pydantic for data validation

• Familiarity with Python tooling: uv, ruff, pytest, mypy

• Built RBAC systems or multi-tenant apps in both Node.js and Python

• Experience with gradual migration strategies and feature flags

• Familiar with rate limiting, auth strategies, and API usage metering

• Used AWS in production (EC2, S3, SES, etc.)

• You've shipped B2B tools, internal platforms, or SaaS dashboards

Our Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express, PostgreSQL, AWS

• Frontend: Nuxt 3, Vue 3, TypeScript, TailwindCSS

• Infra: AWS (S3, SES, Cloudfront), Render, Cloudflare, Supabase

• Tools: GitHub, Prettier, Slack, Asana

Migration Target

• Backend: FastAPI, SQLAlchemy Core, PostgreSQL, Redis, AWS

• Python Tooling: uv (package management), ruff (linting/formatting), pytest

• Maintaining: Gradual transition with both stacks running in parallel

Application Process

1. Fill out this form

2. [Take Home] Coding Challenge (1-3 hours)

• 2.1. Small development challenge

• 2.2. Brief [5 minutes max] Loom video explaining functionality, implementation and design decisions

3. Interview with the VP Eng and/or CTO (30 minutes)

4. Interview with the rest of the management team (30 minutes)

5. Offer from BetterPic

Final Notes
This is not a “just-maintain-things” backend gig. You’ll be building what powers the B2B engine of a profitable, high-growth AI company.

We encourage AI usage in your workflow, but real ownership, communication, and decision-making are what set you apart.

Let’s build something lasting.