---
title: "We’re Hiring a Principal Backend Engineer to Shape the Future of Medium"
description: "Medium is hiring a Principal Backend Engineer, its most senior individual-contributor level, to lead the evolution of backend systems supporting reading, writing, and discovery for millions of users. The role combines hands-on engineering with organizational leadership: the hire will define backend strategy, set quality and architectural standards, review critical designs and code, mentor engineers, and partner with engineering, design, data, and executive leadership. Its technical focus includes modernizing a large living codebase, improving reliability and scalability, and balancing long-term platform evolution with building, debugging, and refining systems directly. Medium says the position should help teams move faster and ship with confidence while keeping the technology fast, stable, and built for longevity; it is fully remote in the US and seeks engineers experienced with systems used by millions, technical debt, fan-outs, and complex edge cases."
---

# We’re Hiring a Principal Backend Engineer to Shape the Future of Medium

[Medium](https://yomu.fyi/company/medium) · Michael Margolis · Oct 22, 2025

**Type:** Announcement

## Summary

Medium is hiring a Principal Backend Engineer, its most senior individual-contributor level, to lead the evolution of backend systems supporting reading, writing, and discovery for millions of users. The role combines hands-on engineering with organizational leadership: the hire will define backend strategy, set quality and architectural standards, review critical designs and code, mentor engineers, and partner with engineering, design, data, and executive leadership. Its technical focus includes modernizing a large living codebase, improving reliability and scalability, and balancing long-term platform evolution with building, debugging, and refining systems directly. Medium says the position should help teams move faster and ship with confidence while keeping the technology fast, stable, and built for longevity; it is fully remote in the US and seeks engineers experienced with systems used by millions, technical debt, fan-outs, and complex edge cases.

## Context

Medium says its mission depends on technology that supports reading, writing, and discovery while remaining fast, stable, reliable, scalable, and built for longevity. The role is motivated by the need to modernize a large living codebase, strengthen backend standards and systems, and keep the platform aligned with the company’s long-term goals.

## Approach / What changed

The Principal Backend Engineer will combine direct implementation, debugging, and system refinement with technical leadership. Responsibilities include defining backend strategy, setting architectural and quality standards, reviewing critical code and designs, mentoring engineers, and partnering with engineering, design, data, and executive leadership.

## Takeaways

- The Principal Backend Engineer is Medium’s most senior individual-contributor level and is described as a leadership position within the company.
- The role emphasizes modernizing a large, living backend codebase so teams can move faster and ship with confidence.
- The position is fully remote in the US and seeks experience with systems used by millions, technical debt, fan-outs, and complex edge cases.

**Tags:** [Distributed Systems](https://yomu.fyi/topic/distributed-systems), [Hiring](https://yomu.fyi/topic/hiring), [Reliability](https://yomu.fyi/topic/reliability)

- Source: [Medium](https://medium.engineering/were-hiring-a-principal-backend-engineer-to-shape-the-future-of-medium-a0d7896b3717)
- Source URL: https://medium.engineering/were-hiring-a-principal-backend-engineer-to-shape-the-future-of-medium-a0d7896b3717
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-09-09T16:03:20.704Z

[Read original post](https://medium.engineering/were-hiring-a-principal-backend-engineer-to-shape-the-future-of-medium-a0d7896b3717)