Staff Backend Software Engineer (Chat)

Location 📍: Sydney, AU, Hybrid (3 days in office required)

About Us 🚀

At Relevance AI, we’re building the home of the AI workforce.

Our mission is simple: empower every team to delegate meaningful work to AI agents that think, act, and collaborate like experts.

With Relevance AI, anyone can create and manage intelligent agents that handle workflows, decisions, and collaboration - all within one unified platform. Our technology already powers industry leaders such as Canva, Databricks, Confluent, Autodesk, Lightspeed, Rakuten, Aveva, Qualified, and Activision Blizzard, helping them scale excellence across operations, marketing, and sales.

We’re backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Partners, Peak XV, and King River Capital, and raised our Series B in April 2025 to accelerate growth and push the boundaries of agentic automation.

Headquartered in San Francisco and Sydney, we operate on a hybrid model and thrive on curiosity, collaboration, and execution - we move fast, think big, and win together.

In 2025, we were proud to be named LinkedIn’s #1 Startup in Australia.

If you want to define how the world works with AI, join us.

The Role 🥳

We’re hiring for a Staff Back-End Software Engineer to join our Chat team in Sydney.

This team owns one of Relevance AI’s newest and fastest-growing products: Chat, the conversational layer of our platform. Chat enables users to interact with pre-built AI agents, workplace productivity tools, and research workflows - all through a highly reliable, scalable back-end that powers real-time, agentic experiences.

You will drive deep technical leadership and execution across the Chat team, partnering closely with product, engineering, and go-to-market teams to deliver robust enterprise-grade capabilities and back-end systems. This is a high-visibility role where you’ll have significant autonomy to design complex systems, shape architecture across teams, and see your impact reflected in real customer outcomes.

Each engineering team at Relevance AI is tackling a different frontier of the AI workforce, from enabling individual builders to scaling enterprise-grade AI systems used by thousands of employees globally. This role sits at the heart of that mission, building the systems that make AI usable, reliable, and production-ready.

At Relevance AI, your work will reach customers within hours, offering a rare opportunity to see the impact of your contributions in real-time. You’ll have autonomy and trust to lead key projects and mentor team members without being weighed down by unnecessary layers of approval.

You’ll work across our modern tech stack, which we’re constantly optimising to move and iterate faster. Our supportive, fast-paced culture fosters collaboration, curiosity, and creativity, making it an environment where innovation thrives and where your ideas and expertise will be highly valued.

Your Impact 💥

• Design, build, and operate scalable back-end systems that power real-time, AI-driven chat experiences.

• Own mission-critical services and infrastructure, delivering impactful features from ideation through to production.

• Push the boundaries of applied AI by enabling new agent capabilities, workflows, and system behaviours.

• Shape how we build by influencing engineering standards, architecture, and processes as we scale.

• Mentor and support engineers across the team, raising the bar for technical quality and ownership.

• Set and uphold high standards for code quality, performance, reliability, and security.

• Collaborate closely with product, design, and leadership to align technical direction with business outcomes.

Our Tech Stack (so far) 💻

We leverage a modern, scalable, and developer-friendly technology stack to build robust web applications:

• Frontend: Vue.js, Nuxt, Typescript

• Backend: Express.js, Node.js, Typescript

• Database: MongoDB, PostgreSQL

• Cloud Infrastructure: Vercel, AWS (Lambda, Batch, CloudWatch), Terraform

(This is a back-end-focused role. Frontend experience is helpful but not required; strong back-end and systems experience is what matters most.)

What We’re Looking For 🧠

• 6+ years of hands-on software engineering experience, ideally within fast-paced, high-growth tech environments.

• Strong experience designing, building, and maintaining production back-end systems.

• Evidence of operating at Senior+ scope - driving architecture, mentoring teams, and influencing across multiple squads or projects.

• Deep technical proficiency in modern web technologies, ideally TypeScript, Node.js, and cloud infrastructure (AWS preferred).

• Thrive in dynamic, high-performance start up settings and comfortable with ambiguity, rapid iteration, and taking initiative.

• Demonstrated ability to take full ownership of projects, solve complex problems, and consistently deliver high-quality, impactful results.

• Deep interest in artificial intelligence and excitement to build innovative, category-defining products.

• Regularly leverage AI tools and technologies in your workflow, and stay up-to-date with the latest advancements to boost productivity and innovation.

Bonus Points if You Have Any Of The Following ⭐

• Experience building systems for enterprise or high-scale users.

• Contributions to open-source projects (we’d love to see your GitHub).

• Hands-on experience with LLMs, agent workflows, or AI infrastructure.

Interview Process 💬

1. Talent Interview (virtual)

2. Hiring Manager Interview (virtual)

3. Technical Interviews (onsite)

4. Co-Founder Interview (virtual/ onsite)

Why Join Us? 🌟

• Work at the forefront of AI with a nimble team that is constantly pushing boundaries. We encourage and celebrate ideas that drive our mission forward.

• We're guided by our five values: truth-seeking, being empathetic, putting the customer first, iterating extremely fast, and building memories.

• We’ve set high standards in our high-trust, low-ego environment. We hire exceptional people to do the best work of their lives. In return, we reward our people with competitive salaries, equity stake, unparalleled professional growth, and career-defining opportunities.

• Relevance AI is well-funded by leading investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Insights Partners, Peak XV, and King River Capital.

• As an early team member, you’ll play a key role in shaping our future—including our culture, ways of working, and even the benefits we offer. We’re laying the foundations now, and your ideas can help define what comes next.

Benefits ✨

• 📈 ESOP – Employee Stock Ownership Plan so you can grow with the company

• 🤖 AI Productivity Benefit – Get up to $1200 USD/year to spend on AI tools, courses, and learning resources that help you work smarter and grow your skills

• 👶 Parental Leave – We offer 12 weeks of paid parental leave for all eligible new parents, and an additional 6 weeks for the birthing parent

• 🎉 Milestone Merch – Celebrate your work anniversaries with customised Relevance AI swag

• 🍿 Food, Drinks & Community – Stay energised with free breakfasts, healthy snacks, and a fully stocked fridge of drinks. Enjoy team lunches provided every Thursday and Friday, plus Uber Eats dinners and regular catered office meals throughout the week. As the home of the AI workforce, we also host vibrant community events featuring thought leaders, industry partners, and the wider tech community.

• 🪩 Quarterly Team Events – Build stronger connections through fun, meaningful team bonding experiences every quarter

• 🏓 Social Clubs – Share your hobbies and interests by joining or starting a club with your teammates. From hiking and chess to board game nights and social committee activities—there’s something for everyone!

• 🧠 Sonder EAP – Access 24/7 mental health and wellbeing support through Sonder, our Employee Assistance Program