Who we are:
Alignable is the largest online network of small business owners, with over 10 million members across North America. Our mission is to empower small businesses by helping them build trusted relationships and grow through referrals, connections, and community.
We don't just connect business owners—we unlock the hidden potential in their existing networks by revealing second- and third-degree relationships that drive real business growth. Think of it like this: when a software engineer realizes their college roommate's older brother is the hiring manager at the startup they want to join, or when a founder discovers their neighbor's former colleague is exactly the technical co-founder they need—that's our platform at work, but for small businesses. We built the technology that makes those invisible connections visible.
Here's the technical challenge we've solved: we're processing relationship data across 30,000+ communities, building recommendation engines that surface the most valuable connections, and creating trust-based networking algorithms that actually work. This isn't just social networking—it's relationship intelligence at scale.
With 20,000+ new freemium members joining every week, we’re scaling proven technology that millions of entrepreneurs depend on. As a profitable Series C company, we’re expanding a business that already works.
Your work here directly impacts the backbone of the American economy. Small businesses employ nearly half of all U.S. workers, and when your code helps them find customers, suppliers, or services through trusted referrals, you’re making a tangible difference in millions of lives.
If you want to empower the small business owner through a networking platform unlike any other, let's talk.
What you will be doing:
Senior Backend and Data Engineer – Strategy & Operations (AI/Data)
(open to strong mid-level candidates as well)
This is more than a typical engineering role. You’ll be the dedicated engineer embedded in our small Strategy & Operations team, building AI-first solutions that ensure every facet of Alignable is AI-powered and data-driven—transforming how Alignable operates internally. From customer support automation to sales agents, data pipelines, and internal AI tools, you’ll own projects that change how the entire company runs.
Many engineers are like skilled mechanics: hand them a work order, and they’ll fix the car brilliantly. We need someone who goes further — who steps into the garage, looks at all the cars, talks to the drivers, and decides not just how to fix them, but which ones actually matter — and sometimes, whether we should skip the cars altogether and buy a bus.
You’ll work closely with executives and business leaders, reporting into our Sr. Director of Engineering with a dotted line to our VP of Strategy & Operations. This is a high-visibility role where your work impacts the whole company.
Your Focus Areas:
- Data Engineering & Infrastructure (50%) — Design and maintain Snowflake pipelines, DBT models, and ETL/ELT systems; Write complex SQL and ensure scalable, reliable data flows powering AI agents and BI
- Backend/API Development (40%) — Build backend services and integrations in Elixir, Ruby, or Python (language flexible); Create MCP servers, agent orchestration, and LLM integrations that unlock AI use cases
- AI Agent and Development Support (10%) — Utilize LLMS, models, and MCP tools to solve sticky business problems, hard development problems, and replace cumbersome workflows
About our tech stack:
- Data Engineering (primary focus): Snowflake data warehouse, DBT for transformations, building and maintaining data pipelines, Cortex
- Backend: Phoenix/Elixir (modern stack), Ruby on Rails (legacy), GraphQL APIs
- Frontend: React with TypeScript (you'll touch this, not own it)
- AI Infrastructure: Evolving but currently includes Claude, OpenAI, N8N, agent orchestration, LLM integrations
Who thrives here?
- You’ve built data pipelines that solved real business problems (not just moved data around)
- You can sit with a Sales VP or business user, ask the right questions, and walk away knowing what to build to solve their problem
- You get excited about making AI agents do useful work, not just impressive demos
- You’re comfortable saying “I don’t know this tech yet, but I’ll figure it out”
- You prefer shipping working solutions over perfect architecture