Backend Developer

We are looking for a talented and entrepreneurial Backend Developer to join our growing technology team. This is an opportunity to work closely with a small, collaborative team and have a meaningful impact on the development of our platform. The ideal candidate has strong programming and problem-solving skills, understands API development and database architecture, and is comfortable working in a collaborative, fast-moving technology environment. This individual will work closely with frontend developers, mobile engineers, data analysts, and product stakeholders to deliver secure, scalable, and high-quality software. This role is well suited for a developer who wants to build, contribute, and grow with an early-stage technology company. This is an equity-only role, ideal for someone who thrives in fast-moving, high-growth environments

Department: Technology & Product

Reports to: Chief Innovation Officer,

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Who We Are Our team's digital inventiveness and mobile location expertise creates brand stories that produce results. We are seasoned professionals who have worked in marketing, technology, mobile, and beyond. Our skills include Micro-fencing, mobile strategy, data analytics, and more.

Key Responsibilities THIS POSITION WILL ENTAIL:

• Design, develop, and maintain backend applications, services, and APIs that support Digital Factory's technology platform.
• Build scalable data-processing services for location-based interactions, user engagement, and analytics.
• Develop and integrate RESTful APIs and services supporting web applications, mobile applications, and third-party systems.
• Design, optimize, and maintain relational and/or NoSQL databases.
• Implement data validation, business logic, authentication, authorization, and appropriate security controls.
• Improve application performance, scalability, reliability, and system availability.
• Collaborate with frontend and mobile developers to ensure seamless integration between client-side applications and backend services.
• Support real-time data collection, processing, reporting, and analytics functionality.
• Write clean, maintainable, well-documented code and develop automated tests.
• Participate in code reviews, technical design discussions, debugging, and troubleshooting.
• Contribute to CI/CD pipelines, deployment processes, monitoring, and production support.
• Identify opportunities to improve architecture, development practices, and overall system efficiency.

Desired Skills Qualifications What You Bring:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 3+ years of professional backend development experience.
• Proficiency in at least one backend programming language, such as Python, Java, JavaScript/Node.js, Go, or Ruby.
• Experience designing and developing APIs and backend services.
• Working knowledge of SQL databases, such as PostgreSQL or MySQL, and/or NoSQL databases.
• Understanding of software architecture, object-oriented programming, data structures, algorithms, and common design patterns.
• Experience with Git and collaborative software development workflows.
• Familiarity with automated testing, debugging, and software quality practices.
• Understanding of web application security, authentication, and authorization.
• Strong analytical, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with a distributed engineering team.
• Experience building scalable APIs, cloud-based services, data-intensive applications, or location-based technology solutions.
• Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Google Cloud Platform, or Microsoft Azure.
• Familiarity with Docker, containerization, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience with event-driven architecture, message queues, asynchronous processing, or distributed systems.
• Exposure to geospatial data, mapping APIs, geofencing, location intelligence, or geographic information systems (GIS).
• Experience supporting data analytics, event tracking, reporting, or high-volume data processing.
• Familiarity with mobile application integrations and third-party APIs.
• Experience monitoring production systems and optimizing application performance.

What You Get

• Equity-based opportunity to build and lead the global talent engine at Digital Factory.
• Strategic seat at the table, shaping how we grow and who we bring into the business.
• Partnership with executive leadership on workforce design and scaling strategy.
• A creative, inclusive culture that values innovation, clarity, and purpose.

Compensation This is an equity-only, fractional opportunity . There is no salary or hourly compensation at this time. At Digital Factory, we’re committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Digital Factory believes that diversity and inclusion among our teammates is critical to our success, and we seek to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool.

Digital Factory is an Equal Opportunity Employer