Lead Software Engineer - Backend

Organizations everywhere struggle under the crushing costs and complexities of “solutions” that promise to simplify their lives. To create a better experience for their customers and employees. To help them grow. Software is a choice that can make or break a business. Create better or worse experiences. Propel or throttle growth. Business software has become a blocker instead of ways to get work done.

There’s another option. Freshworks. With a fresh vision for how the world works.

Freshworks Inc. builds uncomplicated service software that delivers exceptional employee and customer experiences. Our people-first approach to AI eliminates friction, helping businesses reduce complexity, lower cost-to-serve, and deliver faster, more human support through enterprise-grade yet easy-to-use CX and IT solutions. Nearly 75,000 companies, including Bridgestone, New Balance, Nucor, S&P Global, and Sony Music, trust Freshworks to power their Employee Experience (EX) and Customer Experience (CX) operations. FireHydrant, a Freshworks company, extends this mission to modern engineering teams, helping them manage incidents, reduce downtime, and operate with confidence across organizations with cloud infrastructure, developer tooling, fintech, gaming, and e-commerce.

Fresh vision. Real impact. Come build it with us.

At Freshworks, we don’t just ship software-we shape it to be fast, reliable, and refreshingly simple. As a Lead Backend Engineer, you’ll build the scalable systems that drive our global products-and do it with clarity, ownership, and a sharp eye for design. You’ll lead backend modules end-to-end, influence architecture across teams, and raise the bar on performance, stability, and code quality.

If you obsess over time and space complexity, love breaking down tough problems, and take pride in helping others level up-you’ll feel right at home.

Responsibilities

• Architect and build scalable backend services that handle millions of transactions reliably.
• Own the full development lifecycle: from high-level design to deployment and debugging.
• Write clean, modular, and testable code-optimized for both readability and performance.
• Apply deep OOPS concepts and design patterns to solve real-world engineering problems.
• Ensure systems are tuned for high availability, fault tolerance, and observability.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams (Product, Frontend, SRE) to deliver customer value fast.
• Lead code reviews, mentor 2-3 engineers, and drive engineering best practices across the team. Elevate overall code quality.
• Troubleshoot performance bottlenecks in production and drive long-term stability improvements.
• Influence platform direction through architectural reviews and roadmap planning.

Requirements

• 6 to 8 years of experience building and scaling backend systems in fast-paced product teams.
• Ruby on Rails proficiency.
• Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA): Expertise in selecting optimal data structures and developing efficient, optimized code including time/space complexity trade-offs. Deep knowledge of REST APIs.
• Problem Solving & Logical Analysis: Ability to clearly articulate thought processes, decompose complex problems, and engineer effective solutions.
• Object-Oriented Design (OOD): Strong command of OOP principles, designing extensible code, and applying SOLID principles.
• System Design (High-Level Design - HLD & LLD): Proven ability to design scalable, highly available, and fault-tolerant end-to-end systems, including APIs, schema, and data models.
• Exposure to RDBMS, caching strategies, distributed queues, and microservices.
• Exposure and experience with AI tools and technologies to improve efficiency
• Leadership & Collaboration: Demonstrates strong ownership, collaborates effectively, and shows potential for mentoring.

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• You’re skilled at balancing fast delivery with long-term scalability.
• You think clearly in code and architecture diagrams.
• You’ve shipped features at scale and supported them in production.
• You love working in collaborative, agile teams-and mentoring others along the way.

Please note: This is a hybrid role that will be based in San Mateo, CA and requires an in-office presence three days per week (Tuesday - Thursday).

The annual base salary range for this position is $168,300 - $207,900.

Compensation is based on a variety of factors including but not limited to location, experience, job-related skills, and level. Bonus/equity may be available.

Freshworks offers multiple options for dental, medical, vision, disability and life insurances. Equity + ESPP, flexible PTO, flexible spending, commuter benefits and wellness benefits are also offered. Freshworks also offers adoption and parental leave benefits.

At Freshworks, we have fostered an environment that enables everyone to find their true potential, purpose, and passion, welcoming colleagues of all backgrounds, genders, sexual orientations, religions, and ethnicities. We are committed to providing equal opportunity and believe that diversity in the workplace creates a more vibrant, richer environment that boosts the goals of our employees, communities, and business. Fresh vision. Real impact. Come build it with us.