Junior Software Engineer - Backend (New Grad)

Spice Data (Headquarters: San Francisco, CA)

Location: San Francisco, CA, US   |   Full-Time   |   $100,000 - $120,000
Python Backend Automation Data Processing SQL Docker PostgreSQL Dagster Back End Engineer

About Spice Data: Spice Data is a data company that licenses information about the restaurant industry to major corporations. Founded in 2019 by Richard Kreger (CEO) and Cameron Cairns (CTO), the company has quickly become profitable and is growing steadily without raising venture capital. Their unique offering is not a single dataset but a robust system for data collection, cleaning, and delivery. This allows them to serve a wide range of clients in the food industry. The company’s infrastructure is built to handle large-scale data processing, with services written in Python and tools like Dagster for job orchestration. They have raised funding only from YC and angel investors, ensuring the team retains significant ownership.

About The Role: We’re looking for a new graduate to join our backend engineering team building production automation systems. You’ll work on real systems that process 100M+ datapoints monthly, learning from experienced engineers while contributing to meaningful projects from day one.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Backend automation systems - Build Python services that automate data collection from APIs, websites, and mobile applications
  • System integration - Connect different services together, handle errors gracefully, and ensure data flows reliably through our pipelines
  • Developer tooling - Create internal tools, configuration interfaces, and testing frameworks that make the whole team more productive
  • Production debugging - Learn to troubleshoot real systems, read logs, and fix issues in live environments
  • Code quality - Write clean, tested code with proper error handling and monitoring

Requirements:

  • Strong programming fundamentals - you can write clean code, understand algorithms and data structures, and debug systematically
  • Python experience - coursework, personal projects, or internships using Python
  • Problem-solving skills - you enjoy breaking down complex problems and building solutions step by step
  • Devops/Sysadmin Interest - interested in how code is deployed and scaled up in a production setting
  • Growth mindset - eager to learn production engineering practices and take on increasing responsibility

Nice to Have: SQL experience, Linux familiarity, web development projects, API integration experience, Docker/containerization exposure

Technical Environment:

  • Python-first codebase with modern practices
  • Docker Compose, PostgreSQL, self-hosted infrastructure
  • Dagster for job orchestration
  • Downtown SF office Mon-Thu with mentorship
Post Date: August 15, 2025