Staff Software Engineer
About Calo
Launched in Bahrain in November of 2019, Calo is on a mission to make healthy easy. We’re a team of dedicated people driving this mission by providing better, faster, and cheaper ways to access food through technology.
Role Overview
We're seeking an experienced and passionate Staff Software Engineer to design, develop, and maintain reliable, secure, and well-tested backend systems. As a Staff Software Engineer, you will write clean, production-ready code, help shape the architecture, and lead by example in code reviews and best practices. You will work closely with the Product team and fellow engineers as part of the platform team to release new features, enhance performance, maintain the codebase, and ensure its security. A significant advantage if you enjoy mentoring and tackling challenging edge cases.
Main Responsibilities
- Write clean, testable, and production-ready code that handles edge cases, performance, and security.
- Propose and execute architectural decisions.
- Own feature development end-to-end — from idea to production
- Write unit and higher-level tests, follow the testing pyramid, and use quality metrics to spot gaps
- Create well-scoped PRs with clear descriptions, review others’ code for quality, coverage, and acceptance criteria
- Mentor engineers and lead code reviews, sharing best practices and fostering growth
- Proactively identify opportunities to simplify code and improve technical design and workflows
- Monitor system health, own incidents, and ensure CI/CD and deployment readiness
- Communicate clearly with technical and non-technical teams, keeping Jira and project tracking up to date
- Propose tools and processes that boost team productivity and participate in retrospectives to drive improvement
- Encourage experimentation, cross-functional collaboration, and open discussion in team meetings
- Support hiring efforts by interviewing candidates and providing thoughtful, fair assessments
Ideal Candidate
- Must have 5+ years of backend experience, including 4+ years working with Node.js and TypeScript in production environments
- Must have strong experience building serverless systems, microservices, and event-driven architectures at scale
- Must have deep knowledge of AWS services such as Lambda, Cognito, S3, DynamoDB, SQS, SNS, and CloudFormation
- Must have a solid understanding of NoSQL (especially DynamoDB) and working experience with SQL databases
- Must be well-versed in TDD, clean architecture, CI/CD pipelines, and modern testing practices
- Must be familiar with REST and GraphQL APIs, performance monitoring, and secure coding standards
- Must be able to make architectural decisions, mentor engineers, and lead by example through code reviews and knowledge-sharing
- Must be proactive, collaborative, and able to navigate ambiguity in cross-functional, distributed teams
- Startup or fast-paced team experience is a plus
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to work across disciplines and contribute to a healthy, high-performing team culture