How to apply for Senior Software Engineer (Back End)

About Archer

Archer is building electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to revolutionize urban air mobility, aiming to make it a safe, sustainable, and accessible everyday transportation option. Working here means tackling some of the hardest engineering challenges at the intersection of aerospace, energy, and software, with the potential to reshape how people move in cities.

About the role

As a Senior Backend Engineer at Archer, you'll design and build the cloud-native backend systems that power both Archer's ride-sharing platform and airline operations—critical infrastructure that must be scalable, secure, and highly available. You'll own the full lifecycle from architecture to deployment, ensuring seamless integration between aircraft, operators, and passengers.

A typical day

You might start your day with a stand-up to align with product and operations teams on upcoming features for the ride-sharing platform, then dive into designing a new microservice for real-time flight scheduling. Later, you'll review a pull request, deploy to AWS, and monitor dashboards to ensure the system is performing optimally. Collaboration is constant, and your work directly enables safe, efficient air taxi operations.

Who Archer is looking for

• 7+ years of backend engineering experience, with a strong portfolio of scalable, production-grade systems—ideally in high-growth or mission-critical environments like transportation, logistics, or aerospace.
• Expert in Python and deep hands-on experience with AWS services such as Lambda, API Gateway, S3, DynamoDB, and ECS/Fargate, including designing for fault tolerance and cost efficiency.
• Proven ability to lead architectural design and system integrations, making thoughtful trade-offs between modularity, performance, and security.
• Comfortable owning the entire development lifecycle—from whiteboarding to monitoring—and thriving in a fast-paced, cross-functional team where software directly impacts physical operations.

Tips for this application

• Highlight any experience with real-time or high-reliability systems (e.g., ride-sharing, logistics, aviation, IoT) in your resume—Archer's platform must handle dynamic routing, scheduling, and safety-critical data.
• Showcase specific AWS projects where you used Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, and ECS/Fargate together; quantify scale (e.g., requests per second, data volume) to demonstrate impact.
• Mention any exposure to aviation, transportation, or geospatial data—even if not required, it signals domain awareness and genuine interest in Archer's mission.
• Use your cover letter to connect your backend work to Archer's goal of sustainable urban air mobility; explain why you're excited about the intersection of software and electric aircraft.
• If you have experience with regulatory or safety standards (e.g., FAA, DO-178C), call it out—it's a rare and valuable asset in this space.

What to cover in your cover letter

['Your expertise in Python and AWS, with concrete examples of designing modular, secure, and scalable backend systems that support real-time operations.', 'A specific project where you led architectural design and system integrations, ideally involving multiple services or external partners, and the measurable outcomes.', "Your ability to own the full development lifecycle, including monitoring and maintenance, and how you've ensured reliability in high-stakes environments.", "Why Archer's mission resonates with you personally, and how you see backend engineering enabling the future of urban air mobility."]

Research before applying

• Archer's recent milestones: FAA certification progress, partnerships (e.g., United Airlines, Stellantis), and planned launch cities like New York and Chicago.
• The technical stack and architecture behind eVTOL operations, including how backend systems integrate with air traffic management, charging infrastructure, and passenger apps.
• Archer's engineering blog, press releases, and interviews with technical leaders to understand their development culture and challenges.
• Competitors like Joby Aviation and Lilium, to articulate how Archer differentiates and why its approach appeals to you.

Likely interview topics

Based on the job description, expect questions about:

• Design a backend architecture for a ride-sharing platform that handles real-time matching of passengers to eVTOL aircraft, including considerations for latency, scalability, and failure recovery.
• How would you use AWS services (Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, ECS/Fargate) to build a system that ingests and processes telemetry data from a fleet of aircraft?
• Describe a time you led a major system integration. What challenges did you face, and how did you ensure modularity and security?
• Explain how you would monitor and maintain a critical backend service in production, including alerting, logging, and incident response.
• Given Archer's focus on safety and reliability, how would you approach testing and validation of backend systems that support flight operations?

Common mistakes to avoid

• Submitting a generic backend resume that doesn't mention AWS services or Python—Archer explicitly requires deep expertise in both, so tailor your resume to highlight these.
• Focusing only on technical skills without showing passion for the mission; Archer wants engineers who are excited about transforming urban transport, not just writing code.
• Neglecting to demonstrate experience with the full development lifecycle—if you only list 'design' and 'development' but omit deployment, monitoring, and maintenance, you'll appear less qualified.