Backend Engineer (Python, Java)

About The Company Bestow is a pioneering technology platform dedicated to transforming the life insurance industry. Recognized as one of the most essential financial products worldwide, life insurance has traditionally been complex to develop, distribute, and modernize.

Bestow aims to revolutionize this space by providing a unified, modern infrastructure that simplifies and accelerates the process for insurers. Serving some of the largest and most innovative life insurance carriers, Bestow’s platform integrates legacy systems and streamlines workflows through advanced AI and automation, enabling carriers to launch new products in weeks rather than years. The company's mission is to facilitate faster, more accessible, and more reliable life insurance solutions, ultimately helping more people secure their financial futures.

Backed by leading investors and trusted by major industry players, Bestow is committed to building a future where life insurance is accessible, efficient, and impactful. The organization promotes a flexible work environment, offering remote or hybrid options, meaningful benefits, equity participation, and substantial growth opportunities for its team members.

About The Role As a Staff Software Engineer within the Implementation & Platform Configuration (IPC) Engineering team, you will play a critical role in shaping the digital life insurance enrollment experience that Bestow’s carrier partners depend on. You will collaborate closely with Product Managers, Underwriters, and external partners to design, develop, and maintain modular backend services that form the core of Bestow’s platform.

Your responsibilities will include setting the technical direction for the team, making architectural decisions that balance speed and long-term maintainability, and ensuring the reliability and scalability of IPC systems. This role offers an exciting opportunity to lead cross-team initiatives, drive platform capabilities that support growth, and mentor engineering talent. The ideal candidate will be passionate about building robust, scalable systems using modern technologies such as Python, Go, Java, Kubernetes, and Google Cloud Platform, while also embracing AI-driven development practices to enhance team productivity and software quality.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional backend software development experience, with prior experience at the Staff or Senior level
• Proficiency in Go and Python programming languages; Java experience is a plus
• Deep understanding of distributed systems, microservices architecture, and API design (Protocol Buffers, OpenAPI)
• Experience working with relational databases, especially PostgreSQL, at scale
• Hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure, including Kubernetes, Docker, and Google Cloud Platform or equivalent
• Proven track record of building, deploying, and troubleshooting production-grade services end-to-end
• Proactive problem-solving skills with the ability to identify risks and drive solutions to completion
• Commitment to writing maintainable, well-tested, high-quality software
• Experience integrating agentic AI coding tools (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot) into daily workflows
• Excellent communication skills, capable of articulating technical decisions clearly in asynchronous environments

Responsibilities

• Own and define the technical architecture for IPC services, ensuring a balance between rapid delivery and maintainability
• Design, develop, and operate backend services utilizing Python, Go, PostgreSQL, and Java-based rules engines
• Lead cross-team initiatives to plan and execute integrations across the platform, ensuring seamless collaboration
• Develop platform capabilities that support scaling with the growing partner ecosystem, including onboarding new carriers and launching new products
• Mentor engineers through code reviews, design discussions, and pairing to elevate team technical standards
• Ensure production reliability by defining Service Level Objectives (SLOs), enhancing observability, and sharing on-call responsibilities
• Promote and facilitate the adoption of AI-assisted development tools within the team’s workflow
• Communicate technical decisions, trade-offs, and project statuses effectively through written updates and documentation

Benefits

• Competitive salary and equity compensation based on role and experience
• Flexible work arrangements including remote and hybrid options, with a state-of-the-art office in Dallas’ Deep Ellum for in-person work
• Comprehensive health insurance plans covering medical, dental, and vision, with 100% premiums paid by the company
• Lifestyle stipend to support physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing
• Supportive policies and management practices that promote work/life balance, including flexible paid time off and parental leave programs
• Participation in employee-led diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives
• Recognition through recent awards such as Best Place for Working Parents, Great Place to Work Certified, and Fortune’s Best Workplaces in Texas and Financial Services

Equal Opportunity Bestow is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. We recruit, hire, and promote individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, pregnancy, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. We believe that embracing individual differences and creating a safe, respectful environment is essential to our success.

We encourage all qualified candidates to apply and join us in reimagining the future of life insurance technology.