Hire Pre-vetted Backend Engineers

What is a Backend Engineer?

A Backend Engineer is a specialist who designs and develops server-side systems—APIs, databases, business logic, and infrastructure that power web applications and services. Backend Engineers do more than write server code—they design scalable architectures, optimize performance, implement security and compliance, and build systems that reliably serve millions of users. Whether you need someone to build high-performance APIs, optimize backend systems, or architect scalable infrastructure, a skilled Backend Engineer brings systems expertise and reliability focus.

What makes Backend Engineers valuable is their ability to design backend systems that remain reliable and performant as scale increases. They understand trade-offs between consistency, availability, and partition tolerance. They design systems that never lose data while serving users quickly. This is why mission-critical systems trust Backend Engineers. When you hire through Torc, you're getting someone who builds backend systems built to last.

Technology Stack

Backend Frameworks

• Node.js & Express

• Python (Django, FastAPI)

• Java & Spring Boot

• Go, Rust for high-performance systems

API Development

• REST API design & implementation

• GraphQL

• API versioning & deprecation

• OpenAPI & API documentation

Databases & Data

• SQL databases & query optimization

• NoSQL databases

• Caching strategies & Redis

• Database replication & sharding

System Design

• Microservices architecture

• Message queues & event streaming

• Distributed systems patterns

• Rate limiting & load balancing

Reliability & Operations

• Monitoring & alerting

• Error handling & resilience

• Backup & recovery

• Performance optimization

Key Qualities to Look For on a Backend Engineer

Systems Design — They design scalable, reliable backend systems. They understand distributed systems, data consistency, and failure modes.

Performance Focus — They optimize backend performance for scale. They understand database optimization, caching, and system-level performance tuning.

Reliability Mindset — They design systems that don't lose data and recover from failures. They think about edge cases and failure scenarios.

Problem Diagnosis — They troubleshoot backend issues systematically. They use logs, metrics, and tools to identify root causes.

Security — They implement security practices in backend design. They understand authentication, authorization, and secure data handling.

Collaboration — They work with frontend engineers, DevOps, and data teams. They design systems that integrate cleanly with other systems.

Project Types Your Backend Engineers Handle

API Development — Building REST or GraphQL APIs. Real scenarios: Public APIs, internal APIs, mobile APIs, microservices APIs.

System Scalability — Scaling backend systems for growth. Real scenarios: Database optimization, caching strategies, microservices migration, load balancing.

Microservices Architecture — Designing and building microservices. Real scenarios: Extracting services from monoliths, inter-service communication, service design.

Database Design & Optimization — Designing and optimizing databases. Real scenarios: Schema design, query optimization, indexing strategy, replication.

Performance Optimization — Improving backend performance. Real scenarios: Query optimization, caching implementation, batch processing optimization.

Reliability & Resilience — Building reliable, fault-tolerant systems. Real scenarios: Error handling, circuit breaker patterns, graceful degradation.

Data Pipeline Development — Building backend systems for data processing. Real scenarios: Message queue systems, data synchronization, event processing.

Interview questions

Question 1: "Design a scalable API for a high-traffic application. Walk me through your architectural decisions and how you'd handle scale."

Why this matters: Tests API design expertise and scalability thinking. Reveals understanding of performance, reliability, and maintainability. Shows systems design maturity.

Question 2: "Tell me about a backend system you built that had to be highly reliable. What patterns did you use and how did you ensure reliability?"

Why this matters: Tests reliability-focused design and execution. Reveals understanding of failure modes and recovery. Shows production maturity.

Question 3: "Describe a backend performance optimization you did. What was slow, how did you diagnose it, and what was the impact?"

Why this matters: Tests performance optimization skills and systematic debugging. Reveals whether they use data-driven approach. Shows practical optimization experience.