Staff Software Engineer, Backend
Census
Oakland, CA · $196k–$245k a year · Posted October 30, 2026
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Where Oakland, CA ranks
Where Oakland, CA placed in our monthly rankings, month by month. Each month stays online at its own address.
November 2026
- #2Cities with the most hybrid jobs34% · of 100
- #2Cities with the most hybrid jobs in the West Coast34% · of 66
- #7Best all-round cities for remote workers in the West Coast72 / 100 · of 39
- #9Best cities for director and executive jobs in the West Coast23% · of 71
- #10Best cities for energy and utilities jobs86 openings · of 27
- #11Best cities for engineering pay after cost of living$187k · of 94
Rankings about engineering jobs
- Best cities for software and engineering jobs #1 San Francisco (3,412 openings)
- Best cities for engineering pay after cost of living #1 San Mateo ($216k)
- Most requested AI skills in engineering jobs #1 AI tools in daily work (6.1%)
- AI tools named most often in engineering jobs #1 Claude (1.7%)
- Employers with the most engineering jobs #1 Amazon (2,992 roles)
Pay compared with the market
This listing pays about $220,538 a year. Across 370 open staff software engineer listings that state pay, the middle half runs $222,000 to $271,000 and the median is $242,500. That is 9% below the median, below the middle half of those listings.
Listed pay is what employers advertise, not what people are paid.
Staff Software Engineer salaries by state · Check your own pay
How AI is used in this kind of work
Among software developers, AI is already used for some of the tasks. Measured exposure for software developers: 29% (some).
Share of this job’s tasks that AI is already used for at work, from real usage. It is not a forecast of job loss, and a low number means no use seen yet. Source: Anthropic Economic Index.
Skills this job asks for
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About the job
From Fivetran’s founding until now, our mission has remained the same: to make access to data as simple and reliable as electricity. With Fivetran, customer data arrives in their warehouses, canonical and ready to query, with no engineering or maintenance required. We’re proud that more organizations continue to leverage our technology every day to become truly data-driven.
About Us
Fivetran and dbt Labs are bringing together two industry-leading companies with a shared mission: helping organizations unlock the full value of their data. Together, we’re delivering the data infrastructure layer that helps organizations move, transform, and trust their data — from the moment data moves, through every transformation, to the context teams and AI systems rely on. Fivetran helps organizations automate data movement across the systems, clouds, engines, and tools they rely on. dbt Labs pioneered analytics engineering, helping teams transform data into reliable, governed insights. Together, we support thousands of organizations as they build a trusted foundation for analytics, AI, and better business decisions. As we bring our teams and technology together, we’re building on the strengths of both companies while continuing to deliver the products and experiences our customers know and trust. It’s an exciting time to join us: we’re creating a company with the scale, talent, and technology to help more organizations put their data to work with greater speed, confidence, and impact. During this transition period, you may see references to both Fivetran and dbt Labs throughout our recruiting process as we integrate our teams, systems, and career sites.
About the Role
We’re looking for a Staff Software Engineer, Backend to join our Reverse ETL product engineering team.
Formerly Census, we were acquired in May 2025 to augment Fivetran’s warehouse-first data movement product story. Now we’re integrating our entire product directly into the Fivetran dashboard, bringing best-in-class data activation to every Fivetran customer.
As a staff software engineer in Reverse ETL, you’ll be on the front lines of integrating data activation capabilities into the Fivetran product along every dimension – authentication, billing, data model, UI and more. You’ll be a senior member of a distributed, collaborative, agile team of engineers of varying experience levels and diverse backgrounds.
This is a full-time position based out of our Toronto or Oakland office. Our hybrid work model offers a blend of remote flexibility and in-person collaboration.
Technologies You’ll Use
Expertise in at least one interpreted language such as Python, Ruby on Rails, etc.
Hands-on experience with at least one compiled language such as C++, Kotlin, Scala, Go, Java, etc.
Solid understanding of relational databases (experience with data warehousing solutions (e.g., Snowflake) is a bonus)
Proven experience in system integration, including API consumption and development (experience with infrastructure management is a bonus)
Familiarity with leading cloud providers, such as GCP, AWS, or Azure
Experience being on-call
What You’ll Do
Make contributions to all parts of our tech stack, which comprises Ruby on Rails, Typescript, Vue, and AWS.
Be comfortable “filling in the gaps” in product / design specs. The prospect of being able to prototype to test ideas out before committing to building is exciting to you.
Work closely with our product team, leaders, and customers to help design and develop features that make Fivetran the one-stop shop for data activation.
Mentor early-career engineers, perform thoughtful and constructive code reviews, advise on best practices, provide project-level leadership, operate across teams, departments, and time zones.
Lead major projects, from driving research spikes, to writing and socializing design documents, to planning the implementation and rollout
Skills We’re Looking For
Can build things end-to-end. Our engineers build, deploy and maintain their code.
Is adept with data, backend systems, APIs, and UI components.
Is customer-focused, with an eye for building delightful product experiences and developer experiences.
Approaches new problems with a scrappy optimism, with a bias towards action.
Thrives in ambiguous environments where you get to work directly with customers and make decisions that build trust and have a huge impact on the business.
Present and available online for synchronous and asynchronous collaboration with a team distributed across North America.
Able to work in-person in our Toronto/Oakland office 2 days per week.
#LI-HYBRID #LI-AM1
The compensation range displayed on this job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire compensation for the target position and level, and may include sales incentives or target bonuses depending on the role. Our compensation ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Our job titles may span more than one career level. Within the range, individual compensation is determined by additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, relevant education or training, business need, market demands. The compensation range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. Your recruiter can share more about the specific compensation range for your location during the hiring process.
Oakland Pay Range $196,033 — $245,041.50 USD
Perks and Benefits
100% employer-paid medical insurance *
Generous paid time away from work, including paid vacation or flexible/unlimited vacation depending on role and country, plus paid sick time, inclusive parental leave, paid holidays, including a year-end Global Week of Rest, and volunteer days off.
RSU stock grants*
Professional development and training opportunities
Company virtual happy hours, free food, and fun team-building activities
Monthly cell phone stipend
Access to an innovative mental health support platform that offers personalized care and resources in areas such as: therapy, coaching, and self-guided mindfulness exercises for all covered employees and their covered dependents.
* May vary by country and worker type - please reach out to your recruiter for more information
Click here to learn more about Fivetran's Benefits by Region.
We’re honored to be valued at over $5.6 billion , but more importantly, we’re proud of our core values of Get Stuck In, Do the Right Thing, and One Team, One Dream . Read about us in Forbes .
Fivetran brings together high-quality talent across the globe to make data access as easy and reliable as electricity for our cu