Staff Backend Engineer — Candidate Report

Generated 2026-07-07 | Candidates from 2026-01-01 - 2026-07-07
285
Total Screened
15
Qualified
270
Unqualified
5
New This Week
10
Returning

New Candidates (5)

# Candidate Applied Tier Current Role Exp Score Recommendation
▶ 1
Jiwei Guo
2026-06-26 Tier 1 – Top Software Engineer, Meta (3.5 yr) 11+ 98 Strong Hire
Current: Software Engineer, Meta (3.5 yr)
Prior: Sr SWE, LinkedIn (4 yr)
Education: MIT, CS
Experience: 11+
Applied: 2026-06-26
Location: None
Ashby Status: Active — None
Key Strengths

Built SSO/SAML/OIDC for 50K+ users. Deep distributed systems experience.

Key Concerns

Title at Meta was SWE not Staff — may need to validate scope.

Culture Fit

AI-native company experience. Thrives in ambiguity.

No flags
Skills Matrix
Python Fastapi
7
Sso Saml Oidc
7
Distributed Systems
9
Postgres Sql
8
Aws Cloud
8
Docker K8s
8
Stripe Billing
7
Technical Leadership
7
Startup Fit
10
Authenticity Signal
7
Interview Questions (2)
  • SSO depth
    Walk through a specific SAML integration you built end-to-end. What were the hardest edge cases?
  • Billing systems
    How would you design a usage-based billing system with Stripe that handles metering at scale?
▶ 2
Priya Nair
2026-06-29 Tier 1 – Top Staff Engineer, Stripe (2 yr) 12+ 98 Strong Hire
Current: Staff Engineer, Stripe (2 yr)
Prior: Sr SWE, Airbnb (5 yr)
Education: Stanford, CS
Experience: 12+
Applied: 2026-06-29
Location: None
Ashby Status: Active — None
Key Strengths

Architected multi-tenant billing with Stripe. Strong Postgres optimization.

Key Concerns

No direct startup experience. Compensation expectations may be high.

Culture Fit

Strong startup DNA from Series A-C companies. Builder mindset.

No flags
Skills Matrix
Python Fastapi
10
Sso Saml Oidc
8
Distributed Systems
10
Postgres Sql
9
Aws Cloud
7
Docker K8s
8
Stripe Billing
10
Technical Leadership
9
Startup Fit
9
Authenticity Signal
8
Interview Questions (2)
  • System design
    Design an event-driven notification system handling 100K events/sec with exactly-once delivery.
  • Startup fit
    Tell me about a time you shipped something with significant unknowns. How did you de-risk it?
▶ 9
Sarah Mitchell
2026-06-26 Tier 3 – Moderate SWE, Twilio (3 yr) 6+ 63 Lean Hire
Current: SWE, Twilio (3 yr)
Prior: Jr SWE, Oracle (2 yr)
Education: Michigan, CS
Experience: 6+
Applied: 2026-06-26
Location: None
Ashby Status: Active — None
Key Strengths

Solid Python fundamentals. Good Stripe integration experience.

Key Concerns

Gaps in system design depth. May need significant mentorship.

Culture Fit

AI-native company experience. Thrives in ambiguity.

No flags
Skills Matrix
Python Fastapi
4
Sso Saml Oidc
5
Distributed Systems
4
Postgres Sql
4
Aws Cloud
7
Docker K8s
4
Stripe Billing
5
Technical Leadership
5
Startup Fit
7
Authenticity Signal
5
▶ 10
Raj Patel
2026-06-14 Tier 3 – Moderate Backend SWE, Toast (2 yr) 7+ 74 Lean Hire
Current: Backend SWE, Toast (2 yr)
Prior: SWE, Infosys (3 yr)
Education: IIT Bombay, CS
Experience: 7+
Applied: 2026-06-14
Location: None
Ashby Status: Active — None
Key Strengths

Reliable execution on well-defined tasks. Improving quickly.

Key Concerns

Experience level below target. Would need fast growth trajectory.

Culture Fit

Strong startup DNA from Series A-C companies. Builder mindset.

No flags
Skills Matrix
Python Fastapi
5
Sso Saml Oidc
6
Distributed Systems
7
Postgres Sql
6
Aws Cloud
7
Docker K8s
7
Stripe Billing
4
Technical Leadership
5
Startup Fit
5
Authenticity Signal
4
▶ 15
Kevin Brown
2026-06-15 Tier 4 – Weak Backend Dev, Agency (2 yr) 4+ 52 Maybe
Current: Backend Dev, Agency (2 yr)
Prior: Support Eng, Zendesk (1 yr)
Education: Community College
Experience: 4+
Applied: 2026-06-15
Location: None
Ashby Status: Active — None
Key Strengths

Decent breadth of experience. Shows initiative on side projects.

Key Concerns

No evidence of ownership or leadership beyond task execution.

Culture Fit

Enterprise-focused career. May need adjustment to startup pace.

No flags
Skills Matrix
Python Fastapi
2
Sso Saml Oidc
5
Distributed Systems
4
Postgres Sql
5
Aws Cloud
4
Docker K8s
5
Stripe Billing
6
Technical Leadership
5
Startup Fit
3
Authenticity Signal
3

Returning Candidates (10)

# Candidate Applied Tier Current Role Exp Score Recommendation
▶ 3
Marcus Chen
2026-06-25 Tier 1 – Top Tech Lead, Figma (3 yr) 10+ 93 Strong Hire
Current: Tech Lead, Figma (3 yr)
Prior: Sr SWE, Google (4 yr)
Education: CMU, CS
Experience: 10+
Applied: 2026-06-25
Location: None
Ashby Status: Active — None
Key Strengths

Led platform migration to Kubernetes. Excellent technical communication.

Key Concerns

Primary expertise in frontend, backend depth is more recent.

Culture Fit

Open-source contributor. Active in developer community.

No flags
Skills Matrix
Python Fastapi
9
Sso Saml Oidc
9
Distributed Systems
7
Postgres Sql
10
Aws Cloud
7
Docker K8s
10
Stripe Billing
7
Technical Leadership
9
Startup Fit
9
Authenticity Signal
8
Interview Questions (4)
  • Startup fit
    Tell me about a time you shipped something with significant unknowns. How did you de-risk it?
  • Distributed systems
    Explain how you would implement distributed locking for a multi-region deployment.
  • Technical leadership
    Describe a time you had to make a controversial technical decision. How did you build consensus?
  • SSO depth
    Walk through a specific SAML integration you built end-to-end. What were the hardest edge cases?
▶ 4
Elena Vasquez
2026-06-24 Tier 1 – Top Staff SWE, Datadog (2.5 yr) 9+ 89 Strong Hire
Current: Staff SWE, Datadog (2.5 yr)
Prior: Sr Backend, Uber (3.5 yr)
Education: Berkeley, EECS
Experience: 9+
Applied: 2026-06-24
Location: None
Ashby Status: Active — None
Key Strengths

Designed event-driven microservices. Published conference talks on FastAPI.

Key Concerns

Long tenure at one company — adaptability to fast-moving startup unknown.

Culture Fit

Previous founder experience. Understands urgency.

No flags
Skills Matrix
Python Fastapi
10
Sso Saml Oidc
9
Distributed Systems
10
Postgres Sql
9
Aws Cloud
8
Docker K8s
9
Stripe Billing
9
Technical Leadership
8
Startup Fit
9
Authenticity Signal
7
Interview Questions (4)
  • Startup fit
    Tell me about a time you shipped something with significant unknowns. How did you de-risk it?
  • System design
    Design an event-driven notification system handling 100K events/sec with exactly-once delivery.
  • FastAPI expertise
    How do you handle dependency injection and middleware in large FastAPI applications?
  • Database design
    Walk me through how you would migrate a high-traffic Postgres table with zero downtime.
▶ 5
David Kim
2026-06-20 Tier 2 – Strong Sr SWE, Notion (2 yr) 8+ 85 Hire
Current: Sr SWE, Notion (2 yr)
Prior: SWE, Palantir (4 yr)
Education: Caltech, CS
Experience: 8+
Applied: 2026-06-20
Location: None
Ashby Status: Active — None
Key Strengths

Built real-time data pipelines at scale. Strong mentorship track record.

Key Concerns

SSO experience limited to consuming, not building from scratch.

Culture Fit

Primarily big-company background but shows entrepreneurial interests.

No flags
Skills Matrix
Python Fastapi
7
Sso Saml Oidc
8
Distributed Systems
6
Postgres Sql
7
Aws Cloud
6
Docker K8s
8
Stripe Billing
9
Technical Leadership
8
Startup Fit
6
Authenticity Signal
7
Interview Questions (4)
  • Database design
    Walk me through how you would migrate a high-traffic Postgres table with zero downtime.
  • System design
    Design an event-driven notification system handling 100K events/sec with exactly-once delivery.
  • FastAPI expertise
    How do you handle dependency injection and middleware in large FastAPI applications?
  • Startup fit
    Tell me about a time you shipped something with significant unknowns. How did you de-risk it?
▶ 6
Aisha Rahman
2026-06-28 Tier 2 – Strong Backend Lead, Scale AI (1.5 yr) 9+ 85 Hire
Current: Backend Lead, Scale AI (1.5 yr)
Prior: SWE, Microsoft (5 yr)
Education: Georgia Tech, CS
Experience: 9+
Applied: 2026-06-28
Location: None
Ashby Status: Active — None
Key Strengths

Owned auth infrastructure end-to-end. Deep AWS networking knowledge.

Key Concerns

No Stripe/billing experience. Would need ramp-up time.

Culture Fit

Mix of startup and enterprise. Values clear communication.

No flags
Skills Matrix
Python Fastapi
9
Sso Saml Oidc
7
Distributed Systems
8
Postgres Sql
7
Aws Cloud
7
Docker K8s
8
Stripe Billing
9
Technical Leadership
9
Startup Fit
8
Authenticity Signal
7
Interview Questions (4)
  • FastAPI expertise
    How do you handle dependency injection and middleware in large FastAPI applications?
  • SSO depth
    Walk through a specific SAML integration you built end-to-end. What were the hardest edge cases?
  • Distributed systems
    Explain how you would implement distributed locking for a multi-region deployment.
  • Database design
    Walk me through how you would migrate a high-traffic Postgres table with zero downtime.
▶ 7
James O'Brien
2026-06-27 Tier 2 – Strong Sr Engineer, Vercel (2 yr) 7+ 85 Hire
Current: Sr Engineer, Vercel (2 yr)
Prior: SWE, Cloudflare (3 yr)
Education: UWaterloo, SE
Experience: 7+
Applied: 2026-06-27
Location: None
Ashby Status: Active — None
Key Strengths

Led API design for public developer platform. Strong testing culture.

Key Concerns

Limited distributed systems work. Mostly monolith background.

Culture Fit

Enterprise-focused career. May need adjustment to startup pace.

No flags
Skills Matrix
Python Fastapi
7
Sso Saml Oidc
9
Distributed Systems
6
Postgres Sql
9
Aws Cloud
9
Docker K8s
9
Stripe Billing
8
Technical Leadership
6
Startup Fit
6
Authenticity Signal
8
Interview Questions (2)
  • Billing systems
    How would you design a usage-based billing system with Stripe that handles metering at scale?
  • Startup fit
    Tell me about a time you shipped something with significant unknowns. How did you de-risk it?
▶ 8
Yuki Tanaka
2026-06-23 Tier 2 – Strong Platform Engineer, Retool (2 yr) 8+ 82 Hire
Current: Platform Engineer, Retool (2 yr)
Prior: SWE, AWS (4 yr)
Education: U Tokyo, CS
Experience: 8+
Applied: 2026-06-23
Location: None
Ashby Status: Active — None
Key Strengths

Built CI/CD from scratch. Deep Postgres replication expertise.

Key Concerns

Experience mostly at large companies with established infrastructure.

Culture Fit

Academic-leaning. Strong technical but less product-oriented.

No flags
Skills Matrix
Python Fastapi
6
Sso Saml Oidc
8
Distributed Systems
7
Postgres Sql
6
Aws Cloud
8
Docker K8s
7
Stripe Billing
7
Technical Leadership
8
Startup Fit
7
Authenticity Signal
6
Interview Questions (2)
  • System design
    Design an event-driven notification system handling 100K events/sec with exactly-once delivery.
  • Technical leadership
    Describe a time you had to make a controversial technical decision. How did you build consensus?
▶ 11
Tomas Eriksson
2026-06-14 Tier 3 – Moderate SWE, Klarna (2.5 yr) 6+ 63 Lean Hire
Current: SWE, Klarna (2.5 yr)
Prior: SWE, Spotify (2 yr)
Education: KTH, CS
Experience: 6+
Applied: 2026-06-14
Location: None
Ashby Status: Active — None
Key Strengths

Good communication skills. Some leadership experience in small teams.

Key Concerns

Resume language closely mirrors job posting — authenticity concerns.

Culture Fit

Open-source contributor. Active in developer community.

No flags
Skills Matrix
Python Fastapi
4
Sso Saml Oidc
4
Distributed Systems
4
Postgres Sql
5
Aws Cloud
4
Docker K8s
4
Stripe Billing
6
Technical Leadership
4
Startup Fit
5
Authenticity Signal
6
▶ 12
Lisa Wang
2026-06-12 Tier 3 – Moderate SWE, MongoDB (1.5 yr) 7+ 69 Lean Hire
Current: SWE, MongoDB (1.5 yr)
Prior: SWE, IBM (4 yr)
Education: Cornell, CS
Experience: 7+
Applied: 2026-06-12
Location: None
Ashby Status: Active — None
Key Strengths

Broad technology exposure. Willingness to learn new domains.

Key Concerns

Limited open-source contributions or public technical presence.

Culture Fit

Previous founder experience. Understands urgency.

No flags
Skills Matrix
Python Fastapi
7
Sso Saml Oidc
5
Distributed Systems
7
Postgres Sql
7
Aws Cloud
5
Docker K8s
4
Stripe Billing
4
Technical Leadership
7
Startup Fit
6
Authenticity Signal
7
▶ 13
Alex Petrov
2026-06-30 Tier 4 – Weak Jr SWE, Startup (1 yr) 3+ 43 Maybe
Current: Jr SWE, Startup (1 yr)
Prior: Intern, Google (6 mo)
Education: State Univ, CS
Experience: 3+
Applied: 2026-06-30
Location: None
Ashby Status: Active — None
Key Strengths

Self-taught with strong hustle. Quick learner on new stacks.

Key Concerns

Career trajectory unclear. Multiple short stints without progression.

Culture Fit

Primarily big-company background but shows entrepreneurial interests.

No flags
Skills Matrix
Python Fastapi
2
Sso Saml Oidc
5
Distributed Systems
4
Postgres Sql
2
Aws Cloud
3
Docker K8s
3
Stripe Billing
3
Technical Leadership
6
Startup Fit
5
Authenticity Signal
3
▶ 14
Nina Schmidt
2026-06-27 Tier 4 – Weak SWE, Consultancy (3 yr) 5+ 54 Maybe
Current: SWE, Consultancy (3 yr)
Prior: Jr Dev, SAP (2 yr)
Education: TU Munich, IS
Experience: 5+
Applied: 2026-06-27
Location: None
Ashby Status: Active — None
Key Strengths

Good foundational CS knowledge. Collaborative work style.

Key Concerns

Technical depth appears shallow across multiple domains.

Culture Fit

Mix of startup and enterprise. Values clear communication.

No flags
Skills Matrix
Python Fastapi
6
Sso Saml Oidc
2
Distributed Systems
2
Postgres Sql
6
Aws Cloud
2
Docker K8s
2
Stripe Billing
3
Technical Leadership
3
Startup Fit
5
Authenticity Signal
5

Skills Matrix Heatmap

# Candidate Python Fastapi Sso Saml Oidc Distribute.. Postgres Sql Aws Cloud Docker K8s Stripe Billing Technical .. Startup Fit Authentici..
1 Jiwei Guo 7 7 9 8 8 8 7 7 10 7
2 Priya Nair 10 8 10 9 7 8 10 9 9 8
3 Marcus Chen 9 9 7 10 7 10 7 9 9 8
4 Elena Vasquez 10 9 10 9 8 9 9 8 9 7
5 David Kim 7 8 6 7 6 8 9 8 6 7
6 Aisha Rahman 9 7 8 7 7 8 9 9 8 7
7 James O'Brien 7 9 6 9 9 9 8 6 6 8
8 Yuki Tanaka 6 8 7 6 8 7 7 8 7 6
9 Sarah Mitchell 4 5 4 4 7 4 5 5 7 5
10 Raj Patel 5 6 7 6 7 7 4 5 5 4
11 Tomas Eriksson 4 4 4 5 4 4 6 4 5 6
12 Lisa Wang 7 5 7 7 5 4 4 7 6 7
13 Alex Petrov 2 5 4 2 3 3 3 6 5 3
14 Nina Schmidt 6 2 2 6 2 2 3 3 5 5
15 Kevin Brown 2 5 4 5 4 5 6 5 3 3