Backend Engineer

About the Company:

World is building a real human network designed to accelerate people in the age of AI. As bots and autonomous agents reshape the internet, people, institutions, and applications need a trusted way to confirm who is a real human while preserving privacy. Our products make this possible: the Orb verifies real people, World s it privately, and World App enables and distributes the new applications made possible by this technology.

Together, they form a new layer for AI internet.

We’re one of the fastest‑growing networks in tech. More than 17 million people across 160 countries have verified with World , and we complete over 350,000 verifications each week. World App is already among the most used wallets globally. Developers are integrating World  build safer online experiences and create spaces where real people can participate, earn, and be recognized in ways AI simply can’t replicate.

World was founded in 2019 and launched globally in 2023. We are more than 400 people across hardware, software, AI, cryptography, mobile engineering, and global operations. Our teams come from OpenAI, Tesla, Space

X, Apple, Google, Stripe, Meta, Coinbase, Palantir and MIT Media Lab. We’re backed by leading investors, including a16z, Khosla Ventures, Bain Capital Crypto, Blockchain Capital, Variant, Tiger Global, and Coinbase Ventures, as well as prominent operators and founders across fintech and AI.

World has been featured on the cover of TIME Magazine, highlighted in Fast Company's Next 5 in Fintech, and explored in a Bloomberg deep dive. The New York Times, Bankless and Tech Crunch have all recognized our progress in identity, cryptography, AI, and global‑scale hardware deployment. Our leadership is also named to the Time AI 100. Learn more about the newest product launches from our Unwrapped event.

World  a digital identity system and proof of humanity for everyone, designed to be a foundational identity protocol for the internet in the era of AGI. It is built to be self‑custodial, secure, decentralized and open, setting new standards for privacy and transparency.

At the heart of World  groundbreaking innovations in hardware and software—spanning distributed systems, cryptography, sensors, biometrics, machine learning and blockchain technology.

As part of the team behind World , you’ll work on defining and building the decentralized platform that underlies World , product experiences and partner integrations. You'll help shape the future of technologies needed to realize this ambitious vision.

About the Opportunity:

As a Staff Software Engineer, you will focus on building core technologies and infrastructure to drive scale, utility and decentralization for World  and its ecosystem.

Your work will span critical technology areas including issuance and registration of credentials, decentralized cloud platform for applications and authenticators lifecycle using MPC systems and blockchain, zero‑knowledge proving systems, biometric verification and recovery systems, World network integration platforms and building products using technologies that would delight users.

Your responsibilities include:

• Architecting and Building: You will take ownership of the design, development, and scaling for mission‑critical software, including architecting decentralized, privacy‑preserving, secure, scalable and reliable backend systems.

• Technical Leadership: You will provide technical guidance to the engineering team and lead complex, cross‑functional projects. Your work will ensure the team delivers elegant and effective solutions for a variety of novel challenges some of which have never been done before.

• Mentorship and
  
  Collaboration:
  
  You will mentor junior engineers and work closely with senior leadership, product managers and other XFN stakeholders to deliver impactful solutions that advance the World network.

• Strategic Impact: You will play a key role in shaping the technical roadmap and strategy for the World . You are expected to identify the most important tasks and drive them to completion. Your ability to collaborate and stay organized in a fast‑paced environment is key.

You have a proven…