Backend Engineer

The Role

You build the server-side systems that power Kuykendall Industries projects. That means working across MABOS infrastructure, Annex's decentralized communication stack, and whatever comes next. You'll touch distributed systems, real-time messaging, API design, encryption, and protocol-level engineering — often in the same week.

This is not a single-product role. You work across the KI ecosystem wherever backend expertise is needed most.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement backend services, APIs, and data pipelines across KI-direct projects
• Work on distributed systems challenges — federation protocols, real-time messaging, zero-knowledge identity
• Build and maintain encryption, authentication, and security-critical subsystems
• Collaborate with the founder on technical architecture decisions
• Write code that is clean, tested, and built to last in a bootstrapped environment

Requirements

• 5+ years backend engineering with distributed systems experience
• Systems-level thinking. You reason about protocols, concurrency, and failure modes — not just endpoints
• Language flexibility. Rust experience is a strong plus. Comfort with multiple languages expected
• Security awareness. You understand encryption, authentication, and zero-trust principles at an implementation level
• Self-directed. You can take a technical spec and deliver without daily standups and sprint ceremonies

Compensation

Equity in Kuykendall Industries and salary upon revenue. No salary today. This is a bootstrapped company. The founder has been building everything without funding, without a team, and without a paycheck from this entity. You enter that same environment.

Who this works for: Someone with savings, consulting income, or another reason they can afford to work for equity in the near term. Someone who looks at the scope of what's been built, understands the commercial potential, and makes a calculated bet.

Who this does not work for: Someone who needs a paycheck on day one. Someone who treats equity as a consolation prize. No judgment — but don't waste your time or ours.

The Builder Clause

We don't care where you went to school. We don't care if you went to school. Our founder is self-taught, started coding at 13, and built a 602,000-line cognitive architecture without a CS degree.

Meet the qualifications, or show us what you've built. Either path works. Both paths demand excellence.

Apply

Ready to move? Send a short note of relevant proof-of-work — past shipped projects, metrics you moved, or a draft of your first 30 days.