---
title: 'Backend Engineer at Skip'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/backend-engineer-skip-san-francisco-ss58qjf9g74s'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-05'
---

# Backend Engineer at Skip

- **Company:** Skip
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-03-31
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-05
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/skip/3235ed07-aa22-4309-a949-ca2504e95e8d

## Job description

## ABOUT US:

Skip is on a mission to make life joyful through powered movement.

Movement is a powerful way to build physical, mental and social health. Yet it is elusive for 2 billion people due to age, injury, or disability. We are building products that will restore mobility for millions and enable a new frontier of joyful movement experiences. We want to build a future where a grandparent can easily outrun their grandkids and no one is left behind at the trailhead.

Skip is a 22-person early-stage start-up that spun out of Google X in 2023. With deep cross-disciplinary expertise and key partnerships (e.g. with Arc’teryx) we are uniquely positioned to launch the first commercially successful wearable robotic device, the MO/GO, develop a platform to launch future Movewear products and transform millions of lives in the coming years.

## THE ROLE:

We are seeking a highly motivated and adaptable backend engineer to own the systems powering a new generation of wearable robots. from APIs and data pipelines connecting devices to the cloud, to the infrastructure behind real-time telemetry, over-the-air updates, and fleet management. You'll navigate the full range of backend challenges (scalability, reliability, security, latency) while integrating tightly with embedded hardware in a fast-moving startup environment.

You’ll work as an equal member of our 3-4 person software team. You'll be responsible for backend development and cloud infrastructure as we build a new consumer robotics platform. We are currently a flat team, but you’ll be expected to coach and mentor Skippers with less experience.

Some of the specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

- Develop and manage our backend systems, particularly focusing on containerized services and cloud storage solutions for data ingestion and processing as we go from prototypes -> fleet of 5,000 MO/GOs shipped to customers homes in the next 2 years
- Automate infrastructure setup and management using tools like Terraform, making the deployment process more reproducible and scalable.
- Enable us to scale safely and sustainable, for example transitioning from a single cloud project to distinct Dev and Prod projects in GCP, ensuring system safety, data integrity, and environment separation.
- Design and optimize data storage and retrieval processes, scaling up storage buckets and data ingestion pipelines to meet increasing data demands.
- Manage and streamline CI/CD workflows currently hosted in GitHub, reducing costs by optimizing test run segmentation and potentially hosting CI on GCP VMs.
- Monitor and optimize infrastructure, ensuring efficient usage of compute and storage resources
- Develop automation scripts and processes for infrastructure provisioning, backups, monitoring, and maintenance, enhancing system stability and scalability.
- Implement security best practices across backend and infrastructure to ensure data protection and system reliability.
- Collaborate with frontend, hardware, and controls teams to ensure smooth data flow across the system.
- Wear prototypes several hours a week to participate in data collection, test new models and provide feedback
- Contribute to the improvement of software development processes and practices. Engage in code reviews and knowledge sharing to promote a culture of continuous learning.
- Bring joy to the team, participate in embarrassing team events, tolerate KZ’s terrible music choices

## Basic Qualifications

- 8+ years of experience in backend engineering, with a focus on cloud infrastructure and data-intensive applications
- Excellent coding skills in Python and C++
- Experience with cloud infrastructure like GCP
- Strong experience with containerization technologies like Docker and orchestration tools such as Kubernetes.
- Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools, e.g. Terraform
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines, e.g. GitHub Actions
- Experience with IoT and edge devices
- Able to deliver quality work in a fast-paced startup environment
- Ability to relocate to work at the Skip Bay Area office
- Sense of humour, tolerant of Aussie & Canadian spelling

Bonus Points

- Experience in scaling and managing data pipelines for high-volume data ingestion using Beam/dataflow
- Understanding of DevOps and SRE (Site Reliability Engineering) principles to ensure stability and scalability in production systems.
- Experience with a UI framework like Dart/Flutter or Angular/TS
- Experience with Rust, robotics or mechatronics (ST/TI firmware, SPI/UART, BLE, etc)
- Experience with machine learning / ML Ops
- Experience in start-up environments
- Personal motivation to improve human movement

This is a full time hybrid position working at the Skip office in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco.

Skip is an equal opportunity employer. Our hiring decisions are based on need and competence to satisfy said need. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other legally protected status.

Any and all offers of employment extended by Skip are conditional on candidates’ ability to provide satisfactory proof of eligibility to maintain full-time employment in the United States.

## About Skip

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Skip develops powered movewear (wearable exoskeleton pants) that supports human movement, making walking, hiking, and daily mobility easier for people experiencing age‑related decline, injury, or disability.
- **Entity Type**: Private (seed‑stage; raised $6 M in total funding)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Kathryn Zealand (CEO & Co‑Founder), Anna Roumiantseva (Co‑Founder & CPO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Wearable robotics / consumer health & wellness / mobility technology
- **Target customers**: B2C (active older adults, hikers, people with knee pain or mobility challenges) – “the missing middle” that is neither fully disabled nor fully able
- **Mission**: “Make life joyful through powered movement” — aiming to restore mobility for millions and enable a future where no one is left behind at the trailhead

## Products & Services
- **[MO/GO™](https://www.skipwithjoy.com/)**: The company’s first movewear product — lightweight, apparel‑integrated exoskeleton “powered pants” that provide assistance on inclines and descents, reducing strain on muscles and joints. Built from learnings in exoskeleton force transfer, AI/ML movement interpretation, comfortable wearable design, and consumer‑tech UX. Released in partnership with Arc’teryx for testing/co‑branding (2024).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly available
- **Key Metric (Funding)**: $6 M total funding — a $3 M Seed Round and a $3 M Grant, both closed in July 2024 ([LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/skipwithjoy)).  
  *Note: Tracxn lists the company as “unfunded” but is likely outdated or misclassifying grants; the LinkedIn data is more recent.*
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Spun out of **X, The Moonshot Factory** (Google’s moonshot lab). Partnership with **Arc’teryx** for the MO/GO launch. Founding team includes alumni of Google X.
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew +62.9 % year‑over‑year to 16 employees (as of mid‑2026). Three open roles posted (Software Engineer, Test; Firmware Engineer; Founding Marketing Lead). Company featured in National Geographic (CEO Kathryn Zealand named a National Geographic 33 honoree). Active in academic research — published a study on hip exoskeleton assistance for people with Parkinson’s disease in *Frontiers in Robotics and AI*.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Deep tech heritage**: Founders and many team members came from Google X, giving access to years of exoskeleton and force‑transfer research.
- **New product category (“Movewear”)**: First mover in blending robotic exoskeleton technology with stylish, consumer‑friendly wearables — not just medical devices.
- **Strong brand storytelling**: The mission resonates emotionally (“Help a grandparent outrun their grandkids”) and has earned media coverage in NatGeo, CES spotlights, and AARP’s AgeTech Collaborative.
- **Focus on the “missing middle”**: Addresses a large underserved market (billions with age‑related or mild mobility issues) that is ignored by both medical exoskeletons and fitness trackers.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale manufacturing and distribution**: Moving from prototype/limited runs to broader consumer availability for MO/GO.
- **Build a world‑class engineering team**: Actively hiring firmware, test, and marketing leads to expand the 16‑person team.
- **Clinical validation & partnerships**: Continued publication of studies (e.g., Parkinson’s) and collaboration with organizations like the Michael J. Fox Foundation to establish credibility and open healthcare channels.
- **Expand product line**: Use the Movewear platform to create models for different activities and levels of support.

## Why Work Here
- **High‑impact, mission‑driven work**: Engineers directly improve physical mobility for millions of people.
- **Small, high‑density team**: 16 employees with a strong ratio of technical staff (9 in technical roles). Offers the chance to own large areas of the stack.
- **Culture rooted in moonshot thinking**: Spun out of Google X; employees have backgrounds from X, Harvard, Stanford, and top robotics firms.
- **Hybrid/Office presence**: HQ in San Francisco, California. Recent job posts specify location in San Francisco Bay Area, suggesting an on‑site or hybrid expectation.
- **Perks and environment**: Working on a tangible hardware + software product that users wear and love. The team is described as passionate about movement, joy, and inclusion — events like SF Design Week “Build Your Superpowers” highlight a fun, community‑focused culture.

## Sources
1. [Skip Official Website – About](https://www.skipwithjoy.com/aboutus)
2. [Skip Careers Page](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/skip) (via LinkedIn)
3. [Skip LinkedIn Company Profile](https://www.linkedin.com/company/skipwithjoy)
4. [Skip on DayOne.fm](https://dayone.fm/company/skip)
5. [Tracxn Company Profile](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/skip/__d5pUuD-03STihX3ls-azp7_yxK90CKdZqKMe_5V_ybk)

## Other roles at Skip

- [Mechatronics / Power Train Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/mechatronics-power-train-lead-skip-san-francisco-xhwqnn9yfnk4) — San Francisco, CA
- [Product Design Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/product-design-engineer-skip-san-francisco-wz4q1js4r7f0) — San Francisco, CA
- [Infrastructure Security Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/infrastructure-security-engineer-skip-san-francisco-3mj34y9pndec) — San Francisco, CA
- [Hardware Reliability Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/hardware-reliability-engineer-skip-san-francisco-f77vrymrgqpp) — San Francisco, CA
- [Robotics Generalist](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-generalist-skip-san-francisco-sbhgas1my2n5) — San Francisco, CA
- [Soft Goods Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/soft-goods-designer-skip-san-francisco-txkrz0fb18r6) — San Francisco, CA
- [Firmware Engineering Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/firmware-engineering-lead-skip-san-francisco-zq25ysz3q2zn) — San Francisco, CA
- [Engineering Program Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-program-manager-skip-san-francisco-0tzvkvdtzqsn) — San Francisco, CA
- [Software Engineer, Test](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-test-skip-san-francisco-hbhweafhbqbj) — San Francisco, CA
- [Motor Control Firmware Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/motor-control-firmware-engineer-skip-san-francisco-y1ha2rnpa2bq) — San Francisco, CA