--- title: 'Senior Backend Engineer (Contractor) at Hauler Hero Inc.' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-backend-engineer-contractor-hauler-hero-inc-eastern-europe-8h8sv9v9j4b6' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-12' --- # Senior Backend Engineer (Contractor) at Hauler Hero Inc. - **Company:** Hauler Hero Inc. - **Location:** Eastern Europe - **Employment:** contract - **Work type:** remote - **Posted:** 2026-08-05 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-12 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/hauler-hero/368d53fb-99c8-4780-9cd4-f4dc3b8a2bfa ## Job description Senior Backend Engineer (Contractor) Location: Remote — Eastern Europe Engagement: Contractor Experience: Senior, 5+ years Time zone: Must consistently overlap with U.S. working hours ## About Hauler Hero Hauler Hero builds the operating system for residential and commercial waste haulers, including dispatch, routing, billing, payments, customer management, reporting, and the driver app that ties field operations together. Our customers are private hauler owners, operators, and municipal waste leaders running essential services every day. Many are still managing their businesses through paper tickets, whiteboards, spreadsheets, disconnected systems, and legacy software. The result is missed revenue, messy routes, limited visibility, and too much time spent fighting fires instead of growing the business. Today, we serve 240+ haulers across the country and are scaling quickly. We are a well-funded, fast-moving vertical SaaS company bringing modern software to an essential industry where the customer need is clear and the opportunity is large. ## Role Summary We are hiring a Senior Backend Engineer to design, build, and evolve the core backend services that power Hauler Hero’s platform. This is a 100% hands-on senior individual contributor role focused on building scalable, reliable, and maintainable systems used daily by waste hauling companies across North America. You will work closely with Product, Frontend, and Platform Engineering to ship features, improve system robustness, and continuously refactor existing services as the platform scales. This role requires strong technical judgment, comfort with ambiguity, and clear communication in a remote environment. AI-First Backend Engineering We are intentionally building an AI-assisted engineering organization. AI tools are part of the daily workflow, not optional. What this means in practice: - Daily use of tools such as Claude, Claude Code, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot - AI-assisted implementation of Spring Boot services, APIs, database migrations, and business logic - AI-assisted test generation, refactoring suggestions, and code review support - AI-assisted log analysis, debugging, and issue investigation - You remain accountable for reviewing, validating, and owning everything AI produces Speed matters, but correctness, performance, and maintainability matter more. This role is not a fit for engineers who are resistant to AI-assisted development or who rely on AI output without understanding the underlying system. ## Key Responsibilities Core Backend Development - Design, build, and maintain robust backend service layers - Write clean, testable, high-performance code in Java and/or Kotlin using Spring Boot - Design and implement APIs that scale with real production workloads - Refactor and extend existing services to improve reliability and maintainability - Create reusable components and patterns that improve team velocity Data and Performance - Design and optimize relational schemas in PostgreSQL - Write and tune performant SQL queries for large data volumes - Validate that database access patterns scale under load - Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks across services Collaboration and Delivery - Work as part of a cross-functional Agile or Scrum team - Participate in design reviews, code reviews, and architectural discussions - Collaborate with Frontend and Product teams on feature development - Debug and resolve production issues as they arise - Contribute to improving engineering processes and practices Mentorship and Culture - Mentor engineers through code reviews and technical discussions - Contribute to a culture of learning, iteration, and constructive feedback - Share context proactively to avoid knowledge silos Required Qualifications ## Experience - 5+ years of experience building production backend systems - Experience designing and operating systems with distributed data and meaningful scale - Experience working in Agile or Scrum environments - Strong experience with Git and GitHub workflows Core Technologies - Strong proficiency with Spring Boot using Java and/or Kotlin - Deep experience with relational databases, especially PostgreSQL - Experience building and maintaining production APIs - Experience refactoring toward or within microservice architectures ## Skills - Ability to translate product requirements into technical solutions - Strong problem-decomposition and debugging skills - Solid computer science fundamentals and engineering judgment - Clear written and verbal English communication skills ## Nice to Have - Experience with Node.js or React - Messaging and communication platforms such as SendGrid or Twilio - Event-driven architectures - Geospatial or location-based systems - Payments or financial integrations - Background in logistics, fintech, or B2B SaaS Our Tech Stack - Backend: Java, Kotlin, Spring Boot, PostgreSQL - Cloud: Google Cloud Platform, including GKE, Cloud Run, and Cloud SQL - Caching and Data: Redis, Firestore - Frontend: React - CI/CD: Cloud Build, GitHub Actions - Monitoring: New Relic, Google Operations ## What We Look For Ownership and Judgment - You take problems through to resolution - You balance pragmatism with quality - You identify and eliminate single points of failure Communication - Clear, proactive written communication in English - Comfort working asynchronously across time zones - Willingness to surface risks and tradeoffs early Mindset - Curious, growth-oriented, and adaptable - Comfortable with ambiguity and iteration - Willing to refactor continuously as systems evolve What Success Looks Like - Backend services are reliable, scalable, and maintainable - Features ship consistently with minimal rework - Production issues are diagnosable and resolved quickly - Database and API performance scales with usage - Strong trust from Frontend, Product, and Platform teams Contractor and Location Notes - This is a contractor role, not full-time employment - Senior-level ownership and reliability are expected - This role is open to candidates located in Eastern Europe - Consistent overlap with U.S. working hours is required ## About Hauler Hero Inc. ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Hauler Hero provides cloud-based software for waste and recycling haulers to streamline dispatching, billing, routing, and customer management. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series A stage) - **Headquarters**: New York, New York, United States - **Founded**: 2020 - **Founders**: Mark Hoadley & Ben Sikma ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Waste management software / Waste and recycling technology - **Target customers**: B2B – commercial and residential waste haulers (SMB to mid-market) - **Mission**: To bring world-class technology to waste and recycling professionals who have been underserved by Silicon Valley, making their essential work easier. ## Products & Services - **Hauler Hero Platform**: Cloud-based SaaS for dispatching, route management, billing, mobile driver app, customer management, and real-time analytics. Includes a tablet app for drivers and a customer portal. - **Hero Vision** (in development): AI-powered automatic pickup documentation. - **Hero Chat** (in development): AI-powered customer communication that answers common questions. - **Hero Routing** (in development): AI-driven real-time route optimization. ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed - **Key Metric**: Total funding $28M (approx. $27,956,999) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Frontier Growth (led Series A), I2BF Global Ventures (led Seed round), and other undisclosed investors. - **Growth Signals**: - 250+ haulers across the US using the software. - 82.1% headcount growth YoY (34 employees as of mid-2026). - Expanded to 5 countries (US, Argentina, Colombia, UAE, Brazil). - Recent $16M Series A (Feb 2026) and $10M Seed (Dec 2024). - Multiple AI features in active development and testing with partners. ## Competitive Advantages - **Deeply specialized**: Solely focused on waste and recycling haulers, a niche largely ignored by big tech. - **Modern cloud-native platform**: Replaces legacy/paper-based processes with an intuitive, mobile-first experience. - **AI pipeline**: Early investment in AI features (Vision, Chat, Routing) that could provide a significant edge. - **Founder expertise**: Founders have built billion-dollar software companies serving blue-collar industries. ## Strategic Focus - **AI integration**: Bringing computer vision, conversational AI, and intelligent routing to waste operations. - **Scale and customer growth**: Doubling down on the US market while expanding internationally. - **Product depth**: Enhancing real-time data, integrations (e.g., scale integration with TruckScales), and automation to reduce manual work for haulers. ## Why Work Here - **Mission-driven**: Opportunity to build software for essential workers who keep communities clean and safe. - **High-growth environment**: 82% headcount growth, recent funding, and a small team (34 people) mean outsized impact. - **Culture**: Described as collaborative, ego-free, and fast-moving – “the best idea wins.” - **Remote/Hybrid**: Offices in New York (HQ) and San Diego; roles appear to be a mix of in-office and remote (based on job postings). - **Engineering leadership**: Head of Engineering (Giriraj Bhojak) and VP of Data Engineering (Eric Seal) indicate a strong technical backbone. - **Perks**: Not explicitly listed, but the company emphasizes work-life balance and modern tools. ## Sources 1. [haulerhero.com](https://www.haulerhero.com/) 2. [haulerhero.com/company](https://www.haulerhero.com/company) 3. [linkedin.com/company/haulerhero](https://www.linkedin.com/company/haulerhero) 4. [bloomberg.com/profile/company/2535666D:US](https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/2535666D:US) 5. [haulerhero.com/jobs](https://www.haulerhero.com/jobs) ## Other roles at Hauler Hero Inc. - [Lead Mobile Engineer (Contractor)](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-mobile-engineer-contractor-hauler-hero-inc-latin-america-6vsqycqttdw9) — Latin America - [Field Marketing Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/field-marketing-manager-hauler-hero-inc-united-states-k7h46js3brbx) — United States - [Senior Frontend Engineer (Contractor)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-frontend-engineer-contractor-hauler-hero-inc-eastern-europe-phc19zvvd151) — Eastern Europe - [Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-hauler-hero-inc-united-states-m73pe61nxnj5) — United States - [RFP & Proposal Specialist — LATAM Contractor](https://feeny.ai/job/rfp-proposal-specialist-latam-contractor-hauler-hero-inc-latin-america-z48asf5ykdz1) — Latin America - [Sales Development Representative](https://feeny.ai/job/sales-development-representative-hauler-hero-inc-united-states-6etdk992104w) — United States - [Customer Success Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/customer-success-associate-hauler-hero-inc-united-states-8v248hdt88hj) — United States - [Head of Finance](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-finance-hauler-hero-inc-united-states-jspkjybzkrwz) — United States - [Head of Sales](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-sales-hauler-hero-inc-united-states-add5927r5ng0) — United States - [Sales Operations Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/sales-operations-manager-hauler-hero-inc-united-states-4wpcqaf40eeq) — United States