---
title: 'Senior Backend Engineer at Straia'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-backend-engineer-straia-san-francisco-vtskshf20d4h'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-08'
---

# Senior Backend Engineer at Straia

- **Company:** Straia
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-06-09
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/straia/b36b483d-f19f-47f0-bf52-6283e8496571

## Job description

## About Straia

At Straia https://www.straia.io, we’re building the AI-native intelligence layer for colleges and universities.

Today, colleges run on dozens of disconnected systems, forcing staff to spend hundreds of hours reconciling data, compiling reports, and tracking down insights. Straia changes that. We unify institutional data and layer on AI agents that answer questions, generate insights/visualizations, and automate repetitive workflows, transforming how colleges operate.

Over time, Straia will evolve into the core intelligence layer for institutional operations, where every function, from student advising to admissions to budgeting and resource planning, is supported by collaborative AI agents that understand each institution’s unique data landscape.

We recently raised our pre-seed from a16z Speedrun, Reach Capital, and JFF Ventures, and are now hiring a Senior Backend Engineer to help build the technical backbone of how institutions interact with their data.

## The Role

As a Senior Engineer at Straia, you’ll work directly with a small team including directly with our CEO (Ryan https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlau512/) and CTO (Nikki https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikki-bayar-6ab66488/) to design, build, and scale the core infrastructure of our platform.

This is a 0 → 1 opportunity to shape not just the product, but the engineering culture, architecture, and trajectory of the company. You’ll ship fast, make key technical decisions, and help define how AI can power the next generation of enterprise data intelligence.

We’re specifically looking for someone who consistently raises the bar. The kind of engineer whose default speed and judgment increase the velocity of everyone around them. If you thrive when expectations are high and the pace is fast, you’ll feel right at home 🙂

## What You'll Do

- Build the core platform — architect and implement services spanning data ingestion, query orchestration, and agentic AI workflows
- Ship end-to-end features across our React + Node.js + Postgres stack, integrating directly with LLMs like GPT, Gemini, and Claude
- Scale infrastructure on GCP for performance, reliability, and data security
- Collaborate with users (university data teams and administrators) to translate real problems into elegant, powerful solutions
- Lay the foundation for Straia’s engineering culture, best practices, and technical roadmap
- Prototype fast, iterate faster — your work will directly shape how education leaders experience AI in their daily decision-making

## Who You Are

- 6-8 years of experience building and shipping full-stack applications, with a strong emphasis on backend systems (Node.js, TypeScript, Postgres)
- Deeply technical, with a track record of building scalable, high-quality software
- Startup-minded — you thrive in ambiguity, love building from scratch, and see constraints as creative fuel
- Mission-driven — excited to improve education through technology that makes institutions smarter, faster, and more equitable
- Collaborative and high-agency — you take initiative, value clear communication, and have the instincts of an owner, not an employee
- AI-curious or experienced — exposure to LLMs, vector databases, or prompt engineering is a plus

## Our Stack

- Frontend: React + Vite
- Backend: Node.js + Express, orchestrating data and AI agent workflows
- Data Layer: Postgres + Caching for fast queries
- LLM Integration: GPT, Gemini, Claude via API
- Cloud & Infra: Hosted on GCP

## Why Join Straia

- Be one of the first engineers at a venture-backed AI company redefining institutional intelligence in higher ed
- Shape the core architecture and engineering culture from day one
- Work directly with top-tier investors and advisors from a16z, Reach, and JFF Ventures
- Join a small, fast-moving team that works incredibly hard, ships fast, and still makes time for good food, laughs, and adventures — we take our work seriously, but not ourselves 🙂
- Build meaningful technology that directly impacts student success and equity across colleges nationwide
- Competitive salary + meaningful equity — your work will be foundational to Straia’s success

## What We Offer

- Compensation: $200K–$225K + equity
- Location: San Francisco (in office 4 days a week)
- Benefits: Health (platinum insurance), dental, and vision

## About Straia

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Straia is an agentic AI platform that unifies fragmented institutional data for higher education, enabling campus leaders to ask questions in plain English and get instant, actionable insights.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Pre-Seed)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2025
- **Founders**: Ryan Lau (CEO) and Alan Chan (CTO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: EdTech, AI-powered Business Intelligence, Higher Education Technology
- **Target customers**: B2B; specifically U.S. colleges and universities (Presidents’ Offices, Provosts, Admissions, Enrollment Management, Student Advising, Institutional Research)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To bring fragmented data together for fast, reliable insights across an institution, replacing legacy dashboards and manual reporting with an AI-native operating system.

## Products & Services
- **Straia Platform**: An agentic AI platform that connects directly to an institution’s core SIS, LMS, and CRM systems, creating a unified, AI-ready data layer. Users can ask questions in plain English to get instant insights on enrollment trends, retention risk, course performance, program health, equity gaps, and more. Built-in data governance ensures all PII and student records are encrypted at rest and in transit, with strict role-based access controls aligned with FERPA requirements.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (early-stage startup)
- **Key Metric**: $4.5M committed Annual Recurring Revenue (cARR) in 4 weeks from launch; 8 employees as of April 2026
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: a16z Speedrun (lead), Reach Capital, JFF Ventures (pre-seed round)
- **Growth Signals**: Exited stealth in December 2025 with backing from top-tier EdTech investors; rapid early revenue traction ($4.5M cARR in 4 weeks); founders previously scaled an edtech startup to $5M in 9 months; active hiring for senior engineering roles in San Francisco.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Agentic AI, not just dashboards**: Unlike traditional BI tools that require technical expertise and rigid dashboards (used only by IR/IT), Straia lets any campus leader ask questions in natural language and get instant answers.
- **Deep institutional integration**: Connects SIS, LMS, and CRM data out of the box, solving the core fragmentation problem that plagues higher ed.
- **Built-in data governance & FERPA compliance**: Encryption, role-based access, and audit logging are core to the product, not an afterthought.
- **Founder-market fit**: CEO Ryan Lau spent a year speaking with institutional leaders across the U.S. and has a track record in edtech; CTO Alan Chan built the backbone of the systems. Both are deeply embedded in the problem space.

## Strategic Focus
- **Current priorities**: Scaling the platform to more colleges and universities; building out the engineering team (hiring Senior Platform Engineer and Senior Backend Engineer); deepening integrations with additional campus systems; maintaining rapid revenue growth while keeping a small, high-agency team.
- **Direction**: Becoming the “AI-native operating system for every college in America,” replacing legacy software across higher education with agentic AI.

## Why Work Here
- **High-agency, small team**: The company explicitly states they are “a small team of high-agency builders” obsessed with quality, clarity, and collaborative problem-solving. Impact per person is very high.
- **Mission-driven**: Directly helps improve student outcomes, retention, and equity in higher education — a meaningful social impact.
- **Cutting-edge tech**: Building an agentic AI platform at the intersection of AI, data unification, and natural language processing.
- **Location**: San Francisco, CA (roles listed as in-office/hybrid).
- **Founding team**: Led by repeat founders with deep domain expertise and strong investor backing (a16z, Reach Capital).
- **Early-stage growth**: Joining at the pre-seed stage with significant early revenue traction offers substantial ownership and career growth potential.

## Sources
1. [straia.io](https://www.straia.io/)
2. [straia.io/careers](https://www.straia.io/careers)
3. [tracxn.com](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/straia/__zsnxbgb_9mYUdVKZ_ujObXl0tQgJHgXazxXfdiG7_GA)
4. [speedrun.a16z.com](https://speedrun.a16z.com/companies/straia)
5. [edtechinnovationhub.com](https://www.edtechinnovationhub.com/news/edtech-startup-straia-exits-stealth-with-a16z-backing-to-tackle-higher-ed-data-gaps)

## Other roles at Straia

- [Full-Stack Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/full-stack-software-engineer-straia-san-francisco-dr44xnp3w9wm) — San Francisco, CA
- [Senior Backend Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-backend-engineer-verkada-san-mateo-ca-8cbw2zg7ym0t) — San Mateo CA, United States
- [Senior Backend Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-backend-engineer-feverup-spain-15qsx6yx5r1d) — Spain
- [Senior Backend Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-backend-engineer-sumup-london-england-9r9bgnz6t1sm) — London England, United Kingdom
- [Senior Backend Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-backend-engineer-hyperexponential-warsaw-szqvq3t6aqem) — Warsaw, Poland
- [Senior Backend Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-backend-engineer-peec-ai-berlin-1b3070vztc1y) — Berlin, Germany
- [Senior Backend Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-backend-engineer-gitlab-bengaluru-wp9zybp29sx3) — Bengaluru, India
- [Senior Backend Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-backend-engineer-revenuecat-americas-x4rjp8m2v339) — Americas
- [Senior Backend Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-backend-engineer-partnerize-tel-aviv-1wa0yjjwm4h7) — Tel Aviv, Israel
- [Senior Backend Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-backend-engineer-re-build-manufacturing-greater-boston-x86jxrpqbmk6) — Greater Boston, MA / Los Angeles, CA / Seattle, WA / United States