---
title: 'Staff Backend Engineer, SOC & Threat Hunting at Censys'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-backend-engineer-soc-threat-hunting-censys-ann-arbor-fzehbp634psy'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-12'
---

# Staff Backend Engineer, SOC & Threat Hunting at Censys

- **Company:** Censys
- **Location:** Ann Arbor, MI
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-05-08
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-12
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/censys/jobs/8527413002

## Job description

Company Background

Censys’ mission is to be the one place to understand everything on the internet. Frustrated by the lack of trustworthy Internet intelligence, we set out to create the industry’s most comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date map of the Internet. Today, Censys delivers real-time Internet intelligence and actionable threat insights to global governments, over 50% of the Fortune 500, and leading threat intelligence providers worldwide.

Location:

This is a fully remote position within the United States or Canada.

Role Summary:

We’re looking to hire a Staff Backend Software Engineer to join our team. In this capacity, you will contribute to the development of specialized tools for threat hunters, SOC analysts, and incident response professionals within the Censys Platform. Your responsibilities will involve advancing our Adversary Investigation module by architecting resilient APIs and scalable microservices for our SaaS infrastructure. By collaborating with engineering and product partners, you will transform intricate needs into sustainable software that delivers vital security intelligence. Your work will empower users to navigate the global Internet, identify emerging threats, and strengthen their organizational defenses.

What You’ll Do:

- Architect and refine robust backend services to drive the capabilities of the Adversary Investigation module
- Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Design, and Frontend teams to create high-impact solutions for our customers
- Maintain end-to-end ownership of the development cycle, from automating builds and testing to deployment and ongoing monitoring
- Facilitate data-intensive user experiences by integrating both internal systems and external APIs
- Engage in a fast-paced, iterative environment focused on technical excellence and proactive feedback loops

What You’ll Bring:

- 10+ years of professional experience building distributed web applications and APIs
- Experience with building microservices.
- Experience with Go, Java, Python, or Scala  AND a desire to work with Go in this role.
- Experience with at least one cloud provider, like GCP, AWS, or Azure
- Familiarity with Docker and interest in improving our CI/CD deployment process
- Desire to improve test coverage and increase code maintainability
- The ability to thoughtfully participate in technical discussions and drive towards data-driven decisions amidst ambiguity and competing priorities.
- Strong communication and documentation skills. Explaining complex technical concepts to other engineers, designers, salespeople, and content marketers is no problem for you.
- Open to using AI to amplify their skills and strengthen their work - demonstrating curiosity, a willingness to learn, and sound judgment in applying AI responsibly to improve efficiency and impact

What Sets You Apart:

- Familiarity with a gRPC or REST
- Experience with microservice-based designs with GCP PubSub, Kafka or other
- Experience with different databases, like: Redis, BigTable, BigQuery, Postgres
- Experience building, deploying, and maintaining containerized services in a Kubernetes
- Familiarity with other web technologies such as TypeScript, JavaScript, and proficiency with React is a plus
- You understand the value of building maintainable software. Some of your first tasks when building a new service are ensuring test coverage enforced by CI, adding linters, and adding code complexity checks. You enjoy a good abstraction, and promote established design patterns, but also know when to think outside the box.

For high cost of living areas (San Francisco Bay, New York City, and Seattle), the expected salary range for this position is $198,000 USD – $233,000 USD, plus bonus eligibility and equity.

For all other US locations, the expected salary range for this position is $172,000 USD – $216,000 USD, plus bonus eligibility and equity.

Job level and actual compensation will be decided based on factors including, but not limited to, individual qualifications objectively assessed during the interview process (including skills and prior relevant experience, potential impact, and scope of role), market demands, and specific work location. The listed range is a guideline, and the range for this role may be modified. For roles that are available to be filled remotely, the pay range is localized according to employee work location by a factor of between 83% and 100% of range. Please discuss your specific work location with your recruiter for more information.

Censys offers a competitive benefits package to employees, including equity, health, dental & vision coverage, retirement with company contribution, parental leave, mental health & wellness benefits, flexible PTO, and a professional development stipend. Censys also offers sales incentive pay for most sales roles and an annual bonus plan for eligible non-sales roles. Censys’s compensation and benefits are subject to change and may be modified in the future. Please see our [careers page](https://censys.com/careers/) for more details.

We will work to ensure individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to apply for a role, participate in the interview process, perform essential job functions, and receive other benefits and privileges of employment. If you require accommodation, please reach out to your recruiter. These modifications enable an individual with a disability to have an equal opportunity not only to get a job, but successfully perform their job tasks to the same extent as people without disabilities.

To ensure the integrity of our hiring process and facilitate a more personal connection, we require all candidates to keep their cameras on during video interviews. Additionally, if hired, we would love to bring you to our HQ in Ann Arbor for in-person onboarding.

By applying for this job, the candidate acknowledges and agrees that any personal data contained in their application or supporting materials will be processed in accordance with our [Censys Privacy Policy](https://censys.com/privacy-policy/).

Our roots are in Ann Arbor, Michigan and our innovation is fueled by the team’s global perspectives. For this role, we are open to remote employees across the continental US. We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Censys is an [equal opportunity employer](https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-10/EEOC_KnowYourRights_screen_reader_10_20.pdf).

Note to external recruiters/agencies: We are not currently engaging with third-party agencies for this role and will not accept unsolicited outreach. We kindly ask that you do not submit resumes or candidate profiles to our team.

Identity Verification

As part of our hiring process, all candidates who receive an offer of employment will be asked to complete an identity verification through CLEAR.

California Privacy Rights Notice

Pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), we are providing you with notice that we collect personal information from job applicants for business purposes, including evaluating your candidacy for employment, conducting interviews, and, if applicable, completing the hiring process. The categories of information we may collect include identifiers (such as name and contact information), professional or employment-related information (such as work history, education, and references), and other information you provide in your application. We do not sell or share your personal information. For more information on how we use and protect your personal information, and your rights under the CCPA, please refer to our [Privacy Policy](https://censys.com/privacy-policy#:~:text=California%20resident%20rights).

## About Censys

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Censys provides real-time intelligence and insights on global Internet infrastructure to help security teams uncover risks, respond to incidents, and prevent breaches.
- **Entity Type**: Private (venture-backed – see PitchBook profile)
- **Headquarters**: Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA (primary); additional offices in Los Altos, CA; Kirkland, WA; and Tysons Corner, VA
- **Founded**: 2017
- **Founders**: Founded by researchers and cybersecurity practitioners from the University of Michigan, including Zakir Durumeric (inventor of ZMap) [censys.com/about](https://censys.com/about-censys/)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Cybersecurity (Internet intelligence, attack surface management, adversary investigation)
- **Target customers**: B2B – Governments (federal/state), Global 2000 enterprises, cybersecurity companies, critical infrastructure operators, and MSSPs
- **Mission**: “To make the internet a safer place” [censys.com/about](https://censys.com/about-censys/)

## Products & Services
- **Censys Platform**: A comprehensive tool for understanding organizational exposure, dependencies, blind spots, and attacker infrastructure. Includes:
  - **Attack Surface Management (ASM)**: Continuously identifies and monitors all internet-facing assets tied to an organization, including unknown assets, and prioritizes remediation based on real risk.
  - **Adversary Investigation**: Provides structured, contextualized data on threat actor infrastructure to detect compromises, uncover attacker-controlled systems, and identify attack methods.
  - **Critical Infrastructure Monitoring**: Monitors and remediates internet exposure of industrial control systems (ICS) and other national critical infrastructure.
  - **Cloud Asset Discovery**: Discovers and manages cloud footprints to eliminate blind spots, manage shadow IT, and defend against threats.
  - **Risk Awareness for M&A**: Assesses cybersecurity posture of subsidiaries and potential acquisitions.
- All offerings are SaaS/cloud-based, built on the proprietary **Censys Internet Map** – a continuously updated, real-time global map of all internet-connected infrastructure. [censys.com](https://censys.com/)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed. The company is privately held; PitchBook maintains a profile with funding and valuation data [pitchbook.com](https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/233464-78).
- **Key Metric** (Private): Total community users >350,000; growing international presence including Nordics, France, Australia, Singapore, Japan [censys.com/about](https://censys.com/about-censys/).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not explicitly listed on public site, but trusted by governments, Global 2000, and cybersecurity companies worldwide [censys.com](https://censys.com/).
- **Growth Signals**: Launched new scanning engine with proprietary technology; expanded globally (multiple new country markets); introduced AI/ML capabilities; growing headcount with offices in four US tech hubs.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Data Depth & Freshness**: Maintains the industry’s only comprehensive, real-time map of global Internet infrastructure, continuously updated via proprietary scanning technology (origin: ZMap from University of Michigan).
- **Researcher Roots & Community Trust**: Originated from academic research; trusted by the security community for unbiased, high-fidelity intelligence.
- **Full Visibility Suite**: Combines ASM, adversary tracking, cloud discovery, and critical infrastructure monitoring in one platform, reducing tool sprawl.
- **Attacker Perspective**: Delivers the same view of infrastructure that threat actors see, enabling proactive defense.

## Strategic Focus
- **AI & ML Integration**: Expanding AI/ML capabilities to deliver deeper, faster security insights [censys.com/about](https://censys.com/about-censys/).
- **Global Expansion**: Continuing to grow footprint in key international markets (APAC, Europe, etc.).
- **Protecting Critical Infrastructure**: Deepening capabilities for ICS/SCADA and government customers, especially given the Tysons Corner office proximity to federal clients.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture & Values**: Emphasizes being relentless, empowering, stewards of a safer internet, and leaders. Strong sense of purpose – “making the internet safer” is the central mission.
- **Work Flexibility**: “Where Works for You” policy – multiple office locations (Ann Arbor, Los Altos, Kirkland, Tysons Corner) and the language suggests hybrid/remote flexibility.
- **Benefits**: 401(k) with employer match; medical, dental, vision insurance; flexible PTO and sick leave; annual professional development credit; wellness credit and EAP; 14 weeks paid leave for birthing employees, 6 weeks for non-birthing at 100% pay.
- **Engineering Culture**: Deeply technical origin (ZMap research), data-driven, and practitioner-focused. Encourages contributions to the security community and open research.
- **Teams**: Small but growing; opportunities to work across multiple security domains (internet scanning, threat intelligence, cloud security, ICS). [censys.com/careers](https://censys.com/careers/)

## Sources
1. [censys.com](https://censys.com/)
2. [censys.com/about](https://censys.com/about-censys/)
3. [censys.com/careers](https://censys.com/careers/)
4. [linkedin.com/company/censysio](https://www.linkedin.com/company/censysio)
5. [pitchbook.com](https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/233464-78)

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