Senior Backend Software Engineer
Quick facts
- Pay
- $176,000 - $242,000 + competitive equity
- Type
- Full-time
- Location
- New York, New York
- Skills
- Java
- Industry
- Information Technology — 671 open jobs
- Visa in listing
- H-1B, OPT
- Apply
- Free to apply — never pay anyone for a job offer or visa sponsorship
Job description
Senior Backend Software Engineer
Company: Atoms (Picnic)
Location: New York, NY (in office 5 days per week)
Compensation: $176,000 - $242,000 + competitive equity
Employment Type: Full-time
Visa Sponsorship: Visa transfers (OPT, H-1B transfer)
About Atoms (Picnic) This role is with Picnic, which is reinventing lunch at work: it partners with top local restaurants and batches hundreds of orders so companies can offer high-quality, individually packed meals without fees or tips, making lunch seamless, affordable and enjoyable for employees, employers and restaurants.
The role is listed by Atoms, the company founded by Travis Kalanick after Uber, which brings Physical AI to industries including food (Atoms Food, formerly CloudKitchens), mining (Atoms Mining, formerly Pronto AI) and transport.
The Role Picnic is looking for a Backend Engineer to architect and scale the systems behind its real-time logistics and operations. You will own technical decisions from architecture to production, build services for Picnic's web and mobile products, and take on logistics, routing, automation, scalability and reliability challenges.
What You Will Do
- Design, build and maintain backend systems in languages such as Java and Go.
- Lead major initiatives in vehicle routing optimization, logistics automation, scalability and reliability.
- Own backend architecture and solve complex, ambiguous, high-impact problems.
- Build and scale core APIs, services and data stores.
- Set best practices for testing, monitoring, observability and performance.
- Turn technical priorities into quarterly roadmaps with product and engineering leadership.
- Mentor engineers through design reviews, code reviews and hands-on collaboration.
What You Bring
- Senior backend engineering experience building distributed systems
- Strong Java and/or Go
- Experience owning architecture and leading major technical initiatives
- Experience with APIs, data stores and production reliability
- Ability to work in the New York office 5 days a week
Nice to Have
- Logistics, routing or optimization experience
Tech Stack Java, Go, distributed systems, APIs, data stores
Visa sponsorship record
No public sponsorship records foundWe didn't find H-1B, H-1B1, E-3 or green card (PERM) filings under the name See more jobs at Transparent Search Groupexternal in the Department of Labor and USCIS data. That doesn't mean the job can't be sponsored — the company may file under a different legal name, be new to sponsorship, or sponsor a visa that isn't in these datasets (for example H-2B or J-1).
Tip: ask the recruiter early, in writing, which visa they sponsor and whether they cover the legal and filing fees.
Which visas can work for this job
Occupation: Software Developers (SOC 15-1252).
- Mentioned in the listing
H-1B, OPT
- H-1B cap-exempt employer
Regular cap-subject employer — a new H-1B needs to win the lottery in March (unless you already hold cap-counted H-1B status).
- TN (citizens of Canada and Mexico)
This kind of role may fit the USMCA profession “Computer Systems Analyst (or Engineer, for engineering-degree holders)” — it depends on the actual duties. No lottery, no cap; you need the matching degree or license.
- E-3 (Australia) and H-1B1 (Chile, Singapore)
Same degree requirement as H-1B, but no lottery and a separate quota that is rarely filled.
- O-1 (extraordinary ability)
For candidates with awards, publications, press, a high salary or critical roles at distinguished organizations. No cap, no lottery; the employer files a petition.
- STEM OPT extension (F-1 students)
Requires an E-Verify employer. We didn't find this company in the E-Verify list — ask HR.
Salary vs prevailing wage
Level IV (fully competent)Software Developers · New York (state median of areas). Annual prevailing wages set by the Department of Labor (OFLC).
| Level | Prevailing wage | H-1B lottery odds* |
|---|---|---|
| Level I | $84,937 | ~15% |
| Level II | $107,244 | ~31% |
| Level III | $128,658 | ~46% |
| Level IV | $149,208 | ~61% |
This job pays $176,000–$242,000 a year — that's Level IV (fully competent). In the wage-weighted H-1B lottery a Level IV registration gets 4 entries; estimated selection chance about 61% — better than average.
* Odds are DHS projections for the FY2027 wage-weighted lottery (actual results vary by year and employer). Since the FY2027 cap season the H-1B lottery is weighted by wage level: Level I = 1 entry, II = 2, III = 3, IV = 4. The level is set by the offered wage against the prevailing wage for the occupation and worksite. Separately, a $100,000 fee for new H-1B petitions for workers outside the US was announced in 2025; as of September 2026 a federal court ruling keeps it unenforceable while appeals continue — check the current status.
Sources: U.S. Department of Labor OFLC disclosure data (H-1B/H-1B1/E-3 LCA, PERM), OFLC prevailing wage data, USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub, E-Verify participating employers. Data loaded: LCA FY2024–FY2026, PERM, USCIS Data Hub, OFLC wages; updated 2026-10-03. Employers are matched by name, so records of companies with similar names can occasionally be mixed up. This is general information, not legal advice — talk to an immigration attorney about your case.