Backend Engineer (USA)

The posting, as Freehand wrote it

ABOUT FREEHAND

Most AI companies are building tools. We're building the worker.

Freehand's AI agents replace the human decision-making and coordination layer that sits above enterprise software — handling the analysis, negotiation, prioritization, and execution that previously required armies of logisticians / supply chain professionals.

Our customers include Apple, Meta, GE, Pfizer, J&J, Schlumberger, Cardinal Health, and Unilever. They chose us because we have a fundamentally different answer to what enterprise software looks like when AI can do the job.

If you want to work on something that matters, with people who will push you to be sharper than you thought you could be, this is the place.

THE ROLE & THE TEAM

As a Backend Engineer at Freehand, you will build the distributed systems, APIs, and AI agent infrastructure that power AI-driven enterprise execution. You will design and scale backend services that orchestrate agents, enforce business rules, integrate deeply with ERPs and financial systems, and ensure that every action taken by AI is secure, traceable, and reliable.

This is not CRUD SaaS work. You will be building the backend for autonomous systems handling real money and real risk—and the observability and testing infrastructure to keep those systems trustworthy at scale.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

•High-throughput, low-latency backend services that power AI agent execution

•Workflow orchestration systems for complex, multi-step enterprise processes

•Rule engines and policy enforcement layers for enterprise compliance

•APIs and integrations with ERPs, procurement tools, payment rails, and data providers

•Observability, audit, and traceability systems for AI-driven decisions

•Secure data pipelines handling sensitive financial and operational data

•Agent execution runtimes, multi-agent coordination, and observability pipelines for AI-driven workflows

•Evaluation and testing harnesses to validate agent behaviour, reliability, and output quality

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Backend & Systems Engineering

•Design and build scalable backend services using modern system design principles

•Own critical services that manage procurement, invoice, contract, and payment workflows

•Implement orchestration logic that coordinates AI agents, humans, and enterprise systems

•Build resilient systems with strong guarantees around idempotency, retries, and failure handling

API & Integration Development

•Build and maintain robust APIs consumed by AI services, frontend apps, and external systems

•Integrate deeply with ERP systems, procurement platforms, and payment gateways and financial rails

•Handle complex data normalisation and transformation across enterprise systems

AI Agent Building, Observability & Testing

•Build agent execution runtimes: tool calling, context management, memory, and multi-step reasoning loops

•Implement multi-agent coordination—parallel and sequential workflows with human-in-the-loop escalation

•Instrume
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tom trace pipelines) and eval design

•Experience building LLM-powered systems in production; familiarity with agent frameworks (LangChain, CrewAI, or custom)

WORKING AT FREEHAND

Series B, ~100 people across the US and India. Big enough to have infrastructure, small enough that your work is visible. We run on five core operating principles; these are not values-on-a-wall, this is the exact philosophy we built our AI agents on :

• Context Before Confidence. We get in, ask (a ton of) questions, connect the dots ourselves and move fast. No passengers, no hand-holding. The amount of confidence you'll have in Week 1 is directly proportional to the context strive to gain.
• Decisions, not Recommendations. Freehand folks decide, they don't present options. You'll have real autonomy, and real accountability to match.
• High Agency, High Trust. We won't manage you closely or ask you to escalate every call. Act, share your reasoning, and course-correct when needed. That's the contract.
• Accountability is the Product. When something goes wrong — and it will — we name it, learn from it, and move on. No politics, no cover. Just fix it.
• The Work That Remains is the Work That Matters. We actively cut low-value work. What lands on your plate is there because it matters — and can only be done by you.

It's a small world. Freehand employees Work Anywhere across US & India (we're remote & travel-first). As and when required, for this role, we will also arrange for a fully-paid trip to our HQ in Chennai to meet & interact with cross-functional teams.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Freehand hires on merit — your thinking, your track record, your potential — without regard to race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or any other protected characteristic. If you meet most of the criteria above but not all of it, apply anyway. We care more about your willingness to learn & take initiative than whether your resume maps perfectly to every line.