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EMPIRE · 3 months ago

Lead Backend Engineer (Budgets, Expense & Payments, PHP/Laravel)

San Francisco, CA

Full-time

Onsite

Senior Level

$120K/yr - $160K/yr

5+ years exp

EMPIRE is a premier music company focused on supporting independent artists and has become the largest independent record label in the U.S. They are seeking a Lead Backend Engineer to own the architecture, development, and scaling of backend systems related to finance for music projects, collaborating with various teams to deliver secure and compliant solutions.

Information TechnologyMusicMusic Label

Growth Opportunities

Responsibilities

Own the architecture, design, and implementation of backend services and APIs for financial features of our proprietary ERP systems that serve musicians, record labels, and publishers

Build scalable, secure, and maintainable backend code using PHP (vanilla + Laravel)

Develop and maintain integrations with third-party financial systems (e.g., BREX, NetSuite, Bill.com)

Implement workflows to tie expenses, invoices, and payments to project budgets with role-based approvals

Drive backend performance, reliability, and compliance across financial data pipelines

Establish and enforce best practices in code quality, testing, database design, and deployment

Mentor and guide backend engineers, providing technical direction and career growth support

Collaborate cross-functionally with finance, product, and engineering teams to deliver features aligned with operational and compliance needs

Contribute to technical strategy and long-term planning for backend architecture to support financial workflows and company growth

Qualification

PHPLaravelERP systemsAPI designMySQL/PostgreSQLAutomated testing frameworksFinancial data securityLeadershipCollaborationCommunication

Required

5+ years of professional backend engineering experience, including at least 2+ years leading PHP/Laravel development efforts

Strong hands-on experience with PHP (vanilla and Laravel), relational databases (MySQL/PostgreSQL), and API design

Proven ability to lead and mentor backend engineering teams

Experience building and integrating with third-party financial platforms (e.g., ERP, expense management, payments)

Strong understanding of budgeting, expenses, approval workflows, and payment processing

Knowledge of standard terminology, deal structures, and royalty collection and payment flows within the music industry

Proficiency in automated testing frameworks (PHPUnit, Pest) and backend QA practices

Knowledge of financial data security, auditing requirements, and compliance (e.g., SOC 2, SOX, GDPR/CCPA)

Excellent leadership, collaboration, and communication skills in cross-functional environments

Comfortable context switching between legacy code and newer codebases

Proven track record in data modeling, database design, and schema optimization

Preferred

Direct experience with integrations for BREX, NetSuite, Bill.com or similar financial platforms

Comfort working with modern data pipelines, data warehouses (Snowflake), pipeline orchestrations (Airflow), Python and DAG development experience. Huge plus if you have migrated a financial project from a relational data store to data pipeline

Familiarity with accounting principles, reconciliation workflows, and ERP integrations

Knowledge of DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform)

Background in designing approval workflows, role-based access controls, or financial authorization chains

Experience working in compliance-heavy environments (financial audits, regulatory reporting)

Benefits

Competitive Compensation Package

Competitive Benefits Package

Company Paid Life Insurance, Short-Term Disability, and Long-Term Disability Insurance

Company Paid Health Savings Account (HSA) Contribution

Healthcare Spending Account (FSA)

Paid Time Off (Holidays, Vacation, and Sick)

Company 401(k) Plan

Wellness Resources

Commuter Allowance

Cell Phone Allowance

Company

EMPIRE

Founded in 2010 by Bay Area native Ghazi, EMPIRE is currently leading through its innovative and progressive approach to the digital music era across its label, distribution and publishing arms.

Founded in 2010

San Francisco, California, USA

201-500 employees