Senior Backend Engineer

Welcome to the Senior Backend Engineer assessment for Palm! This assessment is designed for experienced backend engineers who build and operate production systems at scale. This assessment will test your abilities in the following areas: - Production LLM integration (prompt design, cost control, output validation) - Backend system architecture under real-world constraints - API design, query optimization, and indexing - Caching strategy and invalidation - Security and data privacy in regulated systems Format: The assessment begins with a 60-second video introduction. The two technical questions are written responses. You're expected to mix prose explanation with technical artifacts. We want to see both your reasoning and your technical specificity. There is no trick question and no single correct architecture. We're evaluating how you think through trade-offs, what you prioritize, and whether your designs would actually survive production. Estimated completion time: 60 minutes. Good luck!