Senior Node.js Backend Engineer (Remote)

We are building HypeMuse, an event-based photo and GIF discovery platform for sports games, concerts, and live events.Our current backend is built with Laravel/PHP, and we are planning to rebuild the backend using Node.js. We are looking for a strong backend engineer who can help migrate the existing Laravel system into a scalable Node.js architecture while keeping the current product logic stable.Responsibilities:- Analyze the existing Laravel backend structure, database schema, APIs, and admin workflows.- Rebuild core backend services using Node.js, preferably TypeScript with NestJS or Express.- Design clean REST APIs for the mobile app, admin panel, media upload, user accounts, events, venues, and recommendation feed.- Integrate with existing services including MySQL/PostgreSQL, Redis, object storage, and the recommendation service.- Support event-based recommendation logic for photos and GIFs, including event ID, venue location, match phase, audience type, media quality, freshness, and popularity.- Build background jobs for media processing, metadata sync, recommendation data sync, and interaction tracking.- Set up Docker-based deployment and production-ready environment configuration.- Improve backend performance, security, logging, monitoring, and maintainability.- Work closely with the founder/product owner to turn the current Laravel backend into a scalable Node.js backend.Requirements:- Strong experience with Node.js backend development.- Good knowledge of TypeScript, NestJS or Express.js.- Experience working with Laravel/PHP projects and backend migration is highly preferred.- Strong understanding of REST API design, authentication, database modeling, and queue-based systems.- Experience with MySQL or PostgreSQL, Redis, Docker, and Linux server deployment.- Ability to read an existing codebase and migrate features without breaking current product behavior.- Experience with media platforms, recommendation systems, feeds, image/video processing, or event-based products is a plus.Nice to have:- Experience with Qdrant, Faiss, vector search, recommendation systems, or AI-powered media tagging.- Experience with cloud storage, CDN, image optimization, and large-scale media upload.- Experience with sports, concert, creator, or community platforms.This role is suitable for someone who can work independently, communicate clearly, and help us move from a Laravel MVP backend to a more scalable Node.js backend architecture.