Backend Developer (Next.js / PostgreSQL / Prisma)

About Us

We are The Dog House Pet Salon, a Houston-based pet services company with 3 grooming locations and a growing pet technology platform called My Pet Credentials (MPC). MPC is a pet identification and records platform that gives every pet a unique ID, stores vaccination records, manages lost-and-found alerts, and connects pet owners with groomers and veterinarians. We are building the infrastructure that makes pet care smarter, safer, and more connected.

Our small, tight-knit team operates like a family. We move fast, solve real problems, and take ownership of our work. We use AI tools heavily in our development workflow -- Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Claude, and other AI assistants are part of how we build every day.

What You Will Do

- Build and maintain REST API endpoints using Next.js API routes
- Design and optimize PostgreSQL database schemas using Prisma ORM
- Implement file upload flows with Amazon S3 (pet photos, documents, vaccination cards)
- Integrate email services for transactional notifications (registration confirmations, lost pet alerts, appointment reminders)
- Work with AI coding assistants to write, debug, and improve code -- and know when the AI is wrong
- Collaborate with our frontend and mobile developers to deliver features end-to-end
- Write clean, well-structured code that other developers can understand and maintain
- Handle authentication, authorization, and API security best practices

Skills Required

- Strong experience with Node.js and JavaScript/TypeScript
- Working knowledge of Next.js (especially API routes / server-side features)
- Experience with PostgreSQL or similar relational databases
- Familiarity with an ORM (Prisma preferred, Sequelize or TypeORM also acceptable)
- Experience with REST API design and implementation
- Comfortable with file uploads and cloud storage (S3 or similar)
- Experience using AI coding tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Cursor, or similar)
- Ability to review AI-generated code critically -- catch bugs, security issues, and poor patterns
- Basic understanding of email integration (SMTP, transactional email services)
- Git and GitHub for version control

Nice to Have

- Experience with Stripe payment integration
- Firebase push notifications
- Redis caching
- Rate limiting and API security hardening
- Experience working on pet, health, or SaaS platforms

Why Join Us

- Long-term position with a growing company -- this is not a short-term gig
- Work on a product that genuinely helps pets and their owners
- Use cutting-edge AI development tools daily -- you will sharpen skills that are in high demand
- Competitive pay with potential for raises based on performance
- Direct impact -- your code ships to real users, not a shelf
- Small tea ---------- ans you have real ownership and your voice matters

How to Apply

Send your application with:
1. A brief introduction about yourself and your relevant experience
2. Links to your GitHub profile or code samples
3. One example of a project where you built or contributed to a REST API
4. Your experience level with AI coding tools (which ones, how you use them)

Qualified candidates will be asked to complete a short online skills assessment (approximately 75 minutes, open-book, AI tools allowed). The assessment tests real-world scenarios you would encounter in this role -- not trick questions or whiteboard puzzles.

Work Schedule: Full-time, 40 hours per week. We are flexible on exact hours but expect overlap with US Central Time (Houston, TX) for team communication.

Payment: Paid bi-weekly or monthly via your preferred method (Wise, PayPal, direct bank transfer).

Equipment: You provide your own computer and internet connection. We provide access to all necessary software, accounts, and AI tool subscriptions.

We use AI assistants (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, Cursor) as a standard part of our workflow. We are looking for people who know how to use AI effectively and know when it is wrong.