Unpaid Mandatory Internship - Backend Engineer (Nodejs/TS) @ Early stage startup

About Occibo

SaaS product from IndieKidz - Occibo(occibo dot com) is an AI assisted children’s book creation studio. We are building the backend systems that power guided book creation, AI image workflows, asset generation, and production ready outputs for solo authors, teachers, and parents.

Tasks

• Build(from scratch) and improve backend services & APIs for core product workflows using Node.js, TypeScript, and Express
• Work on Supabase/PostgreSQL based data models, authentication, and API integrations
• Develop job based systems using Redis and BullMQ/Message queue for image generation, processing, and export workflows
• Integrate and support AI systems including LLM driven flows and ComfyUI based image pipelines
• Manage file handling, storage, and delivery using object storage services
• Help improve reliability, performance, and developer experience across the backend stack
• Work closely with product, design, and frontend to ship real features fast

Requirements

• Must - Hands on experience with Node.js, TypeScript, and backend API development
• Familiarity with databases, authentication, queues, and async job processing
• Interest or experience in AI systems, LLM workflows
• Experience in building API services
• Familiarity with tools such as Cursor and GitHub Copilot is required
• Comfortable building fast, learning quickly, and working in an early stage startup environment

Nice to have

• Previous internship, project, or open source work in SaaS or AI products
• Interest in creative tools, publishing, or workflow products

Duration: 3-6 months

Type: Unpaid Mandatory Internship

Location: Remote or Hybrid (Berlin based)

Start date: ASAP to next 2 weeks

Benefits

• Real hands on experience building a production grade AI product
• Exposure to backend architecture, AI workflows, and startup execution
• Ownership of meaningful features, not support tasks
• Close collaboration with the founder and product team

Best fit

This role is for someone with hands on exposure to a similar backend stack who wants to build real systems, move fast, and learn by shipping. You should enjoy backend engineering, AI driven products, and solving practical product problems with strong ownership.

Application

Please share your resume, GitHub, and a short note or cover letter on why this role interests you. If you use AI to help write it, please make sure it still sounds like you after you read it once before sending