Python-DevOps Sr Developer

Role: Python-DevOps Sr Developer

Location:  Remote (but travel when required) - New York OR New Jersey

FTE

Experience: 15+ years of software engineering experience, including 5+ years at Architect / Principal IC level 

Senior Backend Developer – Python, FastAPI & Azure

Backend Engineering, API Development, Cloud-Native Services & AI-Assisted Delivery

Primary Skills: Python, FastAPI, REST APIs, Azure App Services, Azure Functions, Azure SQL / PostgreSQL, CI/CD

About the Role

As a Senior Backend Developer – Python, FastAPI & Azure, you will be a senior hands-on backend engineer responsible for building scalable, secure, cloud-native backend services and APIs for modern enterprise application platforms.

In this role, you will design, develop, test, and support Python / FastAPI services, API-first backend components, integration layers, data access modules, asynchronous processing flows, and Azure-hosted application services that power workflow-driven and AI-enabled product experiences.

This is a highly hands-on senior developer role, not a pure architect or coordination role. The resource is expected to spend most of the time writing code, building APIs, reviewing pull requests, debugging production issues, improving performance, and ensuring delivery readiness.

Key Responsibilities

·         Build and enhance backend services using Python and FastAPI for workflow-driven, AI-enabled, and enterprise-grade application platforms.

·         Design, implement, and maintain REST APIs with strong request validation, response modeling, authentication, authorization, error handling, observability, and API documentation.

·         Develop microservices and modular backend components that are scalable, maintainable, testable, and production-ready.

·         Implement data access layers using SQL / NoSQL databases, ORMs such as SQLAlchemy, schema migrations, indexing, query optimization, and transaction management.

·         Integrate backend services with enterprise systems, data pipelines, analytics platforms, document repositories, and external structured / unstructured data sources.

·         Build asynchronous and event-driven processing flows using queues, background jobs, schedulers, messaging services, or cloud-native eventing patterns where required.

·         Deploy and support backend workloads on Azure services such as Azure App Services, Azure Functions, Azure API Management, Azure SQL / PostgreSQL, Azure Storage, Key Vault, Service Bus, Event Grid, Application Insights, and Log Analytics.

·         Collaborate with DevOps teams to support CI/CD pipelines, environment configuration, release readiness, rollback planning, and production deployment activities.

·         Implement secure coding practices, secrets management, identity integration, RBAC-aware service access, and enterprise-grade API security controls.

·         Write automated unit tests, API tests, integration tests, and regression tests to ensure backend quality and reliability.

·         Troubleshoot backend defects, performance bottlenecks, database issues, API failures, integration errors, and production incidents.

·         Participate in technical design discussions and translate product requirements into backend components with clear ownership and delivery discipline.

·         Use Claude AI, GitHub Copilot, or equivalent AI-assisted development tools responsibly for faster coding, debugging, test creation, refactoring, documentation, and design exploration.

·         Create technical documentation, API specifications, runbooks, implementation notes, operational support guidance, and reusable backend engineering patterns.

Required Qualifications

·         12+ years of software engineering experience, including strong hands-on backend development experience in enterprise or product engineering environments.

·         Strong hands-on experience with Python backend development, including production-grade API and service development.

·         Strong hands-on experience with FastAPI; Django / Flask experience is acceptable as additional background, but FastAPI should be a primary skill.

·         Proven experience building and supporting REST APIs, service-oriented architectures, microservices, and backend integration layers.

·         Good understanding of authentication, authorization, API security, OAuth / OIDC concepts, managed identity, RBAC, and secure secrets handling.

·         Experience with SQL databases such as PostgreSQL, Azure SQL, SQL Server, MySQL, or equivalent; NoSQL exposure such as Cosmos DB is a plus.

·         Experience with Azure cloud-native application development and deployment using App Services, Functions, API Management, Storage, Key Vault, Application Insights, and related services.

·         Hands-on experience with Git workflows, pull requests, branching strategies, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and production release discipline.

·         Strong debugging and problem-solving skills across API, service, database, integration, cloud runtime, and deployment layers.

·         Excellent communication skills and ability to work directly with product managers, architects, frontend engineers, QA, DevOps, cloud engineers, and customer stakeholders.

Backend Engineering — Required Primary Focus Area

·         Python: strong core Python, typing, async programming concepts, packaging, dependency management, reusable modules, and clean code practices.

·         FastAPI: API routing, Pydantic models, dependency injection, middleware, authentication integration, exception handling, OpenAPI / Swagger documentation, and performance-aware API design.

·         API Design: RESTful services, versioning, pagination, filtering, validation, idempotency, error contracts, retry patterns, rate limiting, and backward compatibility.

·         Data Layer: SQL / NoSQL data modeling, SQLAlchemy / ORM usage, migrations, indexing, query optimization, transaction handling, and secure data access.

·         Microservices: modular services, domain-driven boundaries, service-to-service integration, distributed tracing, logging, caching, resiliency, and fault isolation.

·         Async / Event-Driven Processing: background jobs, queues, schedulers, pub-sub patterns, Azure Service Bus / Event Grid, and long-running workflow support.

·         Quality Engineering: unit tests, API tests, integration tests, mocking, test data setup, code coverage, static analysis, and regression-safe backend delivery.

Azure Cloud & Platform Engineering — Required

·         Hands-on experience deploying and operating Python / FastAPI backend workloads on Azure App Services, Azure Functions, or container-based Azure services.

·         Experience integrating backend applications with Azure API Management, Azure Key Vault, Azure Storage, Azure SQL / PostgreSQL, Cosmos DB, Service Bus, Event Grid, Application Insights, and Log Analytics.

·         Understanding of Azure identity and security patterns including Entra ID / Azure AD, managed identities, service principals, RBAC, and secure configuration management.

·         Experience with CI/CD deployment workflows using Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions, including environment-specific configuration, secrets management, approvals, and release traceability.

·         Ability to support performance monitoring, logging, alerting, production troubleshooting, and operational readiness for Azure-hosted backend services.

AI-Assisted Backend Engineering — Required Differentiator

·         Hands-on usage of Claude AI, GitHub Copilot, or equivalent AI coding assistants for backend development acceleration.

·         Ability to use AI tools for code generation, rapid prototyping, debugging, optimization, test creation, documentation, and backend design exploration.

·         Ability to balance AI-assisted development with strong engineering judgment, code review discipline, secure coding practices, and maintainable production-grade implementation.

Engineering Excellence & Delivery

·         Strong ownership mindset with ability to independently deliver backend features from requirement clarification to production readiness.

·         Strong grounding in backend engineering best practices: modular architecture, clean code, maintainability, API consistency, testing, logging, and documentation.

·         Active participation in code reviews, design reviews, sprint execution, defect triage, release stabilization, and production support.

·         Ability to mentor developers on Python, FastAPI, API design, Azure service integration, testing practices, and backend engineering discipline.

·         Comfortable operating in high-velocity delivery environments with evolving requirements and direct stakeholder collaboration.

Preferred Qualifications

·         Experience with Django, Flask, SQLAlchemy, Pydantic, Alembic, Celery, Redis, Kafka, or equivalent backend ecosystems.

·         Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, Azure Container Apps, AKS, or containerized backend deployment models.

·         Experience with Azure Developer Associate, Azure Solutions Architect, Azure DevOps Engineer, or equivalent cloud certifications.

·         Experience building enterprise SaaS platforms, workflow-driven systems, AI-enabled application experiences, analytics-enabled products, or regulated enterprise systems.

·         Experience with observability tools such as Azure Monitor, Application Insights, OpenTelemetry, Grafana, Prometheus, ELK, Splunk, or Datadog.

·         Experience working in embedded / forward-deployed engineering models with product and client stakeholders.