Lead Backend Engineer

Lead Backend Engineer Python, FastAPI & Event-Driven Systems (QSR)code reviews, sprint planning, and technical discussions.

Job Summary

Photon is seeking a Lead Backend Engineer (Python) to drive the architecture, development, and delivery of scalable, cloud-native backend platforms for a large-scale e-commerce and loyalty ecosystem in the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) domain.

This role combines hands-on engineering excellence with technical leadership, owning backend system design while mentoring teams and ensuring high-quality delivery across multiple workstreams. The Lead Backend Engineer will build and orchestrate high-performance APIs, event-driven microservices, and data transformation pipelines using Python (FastAPI) and AWS-native services.

You will play a critical role in enabling digital ordering, loyalty, identity, and customer engagement journeys, working closely with product, architecture, DevOps, and frontend teams to deliver resilient, scalable, and business-aligned solutions.

Experience with Paytronix or similar loyalty platforms and strong familiarity with QSR workflows is highly preferred.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Own the backend architecture for e-commerce, loyalty, and digital engagement platforms in the QSR domain.
• Lead the design and development of cloud-native, stateless microservices using Python (FastAPI).
• Define and enforce engineering standards, best practices, and design patterns across backend teams.
• Design hub-and-spoke orchestration services to abstract integrations across loyalty, identity, CMS, payments, and commerce systems.

Event Processing & Data Transformation

• Architect and implement event-driven systems using asynchronous programming, pub-sub patterns, message queues, and streaming platforms.
• Lead event processing and data transformation workflows, ensuring efficient handling of high-volume, real-time customer and transaction data.
• Apply strong data structure and algorithmic fundamentals to optimize system performance, latency, and scalability.
• Design resilient systems with idempotency, retries, DLQs, and graceful degradation strategies.

Database & Persistence Layer

• Lead the design and implementation of database solutions across SQL and NoSQL technologies based on workload characteristics.
• Design, optimize, and govern relational databases (SQL) for transactional and reporting use cases.
• Architect implement NoSQL data models using cloud-native databases such as Amazon DynamoDB and Azure Cosmos DB, ensuring scalability and low-latency access.
• Define best practices for data partitioning, indexing, caching, and consistency models in distributed databases.
• Ensure data solutions support QSR-scale traffic, peak loads, and global availability requirement

API & Platform Engineering

• Build and govern production-grade REST APIs with robust authentication, authorization, validation, and error handling.
• Design and optimize API gateways, proxy layers, caching strategies, and traffic orchestration for high-throughput environments.
• Ensure secure integration with identity providers, loyalty platforms (Paytronix preferred), payment systems, CMS, and commerce backends.

Cloud, DevOps & Observability

• Lead backend solutions on AWS, leveraging services such as Lambda, ECS/EKS, API Gateway, DynamoDB, SQS, SNS, EventBridge, Redis, and MSK/Kafka.
• Drive Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform and support CI/CD pipelines with automated testing and progressive delivery.
• Ensure production-grade observability using OpenTelemetry, centralized logging, metrics, and distributed tracing.

QSR Domain Alignment

• Ensure backend solutions align with QSR operational needs, including ordering flows, checkout, payments, loyalty accrual/redemption, and customer engagement funnels.
• Partner with product and business stakeholders to translate customer journeys and commerce workflows into scalable backend capabilities.

Team Leadership & Collaboration

• Mentor backend engineers through code reviews, design sessions, and technical coaching.
• Act as a technical leader and escalation point for backend systems across programs.
• Collaborate closely with architects, product owners, QA, DevOps, and frontend teams in an Agile delivery model.

Required Qualifications

• 8-12 years of backend engineering experience, with strong hands-on development in Python.
• Deep expertise in FastAPI, REST API design, and asynchronous programming (async/await).
• Proven experience designing and leading event-driven architectures (pub-sub, queues, streaming).
• Strong understanding of data structures, data transformation, and high-performance backend design.
• Hands-on experience building cloud-native microservices on AWS.
• Experience owning or leading backend architecture for distributed systems at scale.
• Solid understanding of e-commerce platforms, digital funnels, loyalty programs, identity workflows, and customer journeys preferably in QSR or retail.
• Experience with Terraform, CI/CD pipelines, and modern DevOps practices.
• Strong communication and leadership skills, with experience working in cross-functional Agile teams.

Nice to Have

• Direct experience with Paytronix or similar enterprise loyalty platforms.
• Experience in QSR, retail, hospitality, or large-scale consumer digital platforms.
• Exposure to Kafka, RabbitMQ, or AWS MSK.
• Experience with feature flags, canary deployments, and blue-green releases.
• Knowledge of OAuth2, JWT, identity federation, and API security best practices.