We are seeking a highly skilled Backend Engineer to lead the strategic technical delivery of scalable, high-performance backend systems using Django 5.x and the Django REST Framework. This role requires a strong background in Python development, cloud infrastructure management, and test-driven development, coupled with a collaborative mindset to support continuous learning and innovation within a small, high-performing engineering team.

What you'll do:

• Strategic Technical Delivery
  
  • Backend Architecture: Contribute to and shape the team's technical direction, ensuring alignment with Django 5.x best practices and modern architectural patterns
  • System Design: Design and implement scalable, maintainable backend systems using Django REST Framework capable of handling growing transaction volumes with exceptional reliability
  • Technology Integration: Drive effective integration and utilization of our complete tech stack including Celery asynchronous workflows, AWS services, Redis caching, and PostgreSQL databases
• Asynchronous Processing & Task Management
  • Celery Implementation: Design, develop, and maintain Celery-based asynchronous workflows leveraging SQS and Redis for task queuing and distribution
  • Task Optimization: Ensure optimal performance and reliability of background job
    processing, monitoring, and error handling within task queue systems
  • Workflow Architecture: Implement sophisticated asynchronous patterns including
    scheduled tasks with django-celery-beat and result management with django-celery-results
• Collaborative Team Development
  • Technical Collaboration: Work effectively within the engineering team, contributing to architectural decisions and technical discussions on equal footing
  • Code Excellence: Deliver production-ready code that upholds high standards for quality, maintainability, and test coverage
  • Knowledge Sharing: Facilitate continuous learning within the team through code reviews, technical documentation, and collaborative problem-solving
• Infrastructure & DevOps Excellence
  • AWS Management: Manage and optimise AWS infrastructure components including Secrets Manager, ALB with custom authentication, SQS, and S3 storage integration
  • Database Stewardship: Optimize PostgreSQL database design and queries for
    performance, ensuring efficient operations on t3.micro instances
  • Deployment & Monitoring: Maintain robust deployment pipelines and leverage Sentry for comprehensive error tracking and application monitoring

Your Expertise:

• Minimum 6+ years of professional software development experience with Python
• Minimum 5+ years of hands-on experience with Django framework (specifically Django 4.x or 5.x)
• Proven expertise with Celery for asynchronous task processing and job queuing
• Solid hands-on experience with PostgreSQL database design and optimisation
• Demonstrated experience with AWS services and cloud infrastructure management
• Strong proficiency with Django REST Framework for API development
• Proven expertise with pytest and test-driven development methodologies
• Advanced Git proficiency and experience with collaborative development workflows
• Experience with Next.js or modern frontend frameworks for full-stack understanding
• Demonstrated expertise with JWT authentication implementation and security best practices
• Experience with OAuth integration and third-party authentication systems
  Proficiency with Sentry error tracking, monitoring, and performance optimisation
• Experience with Redis caching strategies and advanced caching patterns
  Familiarity with Whitenoise for static file serving in production environments
• Experience working effectively within small, focused engineering teams (under 5
  developers)
• AWS infrastructure optimisation and cost management experience
• Contributions to open-source projects or public portfolio demonstrating Python/Django
  expertise

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering