Lead Backend Developer

Lead Backend Developer

We are looking for a highly experienced Lead Backend Developer to take ownership of our existing backend application, stabilise the architecture, and lead ongoing development and to start immediately.

This is not a support role. This is a hands-on leadership position for someone who can audit, optimise, scale, and future-proof a production-grade system.

You will be responsible for technical direction, code quality, performance, and backend strategy.

Experience Required

• 6+ years of professional experience in backend development
• 4+ years of strong Python production experience
• Proven experience owning and scaling live applications
• Experience leading backend teams or mentoring developers

Technical RequirementsMust Have

• Expert-level Python programming skills
• Strong experience building and maintaining REST APIs using FastAPI
• Deep knowledge of SQLAlchemy ORM
• Strong experience with PostgreSQL, query optimisation, indexing, and performance tuning
• Solid understanding of backend architecture and system design principles
• Advanced Git workflows and code review practices
• Hands-on experience deploying and managing applications on AWS
• Strong understanding of application security best practices
• Experience working with Docker in production environments
• Experience designing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines

Good to Have

• Experience with microservices architecture
• Knowledge of background task processing systems
• Experience with monitoring, logging, and observability tools
• Exposure to infrastructure as code
• Experience scaling applications under growing traffic loads

Key Responsibilities

• Take full technical ownership of the entire backend system, including architecture, performance, scalability, and long-term maintainability.
• Audit the existing codebase and infrastructure, identify structural gaps, and implement clear architectural improvements.
• Define and lead the backend development roadmap, making sound technical decisions aligned with business goals.
• Set up, manage, and maintain all development and production environments, including staging, CI/CD pipelines, and deployment workflows.
• Own and manage AWS infrastructure (EC2, RDS, S3, IAM, networking, scaling policies, etc.) and ensure system reliability and cost efficiency.
• Establish and maintain GitHub repository structure, branching strategy, pull request workflows, and code review standards.
• Conduct structured code reviews, enforce coding standards, and ensure high test coverage and code quality across the team.
• Refactor and optimise legacy code for scalability, performance, and security.
• Design and implement new backend features with clean, modular, scalable architecture.
• Implement and manage database design, optimisation, indexing, and performance tuning strategies.
• Oversee deployments and ensure production stability, monitoring, logging, and incident resolution.
• Integrate third-party services, APIs, and external systems securely and efficiently.
• Collaborate closely with frontend, product, and stakeholders to translate business requirements into scalable backend solutions.
• Mentor junior developers, guide technical growth, and maintain accountability for backend delivery timelines.

What Were Looking For

• Strong architectural thinking and long-term planning mindset
• Ability to identify technical debt and fix it properly
• Ownership mentality, not task-based execution
• Clear and confident communication skills
• Calm decision-making under pressure
• High attention to performance, security, and scalability
• Someone who can step in and elevate the entire backend system