Backend Engineer – Python (Python / Distributed Systems / AI Workflows)

Role Overview

We're looking for a Backend Engineer to help build and scale the WatchMen platform's core services — API, data pipelines, and infrastructure that ingest and process high-volume industrial sensor data.

Responsibilities

• Building and maintaining REST APIs in Flask/SQLAlchemy backed by PostgreSQL and TimescaleDB
• Working with high-throughput time-series data (sensor telemetry at millions of rows/day) — query optimization, continuous aggregates, compression strategies
• Building and maintaining event-driven pipelines using Kafka/Redpanda and MQTT (EMQX)
• Designing background/async workflows with Celery and Redis (notifications, alerting, state machines)
• Working within a multi-tenant SaaS architecture (PostgreSQL row-level security)
• Deploying and operating services via Docker/Docker Swarm on AWS (ECS, Terraform-managed infrastructure)
• Contributing to observability: Grafana Cloud dashboards, OpenTelemetry tracing, log-based debugging of production issues
• Working with GitLab CE (self-hosted) for source control and CI/CD

Requirements

• 3–6 years of professional backend experience with Python (Flask or similar framework)
• Strong SQL and relational database experience (PostgreSQL preferred)
• Experience with message queues/event streaming (Kafka, Redpanda, RabbitMQ, or similar)
• Experience with Docker-based deployment workflows
• Comfortable debugging production systems (logs, metrics, traces)

Nice to Have

• Experience with time-series databases (TimescaleDB, InfluxDB)
• Experience with MQTT or other IoT messaging protocols
• AWS infrastructure experience, especially ECS and Terraform
• Experience with Celery/Redis-based task queues
• Background in industrial IoT, manufacturing tech, or high-volume sensor data systems

Skills

• Python
• Flask
• PostgreSQL
• AWS
• Docker