Senior Backend Services Engineer – Python / FastAPI

Senior Backend Services Engineer – Python / FastAPI
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Work Arrangement: Hybrid – 3 days/week onsite
Duration: 6 months contract, possible extension

Job Description

We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Backend Services Engineer to join a fast-moving engineering team supporting critical initiatives with aggressive delivery timelines.

This is a hands-on engineering and execution role for a senior engineer who can quickly understand complex problems, work independently, and personally build and deliver production-quality solutions with minimal ramp-up or technical guidance.

The ideal candidate will have strong backend engineering experience with Python and FastAPI, experience building APIs, middleware and microservices, strong database knowledge, and hands-on experience using modern AI-assisted coding tools.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, test, and support scalable backend services and APIs.

• Build middleware and service-layer applications primarily using Python and FastAPI.

• Work with relational, NoSQL, and/or cloud-based databases.

• Integrate backend services with APIs, databases, data sources, and enterprise applications.

• Take ownership of engineering work from requirements through production implementation.

• Quickly understand existing applications, services, codebases, and development patterns.

• Troubleshoot complex application and integration issues and drive them through resolution.

• Write clean, maintainable, production-quality code.

• Use AI-assisted development tools such as GitHub Copilot, Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, or comparable platforms for development, debugging, testing, and code quality.

• Collaborate with engineering, product, data, and technical teams to meet aggressive deadlines.

• Provide senior-level technical judgment while remaining highly hands-on.

Required Qualifications

• Extensive professional experience in backend/software engineering at a senior or lead individual-contributor level.

• Advanced hands-on development experience with Python.

• Strong hands-on experience developing APIs and backend services using FastAPI or comparable Python frameworks.

• Demonstrated experience building middleware, APIs, microservices, and service-layer applications.

• Strong database experience across different database technologies.

• Experience integrating applications and services with APIs, databases, and enterprise systems.

• Strong understanding of software engineering fundamentals, testing, debugging, performance, and production support.

• Proven ability to independently take ownership of complex development work and deliver with limited supervision.

• Experience working in fast-paced environments with tight deadlines and changing priorities.

• Strong hands-on experience using AI-assisted software development tools such as Codex, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor, or similar platforms.

Preferred

• Frontend development experience is a plus but not required.

• Experience working in large-scale enterprise environments.

• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.

• Ability to quickly ramp up on existing codebases and development patterns.

Ideal Candidate

We are looking for a senior engineer and executor who can be handed a complex problem, quickly determine what needs to be done, and personally build and deliver the solution.

This is not an architecture-only or management role. The successful candidate should be highly hands-on, technically strong, and comfortable delivering production code with minimal oversight.