Senior Backend Engineer

£80,000 GBP
Hybrid WORKING
Location: Central London, Greater London - United Kingdom Type: Permanent
A growing automotive technology business is seeking an experienced Senior Backend Engineer to design, develop and maintain highly scalable, reliable and maintainable backend services.
The successful candidate will play a key role in shaping backend architecture, translating complex business requirements into robust technical solutions and helping deliver innovative digital customer experiences.
Working closely with Product, Design and Sales teams, the engineer will have the opportunity to influence technical decisions, introduce new tools and technologies, and contribute to the ongoing evolution of the engineering function.
This is an opportunity for a technically strong Python developer who enjoys solving complex problems, working collaboratively and taking ownership of engineering solutions within a fast-paced, product-led environment.
Key Responsibilities
As a Senior Backend Engineer, the successful candidate will:

• Design, develop and maintain highly scalable and maintainable backend services, primarily using Python.
• Translate complex business requirements into robust technical designs and high-level architecture.
• Contribute to the development of scalable applications, data processing solutions and microservices.
• Evaluate and recommend appropriate tools, frameworks and technologies to improve engineering outcomes.
• Collaborate closely with Product, Design and Sales teams to deliver effective technical solutions.
• Participate in code reviews, design reviews, pair programming and technical presentations.
• Share knowledge, technical ideas and best practices across the engineering team.
• Identify opportunities to improve development workflows, engineering standards and Agile processes.
• Provide technical leadership, guidance and support to other engineers.
• Mentor developing engineering talent and contribute to a strong culture of technical excellence.
• Help shape the evolution of the platform, architecture and wider engineering practices.

Essential Skills & Experience
The ideal candidate will have strong backend engineering experience, with a particular focus on Python development and scalable system design.
Key requirements include:

• Strong experience designing and building scalable backend services using Python, with experience in any Python framework.
• A solid understanding of object-oriented design, data structures and SOLID principles.
• Knowledge of databases, data processing and distributed systems.
• Experience designing maintainable software architectures and building reliable services.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a proactive approach to improving technical solutions and working practices.
• The ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• A collaborative approach to working with engineers, product teams and wider business stakeholders.
• An interest in continuous improvement, knowledge sharing and modern software engineering practices.

Technology Stack
The engineering team uses a range of modern technologies to build and operate its platform.
Relevant technologies include:

• Languages: Python
• Frameworks: Django, FastAPI
• Cloud: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Search: Elasticsearch
• Databases: PostgreSQL
• Event Streaming: Apache Kafka
• Version Control: GitHub
• Containerisation and Orchestration: Kubernetes
• Caching and Data Storage: Redis

Experience across the entire technology stack is not essential. Strong Python backend engineering skills and the ability to learn new tools and frameworks are particularly important.