Senior AWS API Developer / Python Backend Engineer

Position Summary:
We are seeking a Senior AWS API Developer / Python Backend Engineer to design, develop, test, deploy, and support secure, scalable enterprise APIs and backend services on AWS. This role owns the full API engineering lifecycle, including API contract design, Python development, AWS integration, automated testing, CI/CD, security, observability, and production support. The ideal candidate is a hands-on engineer who can partner effectively with architecture, product, frontend, data, DevOps, security, and quality engineering teams.
Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain secure, scalable REST APIs and backend services using Python.
• Build services using modern Python frameworks such as FastAPI, Flask, or Django REST Framework.
• Define and maintain API contracts using OpenAPI/Swagger, including request/response models, validation, error handling, versioning, filtering, and pagination.
• Develop cloud-native solutions using AWS services such as API Gateway, Lambda, ECS, Aurora/RDS, S3, EventBridge, SQS/SNS, CloudWatch, IAM, KMS, and Secrets Manager.
• Implement authentication and authorization using OAuth 2.0, OIDC, JWT, scopes, claims, RBAC, and machine-to-machine authentication; integrate with identity platforms such as Okta.
• Design and implement synchronous and asynchronoevent-driven integrations with databases, data platforms, and downstream systems.
• Develop and maintain automated unit tests, API functional tests, integration tests, regression suites, and smoke tests as part of the engineering deliverable.
• Automate positive, negative, authentication, authorization, validation, error-handling, and downstream-failure scenarios and integrate them into CI/CD pipelines.
• Collaborate with Quality Engineering while maintaining developer ownership of unit and engineering-level API automation.
• Build and support CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions and Infrastructure as Code practices.
• Implement structured logging, tracing, correlation IDs, metrics, alerting, and production monitoring using tools such as CloudWatch and Dynatrace.
• Apply secure coding standards, secrets management, encryption, least-privilege access, and OWASP API security principles.
• Troubleshoot application, API, database, integration, and production issues across distributed systems.
• Participate in solution design, code reviews, estimation, story refinement, technical documentation, and production-readiness activities.
• Partner with frontend teams, including OutSystems, React, Vue, or similar platforms, to define and deliver efficient API integrations.

Required Qualifications

• 12+ years of software development experience, including 7+ years of hands-on API and cloud development.
• Strong proficiency in Python and experience with FastAPI, Flask, Django REST Framework, or similar frameworks.
• Strong experience designing and developing RESTful APIs and API-first solutions using OpenAPI/Swagger.
• Hands-on AWS experience, including API Gateway and one or more AWS compute, messaging, storage, or database services.
• Ability to test and automate API test cases using playwright or python frameworks
• Experience with PostgreSQL, Aurora, or comparable relational database platforms.
• Strong understanding of OAuth 2.0, OIDC, JWT, authentication, authorization, and secure API design.
• Hands-on experience writing automated unit, API, integration, regression, and smoke tests.
• Experience with Python testing frameworks such as pytest or unittest, including mocking and test isolation.
• Experience with API automation tools/frameworks such as Postman/Newman, Playwright, Karate, or equivalent.
• Experience with Git, CI/CD, automated builds, automated testing, and deployment pipelines.
• Strong understanding of secure coding, software engineering practices, observability, and production support.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Okta or a comparable enterprise identity platform.
• Experience with AWS Lambda, EventBridge, SQS/SNS, Aurora, Secrets Manager, CloudWatch, and KMS.
• Experience with GitHub Actions, Terraform, SonarQube, Snyk, or Artifactory.
• Experience with serverless, microservices, and event-driven architectures.
• Experience with Snowflake or other enterprise data platforms.
• Experience integrating APIs with OutSystems or other low-code/web application platforms.
• Experience with Dynatrace or similar observability platforms.
• Familiarity with Amazon Bedrock, AWS Kiro, AI-assisted development, AI agents, or MCP-based integrations is a plus.

Key Success Attributes
The successful candidate will demonstrate strong engineering ownership and the ability to take a capability from requirements and API design through development, automated testing, deployment, monitoring, and production support. Quality, security, automation, and operational readiness are expected to be built into the development lifecycle.