Python Java

Role: Backend Developer

Location: Mclean, VA

Experience Band: 4-8 years (adjustable-see variants below)

Pay Rate: $80-$85

About the Role

We're looking for a backend engineer who is strong in Python, comfortable in Java, and enjoys building scalable microservices and APIs on AWS. You'll focus mainly on new development in Python, while providing maintenance and enhancements to existing Java services. You should be hands-on with serverless patterns (AWS Lambda), DynamoDB data modeling, and S3-based storage workflows, with a solid grasp of observability, testing, and CI/CD.

Key Responsibilities

Design, build, and maintain backend microservices and RESTful/GraphQL APIs with Python (FastAPI/Flask) on AWS.

Develop serverless applications using AWS Lambda, with event-driven patterns (e.g., SQS, SNS, EventBridge).

Implement data access layers with DynamoDB, modeling for performance, scalability, and cost efficiency; integrate S3 for storage workflows.

Enhance and support existing Java microservices (Spring Boot or similar), ensuring reliability and compatibility.

Write unit/integration tests, ensure observability (CloudWatch, X-Ray, OpenTelemetry), and build scalable CI/CD pipelines (CodePipeline/GitHub Actions).

Apply security best practices (IAM least privilege, KMS encryption, secret management).

Collaborate closely in a co-located setup with product managers, frontend developers, and DevOps to deliver high-quality increments.

Participate in code reviews, system design discussions, and on-call/production support on rotation. Must-Have Skills

Python (primary): 3+ years building production services/APIs (prefer FastAPI or Flask).

Java (secondary): 1-3 years maintaining/extending microservices (Spring Boot preferred).

AWS: Lambda, DynamoDB, S3, API Gateway, CloudWatch; familiarity with IAM, KMS, X-Ray.

Datastores: DynamoDB (single-table or well-structured multi-table), understanding of partition/sort keys, GSIs, TTL, streams; exposure to RDS/PostgreSQL is a plus.

Microservices & APIs: RESTful design, pagination, rate limiting, auth (JWT/OAuth2), API versioning.

Infra as Code: CloudFormation/CDK/Terraform (at least one).

Testing & Quality: pytest/JUnit, contract tests, integration tests; lint/format (black, flake8, isort).

CI/CD: Pipelines with build/test/deploy automation; blue/green or canary strategies.

Observability: Logs, metrics, traces; error budgets/SLIs/SLOs basics.

Collaboration: Agile ceremonies, story breakdown, pair programming; strong communication in a co-located environment. Nice-to-Have

Event-driven architecture: SQS/SNS, EventBridge, DynamoDB Streams, Kinesis.

Containerization: Docker; running on ECS Fargate or EKS (even if Lambda is primary).

Security: OWASP for APIs, secrets management (Secrets Manager/Parameter Store).

Performance: Load testing (k6/Locust), caching (Redis), idempotency patterns.

Data pipelines: Glue/Athena, Parquet/Avro.

Python specifics: Pydantic, type hints/mypy.

Java specifics: Gradle/Maven, Spring Cloud, Resilience4j. Qualifications

Bachelor's/Master's in CS/IT or equivalent experience.

4-8 years backend development with a Python-first focus and working Java experience.

Proven track record delivering production systems on AWS. If interested click apply or reach me on /