Lead Python Developer

Lead Backend Engineer (Python)

Location: Kirkland, WA (Hybrid during onboarding)

Employment Type: Full-Time

Reports To: Director

Compensation: $150,000 – $180,000 DOE Comprehensive Benefits

About the Company

Our client is an award-winning technology company in the entertainment and media space, consistently recognized as one of the Best Places to Work over multiple years. Operating on a global scale, they build products used worldwide and are currently experiencing significant hyper-growth driven by strong market demand and continued innovation.

The organization is known for developing cutting-edge, AI-powered platforms that are transforming how live and digital experiences are produced and delivered. With a strong culture of innovation, collaboration, and ownership, this is an environment where engineers have real influence on both product direction and technical strategy—and where career advancement happens quickly for high performers.

About the Role

We are seeking a Lead Backend Engineer (Python) to play a key role in building and scaling the company’s core backend services and APIs. This is a hands-on technical leadership position where you will write production code daily while also mentoring engineers and shaping backend architecture.

You will work closely with engineering leadership and frontend teams to deliver highly scalable, reliable, and well-architected systems. As the team continues to grow, this role offers a clear fast-track path into broader technical leadership and people management responsibilities.

This position is ideal for someone who thrives in fast-moving, high-growth environments, is comfortable with ambiguity, and enjoys solving complex problems using modern backend and AI-driven technologies.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership

• Design and implement core backend APIs and services, including user management, authentication, and system integrations
• Make architectural decisions that balance rapid delivery with long-term scalability and maintainability
• Establish backend engineering standards, testing strategies, and code review best practices
• Partner closely with frontend engineers to define clean, well-documented API contracts
• Proactively identify, prioritize, and resolve technical debt

Hands-On Backend Development

• Write high-quality, production-grade Python code on a daily basis
• Build and maintain RESTful APIs with strong test coverage
• Design data models and database schemas for core platform services
• Implement secure authentication and authorization workflows
• Develop background job processing and integration services

Mentorship & Team Growth

• Mentor junior and mid-level engineers through code reviews and pairing sessions
• Support career development and technical growth across the backend team
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performing engineering culture
• Participate in hiring and onboarding as the team scales

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with engineering leadership to shape the technical roadmap and sprint priorities
• Work closely with DevOps on CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure, and monitoring
• Participate in sprint planning, backlog grooming, and retrospectives
• Clearly communicate technical decisions and tradeoffs to non-technical stakeholders

Required Qualifications

• 5 years of professional software development experience
• 3 years of backend development using Python
• Strong experience with backend frameworks such as FastAPI, Flask, Django, or similar
• Solid understanding of relational databases and SQL (PostgreSQL preferred)
• Proven experience designing and implementing RESTful APIs
• Strong testing mindset and experience writing maintainable, well-documented code
• Experience mentoring or leading other engineers
• Proficiency with Git and collaborative development workflows
• Strong written and verbal communication skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with async Python (asyncio, ASGI frameworks)
• Familiarity with AI/ML systems or LLM integrations
• Experience with background job processing (Celery, RQ, etc.)
• Knowledge of containerization tools such as Docker
• Experience with real-time communication (WebSockets, SSE)
• Understanding of authentication protocols (OAuth2, JWT, session-based auth)
• Cloud experience (Azure preferred; AWS/GCP also valued)
• Startup or high-growth company experience

AI-Assisted Development Culture

This organization actively embraces AI-assisted development. Engineers are encouraged to use modern AI tools to accelerate development while maintaining high standards of quality and security.

Candidates should be comfortable:

• Using AI tools to assist with design, debugging, and automation
• Critically reviewing AI-generated code and configurations
• Knowing when to rely on AI—and when deep engineering judgment is required

No prior AI specialization is required—just curiosity and openness to learning.

What’s Offered

• Competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits (Health, Dental, Vision)
• Generous PTO and sick leave
• Opportunity to work on global, high-impact products
• Exposure to cutting-edge AI and backend technologies
• Fast-track career growth in a rapidly scaling organization
• Direct access to engineering leadership and decision-makers
• Hybrid work model with flexibility after onboarding
• Small, collaborative team where your work has visible impact