# Senior Backend Engineer
**Company:** [HumanSignal](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/humansignal)
**Location:** Remote
**Salary:** $140K-$200K
**Skills:** Python, Django, Postgres, Redis, REST APIs, SQL, Celery, Rq, Kafka, GraphQL, Spark, BigQuery, AWS, Kubernetes
**Posted:** 2025-12-05
> Designs and operates scalable backend services in Python/Django for AI data labeling and evaluation workflows. Partners with PM/Design/FE to own outcomes, evolve APIs, ensure reliability, and implement secure multi-tenant patterns. Requires senior-level Python/Django experience and strong product sense.
## Job Description
## Responsibilities

- Design, build, and operate backend services/APIs in Python/Django with Postgres/Redis.
- Own outcomes, not tasks: refine scope, suggest trade-offs, and land increments that deliver value quickly and safely.
- Model data and author migrations; tune queries and caching; manage background jobs/queues for high-volume workflows.
- Evolve API contracts with FE; keep interfaces clear, versioned, and resilient to change.
- Improve reliability and performance (timeouts, retries, idempotency, rate limits, pagination, backpressure).
- Implement secure, multi-tenant patterns: auth, permissions/RBAC, auditability, and safe data boundaries.
- Contribute to testing strategy (unit/integration), error handling, and graceful failure modes.
- Partner with Support to investigate production issues and turn learnings into fixes and prevention.
- Engage with our open-source community (issues, discussions) to understand real-world needs and improve developer experience.
- Participate in architecture discussions and code reviews; mentor teammates and improve patterns across the codebase.

## What you'll bring

**Required:**
- Senior-level experience shipping production backends in **Python/Django** (or a close equivalent) and **SQL**.
- Strong product sense: you've made scope/trade-off decisions and iterated based on real-world usage and feedback.
- Depth in **REST API** design, relational modeling, migrations, and performance tuning.
- Experience with background processing/queues (e.g., **Celery/RQ/Kafka-backed workers**) and operational concerns.
- Clear written communication at a Senior IC level—concise RFCs/PRDs, actionable reviews, and crisp decision records.

**Nice to have:**
- **GraphQL** familiarity; **Kafka/streaming**; **Spark/BigQuery**; security/compliance exposure; multi-region architectures.

## Our stack

**Python/Django**, **JS/TS**, **React**, **OpenAI API**, **Spark**, **BigQuery**, **Kafka**, **Jest**, **Cypress**, **AWS**, **Kubernetes**, **Postgres**, **Redis**.

## Location & Compensation

Base cash compensation range is **$140,000 to $200,000 USD**.
**Apply:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/senior-backend-engineer-at-humansignal-4721fdb5-ab6e-4c7f-b4c8-6ec282c366db
**Canonical:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/senior-backend-engineer-at-humansignal-4721fdb5-ab6e-4c7f-b4c8-6ec282c366db