Senior Backend Engineer (Python)

Who You’ll Be Working With

You’ll join our engineering team, collaborating closely with designers, product managers, and other developers to architect scalable, high-performing headless content management solutions. You’ll work with enterprise clients to shape technical strategy, guide best practices, and ensure seamless integration with their broader digital ecosystems.

Responsibilities  

• Architecting, developing, and maintaining backend systems and APIs using Python and modern frameworks such as Django, FastAPI, or Flask.
• Designing clean, modular, and performant application architectures aligned with Codal’s engineering best practices.
• Implementing integrations with third-party APIs, databases, and internal systems.
• Building and optimizing data models, schemas, and queries for relational and NoSQL databases.
• Leading backend development efforts within your project team, ensuring clean, maintainable, and performant code.
• Reviewing code and mentoring junior-level engineers, helping raise the bar for backend quality and consistency.
• Owning delivery from concept to deployment, contributing to sprint planning, estimation, and release readiness.
• Staying ahead of emerging backend technologies, frameworks, and best practices — and advocating for their adoption where relevant.

What you’ll need to be successful

• 4+ years of professional experience developing backend systems with Python.
• Proficiency with one or more modern frameworks (Django, FastAPI, or Flask).
• Strong understanding of RESTful API or GraphQL design principles.
• Experience working with databases such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, or MongoDB.
• Strong understanding of asynchronous programming, microservices, and event-driven architectures.
• Familiarity with containerization and orchestration tools (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, Git-based workflows, and Agile methodologies.
• Strong debugging, optimization, and performance-tuning skills.
• Excellent communication and collaboration abilities, with experience working in cross-functional teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), including Lambda or serverless architectures.
• Exposure to message queues (Kafka, RabbitMQ, AWS SQS) or pub/sub models.
• Exposure to data engineering concepts, ETL pipelines, or API integrations with analytics tools.
• Familiarity with testing frameworks (Pytest, Unittest, Jest, Mocha, Supertest, etc.).
• Experience developing APIs for eCommerce, healthcare, or data-driven applications.
• Background in API versioning, rate limiting, and performance tuning for high-traffic systems.

Need another reason to hit the “apply” button?

• Codal is a global agency with over 200 employees, and offices in the US, UK, and India 
• We regularly host happy hours, dinners, excursions, and other company events to unwind after a hard day at work
• Office snacks and drinks + a fancy Bevi water machine with flavored water 
• We offer Medical, Life, Dental/Vision, and many more insurance types 
• Employer 401k match - 4% 
• A recreational group that regularly competes in city leagues for softball and volleyball 
• An office in the heart of downtown Chicago with a gym, food court, Walgreens, rooftop bar, outdoor sports court, and other amenities
• Working hybrid for in-person collaboration and sprint-planning days