Software Engineer, Sr. - Remote

# BACKEND SOFTWARE ENGINE will collaborate with product, design, engineering, SRE, and data science teams across the full development lifecycle. The role emphasizes scalable architecture,ER## About the RoleThe Planet Group is seeking a highly skilled **Backend Engineer** for a 12-month remote opportunity supporting large-scale, distributed backend systems. The ideal candidate will have substantial professional backend development experience and a strong background designing and scaling **distributed systems, microservices, APIs, data infrastructure, and high-throughput applications**.You will collaborate with product, design, engineering, SRE, and data science teams across the full development lifecycle. The role emphasizes scalable architecture, data-driven development, experimentation, reliability, maintainable APIs, and autonomous problem-solving in a fast-paced, fully remote environment.## Key Responsibilities- Design, develop, and scale distributed backend systems and microservices.- Build and maintain APIs, middleware, and testing frameworks to support data flows and integrations.- Contribute throughout the development lifecycle, including design, development, testing, experimentation, analysis, and launch.- Collaborate with product, design, and engineering teams to execute product and business strategies.- Review code, design documentation, and product specifications and provide technical feedback.- Troubleshoot, debug, and optimize high-throughput applications.- Design maintainable database schemas and scalable data structures.- Participate in architecture reviews and technical discussions.- Apply A/B testing, feature flagging, and data-driven decision-making practices.- Ensure compliance with security and data privacy standards.- Participate in planning, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, and other Agile ceremonies.- Proactively identify technical bottlenecks and propose scalable solutions.- Collaborate with PMs, SREs, data scientists, and engineers in a cross-functional environment.- Contribute to engineering best practices and code quality.## Required Qualifications- **8+ years of professional backend software development experience post-internship**.- Expertise in **Python and Go**.- Proven experience designing and scaling **distributed backend systems and microservices architectures**.- Strong knowledge of **consistency models, fault tolerance, and horizontal scaling**.- Experience with **GraphQL and REST** and maintainable API design.- Proficiency with message queues such as **Kafka and RabbitMQ**.- Experience with caching systems such as **Redis and Memcached**.- Experience with databases including **Postgres, SQL, and NoSQL** technologies.- Familiarity with software engineering best practices, including:- Unit testing- Integration testing- End-to-end testing- CI/CD- A/B testing- Design documentation- Code reviews- Strong organizational skills and ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks.- Excellent communication skills in fully remote, cross-functional environments.- **Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience.**## Preferred Qualifications- Experience with large-scale consumer platforms serving **10M+ daily active users**.- Experience with media-heavy, high-throughput systems.- Experience mentoring engineers.- Experience contributing to engineering best practices.- Ability to thrive in ambiguity, innovate, and learn continuously.## Skills & Competencies- Backend software engineering- Python- Go- Distributed systems- Microservices- High-scale backend architecture- GraphQL- REST APIs- API design- Kafka- RabbitMQ- Redis- Memcached- PostgreSQL- SQL- NoSQL- Database schema design- Scalable data structures- Consistency models- Fault tolerance- Horizontal scaling- High-throughput systems- Unit, integration, and end-to-end testing- CI/CD- A/B testing- Feature flagging- Data-driven decision-making- Code review- Architecture reviews- Technical documentation- Debugging and performance optimization- Security and data privacy- Agile development- Cross-functional collaboration- Communication- Organization and prioritization## Education & Experience**Education**- **Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience.****Experience**- **8+ years of professional backend software development experience post-internship**.- Experience designing and scaling distributed backend systems and microservices.- Experience with Python and Go.- Experience with APIs, messaging systems, caching systems, and relational/non-relational databases.- Experience applying modern software engineering and development practices.## Work Arrangement & Schedule- **Work arrangement:** Fully remote- **Location:** Remote; candidates from the **USA and Canada** are welcome to apply.- **Time zone:** **CST/PST hours**- **Employment type:** Contract- **Contract duration:** **12 months**- **Work authorization:** **USC, GC, Canadian Citizen, and Canadian PR candidates only**- **Engagement:** Must be **W2 or Self Inc.**- **Expected weekly hours:** Not specified.- **Weekend requirements:** Not specified.## Compensation & Benefits- **Base pay:** **$50.00–$65.00 per hour**- **Benefits / offerings:** Opportunity to work on large-scale consumer-facing applications, collaborate with highly skilled engineers, work with distributed systems and large-scale backend architecture, and work in a fully remote environment with CST/PST alignment.- Additional benefits are not specified in the source job description.