Senior II Software Engineer

Akamai; Ottawa; On-site; CAD 120,000 - 217,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare

401K savings plan

Vacation (PTO)

Sick time

Parental leave

Employee assistance program

Job summary

Akamai seeks a Senior II Software Engineer to lead architecture, design, and implementation of high-performance backend systems, focusing on low-latency REST APIs using Python and Flask. You will mentor engineers, drive API standards, and collaborate across teams to ensure fault-tolerant, scalable services.

You'll design robust schemas, optimize SQL queries with SQLAlchemy, implement authentication and observability, and uphold security best practices while shaping the evolution of our backend

Qualifications

• 10+ years of backend development experience with Python/Flask.
• Strong knowledge of RESTful architecture, HTTP, API versioning, and security.
• Experience with Git workflows, CI/CD, cloud platforms, and containerization.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Architect, build, and evolve scalable, low-latency REST APIs and service layers using Python and Flask.
• Design robust schemas and optimize database queries with SQLAlchemy to maintain high availability.
• Lead technical design reviews, establish engineering best practices, and mentor junior and mid-level engineers.
• Implement robust authentication, rate limiting, and observability across distributed backend services.
• Design fault-tolerant backend services that fail gracefully under load using circuit breakers and defensive validation.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define API contracts, architecture patterns, and integration workflows.

Skills

Python

Flask

SQLAlchemy

REST APIs

Relational DBs

Git workflows

CI/CD pipelines

Cloud platforms

Containerization

Distributed systems

Automated testing

Observability

AI tooling

Agentic workflows

Transformer architectures

Background processing

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Tools

Git

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

Are you passionate about building high-throughput, low-latency REST APIs that power critical platform infrastructure?

Do you thrive on leading architectural decisions and mentoring engineers to elevate technical standards?

Join our world-class enterprise security team

Akamai empowers developers and organizations globally by providing resilient, high-performing backend infrastructure. Our API Team builds scalable platform services that enable internal partner teams to deploy robust applications seamlessly.

Develop and contribute to full product life-cycle

In this role, you will lead the architecture, design, and implementation of high-performance backend systems. You will collaborate across engineering teams to establish API standards, improve system performance, and drive fault-tolerant system design.

Your responsibilities as a Senior II Software Engineer will include the following:

• Architecting, building, and evolving scalable, low-latency REST APIs and service layers using Python and Flask
• Designing robust schemas and optimizing database queries using SQLAlchemy to maintain high system availability
• Leading technical design reviews, establishing engineering best practices, and mentoring junior and mid-level engineers
• Implementing robust authentication, rate limiting, and observability across distributed backend services
• Designing fault-tolerant backend services that fail gracefully under load using circuit breakers and defensive validation
• Collaborating with cross-functional teams to define clear API contracts, architecture patterns, and integration workflows

Do what you love

To be successful in this role you will:

• Have 10+ years of relevant experience and a Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
• Have experience with core backend development using Python, Flask, SQLAlchemy, and relational databases
• Demonstrate deep expertise in RESTful architecture, HTTP protocols, API versioning, and security best practices
• Possess solid proficiency in Git workflows, CI/CD pipelines, cloud platforms, and containerization technologies
• Have understanding of distributed systems, event-driven architectures, automated testing, and observability tooling
• Be knowledgeable in AI tooling, agentic workflows, transformer architectures, and background processing systems

About us

At Akamai, we make life better for billions of people, trillions of times a day.

Whether you're streaming live events, scrolling social media, watching your favorite series, or managing your savings, we're the engine behind the scenes. We provide the world's most distributed platform from Cloud to Edge to help the giants of the digital world work faster and stay more secure, making the internet a better experience for everyone.

Our focus is simple:

Cloud and Edge: Running apps closer to users for instant performance.

Security: Neutralizing threats before they ever reach your data.

Content Delivery: Scaling the world's biggest moments without a glitch.

AI: Enabling our customers to build, secure, and scale AI apps on the world's most distributed cloud platform.

At Akamai, we don't just support the internet; we power and protect it, because behind every great digital experience is a massive hidden challenge. And we're the ones who solve it. When millions of people hit play or pay, Akamai ensures it just works.

Benefits at Akamai:

We support your health, well-being, finances, and life beyond work. See our benefits.

FlexBase adapts to your job's needs

Akamai's FlexBase program is yet another way we show our commitment to providing employees with an exceptional workplace experience. It's not about telling employees where to work; it's about supporting employees to do their best work.

We trust our incredible employees to work in ways that suit them best: at home, in an office, or a combination of both.

Compensation

Akamai is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. For US based candidates only - the base salary for this position ranges from CA$120,400 - CA$216,600/year; a candidate’s salary is determined by various factors including, but not limited to, relevant work experience, skills, certifications and location. Compensation for candidates outside the US will vary. The compensation package may also include incentive compensation opportunities in the form of annual bonus or incentives, equity awards and an Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP). Akamai provides industry-leading benefits including healthcare, 401K savings plan, company holidays, vacation (in the form of PTO), sick time, family friendly benefits including parental leave and an employee assistance program including a focus on mental and financial wellness; Eligibility requirements apply.