Platform Architect & Backend Lead

Flatgigs; India; Remote; INR 4,200,000 - 6,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Flatgigs is seeking a senior IoT platform engineer to own both system architecture and production backend code. You will design a multi-tenant, hardware-agnostic IoT platform, handle device auth, MQTT broker design, and real-time data delivery while also owning interim cloud infrastructure in a fast-moving startup environment.

You will autonomously decide architectural directions, document ADRs, and work remotely with disciplined execution.

Qualifications

• 7–12 years software or systems engineering, IoT backend experience
• Expert AWS IoT Core or Azure IoT Hub deployments
• Expert MQTT knowledge: v3.1/v5.0, design, QoS, brokers
• Proficient in Python and Node.js/TypeScript; Go is a plus
• Hands-on with a time-series DB (InfluxDB/TimescaleDB/AWS Timestream)
• IaC with Terraform or CloudFormation
• Multi-tenant SaaS backend architecture and data isolation
• Security: TLS/mTLS, OAuth 2.0, JWT, secrets management
• Ability to make autonomous architectural decisions and document them
• REMOTE DISCIPLINE: strong self-management

Responsibilities

• Design end-to-end IoT platform architecture: device connectivity to real-time delivery
• Develop core platform services: device management, telemetry ingestion, rule engine
• Build REST/GraphQL APIs with OpenAPI; real-time delivery via WebSocket/SSE
• Implement device shadow, C2 with retry logic and timeouts
• Own SLOs, runbooks, and incident response; ensure test coverage
• Manage interim AWS infrastructure via Terraform; CI/CD with GitHub Actions
• Deploy and maintain MQTT broker configurations and security policies
• Plan scalable growth from pilot to production (100→500,000+ devices)
• Document ADRs for major architectural decisions
• Prepare for Phase 2 handoff of infra and DevOps processes

Skills

IoT backend

Architectural design

Autonomous decisions

Remote work discipline

Python

Node.js/TypeScript

Go

Time-series DB

Tools

AWS IoT Core

Azure IoT Hub

MQTT

InfluxDB

TimescaleDB

Terraform

CloudFormation

GitHub Actions

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

About The Role

We are building a multi-tenant, hardware-agnostic IoT platform from the ground up. We need a senior engineer who can design the system architecture in the morning and write production backend code in the afternoon. This is not an architecture-only role and not a coding-only role — it is both, simultaneously, in a fast-moving early-stage environment. You will also own cloud infrastructure as interim DevOps until we scale.

About The Role

We are building a multi-tenant, hardware-agnostic IoT platform from the ground up. We need a senior engineer who can design the system architecture in the morning and write production backend code in the afternoon. This is not an architecture-only role and not a coding-only role — it is both, simultaneously, in a fast-moving early-stage environment. You will also own cloud infrastructure as interim DevOps until we scale.

The Ideal Candidate

You have built IoT backend platforms before — not just used them. You understand the hard problems: device auth at scale, MQTT broker design, time-series ingestion performance, multi-tenant data isolation, and real-time delivery to web clients. You are comfortable making architectural decisions autonomously, documenting them clearly, and standing by them. You work remotely with discipline — you flag risks before they become problems.

Key Responsibilities

Platform Architecture

• Design the full end-to-end IoT platform architecture: device connectivity layer → MQTT/protocol ingestion → stream processing → time-series storage → REST/GraphQL API layer → real-time WebSocket delivery
• Define the multi-tenant data model: strict data isolation between customers, tenant-scoped API tokens, row-level security
• Design the device lifecycle system: provisioning, X.509/JWT authentication, device registry, status tracking, decommissioning
• Architect the protocol abstraction layer so MQTT, Modbus, OPC-UA, CoAP, and HTTP devices all normalise to the same internal data model
• Design a configurable rule engine: event-condition-action rules for alerts, automations, and integrations — no code required from customers
• Plan OTA firmware update management: secure delivery, versioning, rollback, fleet orchestration
• Write Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) for every major technical choice — nothing undocumented
• Design the scaling path from 100 devices (pilot) to 500,000+ (production) without structural rework

Backend Development

• Build core platform services from scratch: device management, telemetry ingestion, rule engine, notification/alerting, OTA update, multi-tenant API gateway
• Develop REST and GraphQL APIs with full OpenAPI specification — version-controlled from Day 1
• Implement WebSocket and SSE endpoints for real-time telemetry delivery to web and mobile clients
• Build device command-and-control with acknowledgement, retry logic, and timeout handling
• Implement device shadow service: last-known state of every device accessible even when offline
• Write unit, integration, and load tests — no service reaches staging without test coverage
• Own service reliability: SLO definitions, alerting runbooks, on-call incident response

Cloud Infrastructure (Interim)

• Provision and manage all AWS environments (dev, staging, production) using Terraform — no click-ops
• Configure AWS IoT Core: MQTT endpoint, topic namespace, rules engine, certificate management
• Set up CI/CD pipelines via GitHub Actions for all backend services
• Configure CloudWatch monitoring, log aggregation, and automated health alerts
• Manage IAM for all team members — least-privilege access, no shared credentials
• Hand off infrastructure fully documented when a DevOps engineer joins in Phase 2

Requirements

• 7-12 years software or systems engineering; minimum 4 years specifically building IoT platform backends or connected product infrastructure
• Expert-level, hands-on experience with AWS IoT Core or Azure IoT Hub — production deployments, not tutorials NON-NEGOTIABLE
• Expert MQTT knowledge: v3.1 and v5.0, topic hierarchy design, QoS levels, retained messages, Last Will & Testament, broker sizing and clustering NON-NEGOTIABLE
• Proficiency in Python and Node.js/TypeScript for production backend services — Go is a strong advantage
• Hands-on experience with a time-series database: InfluxDB, TimescaleDB, or AWS Timestream
• Terraform or AWS CloudFormation — you provision cloud infrastructure programmatically, not through the console
• Multi-tenant SaaS backend architecture: data isolation patterns, tenant-scoped access control, shared infrastructure design
• Security fundamentals applied in practice: TLS/mTLS, X.509 certificates, OAuth 2.0, JWT, secrets management (Vault or AWS Secrets Manager)
• Message broker or streaming experience: Kafka, RabbitMQ, AWS Kinesis, or AWS IoT Rules Engine
• Proven ability to work autonomously at a senior level — makes decisions, documents rationale, flags risks without needing to be prompted REMOTE DISCIPLINE

Nice to Have

• Industrial protocol knowledge: Modbus TCP/RTU, OPC-UA, BACnet — even as a consumer or integrator
• EMQX, HiveMQ, or VerneMQ broker deployment and production operation
• Edge computing runtimes: AWS Greengrass v2, Azure IoT Edge, or Balena
• Digital twin frameworks: AWS IoT TwinMaker, Azure Digital Twins
• Container orchestration: Kubernetes, ECS, or equivalent for future Phase 2 migration
• Open-source IoT contributions or published technical writing on platform architecture

Skills At a Glance

Architecture: IoT platform end-to-end design

• Multi-tenant SaaS patterns
• Device lifecycle management
• Protocol abstraction
• Rule engine design
• Horizontal scaling strategy

Backend: Python / Node.js / TypeScript / Go

• REST + GraphQL API design
• WebSocket / SSE real-time delivery
• MQTT broker configuration
• Time-series DB (InfluxDB / Timestream)
• PostgreSQL or equivalent RDBMS

Cloud & DevOps: AWS IoT Core / Azure IoT Hub

• Terraform / CloudFormation
• GitHub Actions CI/CD
• Docker containers
• CloudWatch monitoring
• IAM and security policy management

Security: TLS / mTLS configuration

• X.509 certificate management
• OAuth 2.0 / JWT implementation
• Secrets management
• Device authentication at scale