Back End Engineer (Java/Python/AWS)

Software Guidance & Assistance, Inc. (SGA, Inc.); Rockville (MD); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Software Guidance & Assistance, Inc. (SGA, Inc.) seeks Back End Engineers for contract assignments with a regulatory client. Hybrid roles in Rockville, MD or Tysons, VA require local presence for onsite interviews. Hiring 5 mid-level and 5 senior-level engineers.

You'll design, develop, and maintain data-driven applications, provide technical leadership, and drive quality across the SDLC while leveraging AI-assisted development tools and cloud technologies.

Qualifications

• Requires a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related discipline with 7+ years of experience.
• Must have system design experience and strong OO development, cloud, and data storage skills.
• Proficient in Java, Python, and/or Node.js with RESTful API design and microservices.

Responsibilities

• Designs, develops, and maintains data‑driven applications ingesting multiple sources.
• Provide technical leadership and mentoring to junior engineers.
• Participate in architecture discussions and contribute to technical strategy.
• Identify and mitigate technical risks and cross‑team dependencies early.
• Support production systems and troubleshoot complex issues.
• Apply CS fundamentals and Big Data tech to solve business problems.
• Use AI-assisted tools with human review for correctness, security, and quality.
• Build relationships with senior partners to align on priorities and ensure delivery.

Skills

Java

Python

Node.js

Object-oriented development

Cloud technologies

RESTful APIs

Microservices

Big Data

ETL/ELT

SQL/NoSQL

AWS

CI/CD

Security best practices

Spark/EMR/Athena

Airflow

Terraform/CloudFormation

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related discipline

Tools

Apache Spark

EMR

Athena

AWS Glue

Airflow

Terraform

CloudFormation

Job description

Software Guidance & Assistance, Inc., (SGA), is searching for Back End Engineers for contract assignments with one of our premier Regulatory clients. Must work hybrid in one of these offices: Rockville MD or Tysons VA.

Must be local and attend onsite interview 10/6 (non-negotiable). Hiring 5 mid-level and 5 senior-level.

Develop software products and drive improvements to overall product quality across the software development life cycle, providing technical leadership within the team. Incumbents work on broad problems of scope that require decision-making and creativity — designing and maintaining applications that ingest multiple data sources and surface insights through correlation and analysis — while operating independently under general guidance to impact team-level goals.

Responsibilities

• Designs, develops, and maintains applications that ingest multiple data sources and surface insights through correlation and analysis, ensuring code quality, performance optimization, and adherence to best practices.
• Provides technical leadership and mentorship to junior engineers, and guides the team on effective, responsible use of AI-assisted development tools.
• Participates in architecture discussions, contributes to technical strategy, and defines technical solutions or operational processes that improve efficiency with meaningful, measurable impact.
• Preemptively identifies and resolves technical risks and cross-team dependencies early to ensure successful project execution, delivering many of the team's goals on time and to a high standard of quality.
• Supports production systems and troubleshoots complex technical issues, simplifying code and infrastructure to lower maintenance and migration costs.
• Applies computer science fundamentals — algorithm design, problem solving, complexity analysis, and data structures — and strong experience with Big Data technologies to solve complex business problems.
• Uses AI-assisted development tools to work more effectively, applying good judgment to review generated output for correctness, security, and quality.
• Builds productive relationships with senior internal/external partners to remove barriers and align on priorities; avoids blame, disagrees and commits when needed, and demonstrates the firm's values through in-person and virtual collaboration in furtherance of the firm's mission of investor protection and market integrity.

Required Skills

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related discipline with at least seven (7) years of related experience, or the equivalent combination of education and work experience.
• Requires system design experience; strong experience in object-oriented development, cloud technologies, and data storage technologies (both relational and NoSQL); and experience in performance tuning and optimization, DevOps and CI/CD, test automation and unit testing, and software security.
• Strong proficiency in Java, Python, and/or Node.js, with strong object-oriented development and RESTful API design and microservices architecture.
• Big Data processing frameworks: Apache Spark, EMR (Presto, Trino), and Athena.
• Design and development of ETL/ELT pipelines for large-scale data ingestion, transformation, and loading, including batch and streaming processing.
• Data lake and data warehouse patterns — partitioning, schema management, and file formats (Parquet, ORC, Avro) — with SQL performance tuning for analytical workloads.
• Workflow orchestration and scheduling (AWS Glue, Step Functions, Airflow) and data quality, validation, and pipeline monitoring.
• Relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Aurora) and NoSQL databases (DynamoDB, MongoDB, Cassandra).
• Core AWS services (EC2, S3, Lambda, RDS, ECS, API Gateway), CloudWatch/CloudTrail, IAM, VPC networking, and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform/CloudFormation).
• CI/CD pipelines, test automation and unit testing, and software security best practices.

Preferred Skills

• QuickSight for dashboards and data visualization.
• Frontend applications (React, Angular).
• GitLab CI/CD exposure.
• AI development tools (e.g., Amazon Q or similar code assistants), with the ability to validate generated code for correctness, quality, and security, and good judgment about when human review is required.

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SGA is a technology and resource solutions provider driven to stand out. We are a women-owned business. Our mission: to solve big IT problems with a more personal, boutique approach. Each year, we match consultants like you to more than 1,000 engagements. When we say let's work better together, we mean it. You'll join a diverse team built on these core values: customer service, employee development, and quality and integrity in everything we do. Be yourself, love what you do and find your passion at work. Please find us at https://sgainc.com/ .

SGA is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of Race, Color, Sex, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Religion, National Origin, Disability, Veteran Status, Age, Marital Status, Pregnancy, Genetic Information, or Other Legally Protected Status. We are committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, and our services, programs, and activities. Please visit our company EEO page to request an accommodation or assistance regarding our policy.