Backend Engineer

Portra; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Portra is seeking a Backend Engineer to design and build scalable systems and APIs from our New York headquarters. You will partner with cross-functional teams to deliver robust backend solutions with high performance and reliability, on-site in NYC.

You'll own the full API lifecycle, respond to incidents end-to-end, and drive deployment automation through pipelines and CI/CD. The role emphasizes microservices, Python, Docker, Kubernetes, and cloud platforms such as AWS or GCP to scale systems

Qualifications

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent hands-on experience.
• 2+ years building production backend systems.
• Experience building microservices with Python.
• Experience with both SQL and NoSQL databases.
• Demonstrated expertise deploying and scaling applications on AWS or GCP.
• Hands-on experience containerizing applications with Docker and orchestrating with Kubernetes.
• Track record of designing, shipping, and supporting API-driven architectures.
• Proficiency building automated deployment pipelines and continuous integration workflows.

Responsibilities

• Architect and develop scalable backend services and service-oriented architectures.
• Own the full lifecycle of REST APIs serving both internal teams and external partners.
• Own production incidents end-to-end — from detection through root cause analysis, remediation, and prevention.
• Build and evolve deployment automation, including pipeline design and release strategies.
• Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks in application code and data layer.
• Author clear technical specifications and maintain up-to-date system documentation.

Skills

Backend development

Python

REST APIs

CI/CD

Performance optimization

Education

Master's degree in Computer Science/Engineering

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS

GCP

SQL

NoSQL

Job description

We're looking for a Backend Engineer to join our team to design and build scalable systems and APIs. You'll work closely with cross-functional teams to develop robust backend solutions while ensuring high performance and reliability. This role is 100% on-site at our Corporate Headquarters in New York City.

What You’ll Do

• - Architect and develop scalable backend services and service-oriented architectures
• - Own the full lifecycle of REST APIs serving both internal teams and external partners
• - Own production incidents end-to-end — from detection through root cause analysis, remediation, and prevention
• - Build and evolve deployment automation, including pipeline design and release strategies
• - Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks in application code and data layer
• - Author clear technical specifications and maintain up-to-date system documentation

Requirements

• - Minimum 2 years building production backend systems
• - Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent hands‑on experience
• - Experience building microservices with Python
• - Experience with both SQL and NoSQL databases
• - Demonstrated expertise deploying and scaling applications on AWS or GCP
• - Hands‑on experience containerizing applications with Docker and orchestrating with Kubernetes
• - Track record of designing, shipping, and supporting API-driven architectures
• - Proficiency building automated deployment pipelines and continuous integration workflows

Nice to Have

• - Background architecting multi-service systems and distributed architectures
• - Familiarity with serverless computing patterns and event-driven design
• - Experience working with large-scale data pipelines or high-throughput systems

Who You Are

You've built and supported production backend systems where you owned APIs, reliability, and performance end-to-end. You're comfortable designing service-oriented architectures, resolving incidents with rigor, and collaborating across teams to ship robust solutions in a fast-paced environment.

Join the team at Portra