Backend Engineer

Crystal Equation Corporation; Plano (TX); On-site; USD 76,000 - 83,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid time off

Medical/dental/vision insurance

401K

Parental leave

Job summary

Crystal Equation Corporation is building an AI Gateway in Plano, TX. You will own the full stack lifecycle of the gateway, from core Python API service design to containerization, deployment, monitoring, and day-to-day operations.

You’ll work solo on production code, tests, CI/CD, and production operations with autonomy. Seeking ~5 years of backend experience, deep Async Python with FastAPI, and solid knowledge of HTTP protocols, streaming, and database messaging systems.

Qualifications

• Around 5 years of professional backend development experience building and operating production-grade services.
• Async Python & Core Web Frameworks (3+ yrs): FastAPI with Pydantic, DI, OpenAPI.
• Network Protocol & Streaming: HTTP/1.1/HTTP/2, SSE, chunked transfer for real-time inference streaming.
• Database & Async Messaging: PostgreSQL with PgBouncer; Redis Streams/RabbitMQ/Kafka for decoupled tasks.
• Containerization & CI/CD: Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions/GitLab CI.

Responsibilities

• Own the full stack lifecycle of the AI gateway from core Python API service design to deployment and operations.
• Develop and maintain production-grade code, testing, CI/CD pipelines, and monitoring.
• Collaborate with security teams on architecture reviews while keeping most code and ops in your control.

Skills

Backend development

Async Python

FastAPI

PostgreSQL

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD

GitHub Actions

PgBouncer

Redis Streams

RabbitMQ

Kafka

NGINX

Envoy

Terraform

Tools

PgBouncer

Redis Streams

RabbitMQ

Kafka

NGINX

Envoy

Terraform

Job description

*Bilingual Korean/English is required

About the Role

We are building an AI Gateway—a high performance intermediary that routes, inspects, and governs traffic between enterprise clients and LLM/AI service providers. In this role you will own the entire full stack lifecycle of the gateway, from core Python API service design and implementation to containerization, deployment, monitoring, and day to day operations. While you can consult network and security specialists for architecture reviews, threat modeling, and policy definition, the application code, testing, CI/CD pipeline, and production operations will be developed and maintained solely by you. You’ll have full technical autonomy to design, build, and scale a robust, production grade system.

What we are looking for

Experience:

• Around 5 years of professional backend development experience, with a solid track record of building and operating production-grade services.
• Async Python & Core Web Frameworks (3+ yrs): Deep understanding of asyncio and hands-on production experience with FastAPI (Pydantic, dependency injection, OpenAPI).
• Network Protocol & Streaming Fundamentals: Strong grasp of HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2, and SSE (Server-Sent Events) / Chunked transfer encoding essential for real-time LLM inference streaming. Practical understanding of the TCP/IP lifecycle, connection pooling, keep-alive, and managing back-pressure.
• Database & Async Messaging: Proficiency in PostgreSQL (query tuning, connection pooling via PgBouncer). Experience with message queues or event streams (e.g., Redis Streams, RabbitMQ, or Kafka) for decoupled task processing.
• Containerization & CI/CD: Docker, Kubernetes (basic workload management, deployment, HPA), and setting up CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions / GitLab CI).

Work experience desired

• Collaborative Security & Infra Awareness: Willingness to work with internal security/network teams on NGINX/Envoy reverse-proxy setup, mTLS, or IAM/SSO (OIDC/SAML) integrations.
• AI/LLM Integration: Experience handling LLM API payloads, managing rate limits, or implementing simple proxy/gateway patterns for AI services.
• Infrastructure as Code: Basic familiarity with Terraform for multi-env infrastructure management.

Pay range is $55 - $60 per hour with full benefits available, including paid time off, medical/dental/vision/life insurance, 401K, parental leave, and more.

• paid time off
• medical/dental/vision/life insurance
• 401K
• parental leave

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several US geographic markets. Pay is based on several factors including market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

The promises we make

At Crystal Equation, we empower people and advance technology initiatives by building trust. Your recruiter will prep you for the interview, obtain feedback, guide you through any necessary paperwork and provide everything you need for a successful start. We will serve to empower you along the way and provide the path for your professional journey. For more information regarding our Privacy Policy, please visit crystalequation.com/privacy.