Junior Cloud Backend Engineer

Waites Sensor Technologies, Inc.; Huntsville (AL); On-site; USD 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Waites Sensor Technologies, Inc. is seeking a Junior Cloud Backend Engineer in Huntsville, AL to accelerate modernization of our cloud platform. You will work on API tiers, telemetry pipelines, and backend services while migrating legacy PHP components to serverless architectures.

Ideal candidates have foundational backend skills, familiarity with AWS services, and a strong willingness to learn. This role offers growth with a fast-paced, customer-focused IoT environment and minimal travel.

Qualifications

• Foundational backend development experience from internships, coursework, or projects.
• Familiarity with cloud technologies, especially AWS services like Lambda, API Gateway, SQS, Kinesis, RDS or DynamoDB.
• Ability to learn and modernize existing PHP applications.
• Understanding of API design, distributed systems, and event-driven architecture.
• Exposure to data ingestion pipelines, queues, streams, or serverless tech.
• Strong testing mindset: unit, integration, or regression testing.
• Familiarity with Infrastructure as Code and modern CI/CD practices.
• Experience using AI-assisted tools to support coding or testing.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Engineer the core backend platform including API tier, telemetry ingestion, and cloud services.
• Modernize a legacy PHP app by migrating services to serverless architectures safely.
• Read and improve production systems while ensuring uninterrupted service.
• Design and build reliable APIs, backend services, and scalable data pipelines.
• Rebuild sensor-data ingestion using durable streaming architectures for reliability.
• Develop characterization tests and validate migrations before production.
• Contribute to Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD, monitoring, and observability.
• Participate in on-call rotations and troubleshoot production systems.
• Collaborate with platform, frontend, AI, and firmware teams to deliver cohesive solutions.

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent hands-on experience

Tools

AWS

Job description

Description

Junior Cloud Backend Engineer

What we are: Fun, fast-paced, client-focused, people-centric, inviting, flexible, and rapidly growing.

What we are not: Overly structured, uncompromising, disengaged, or disconnected.

We build large-scale industrial IoT software systems that ingest, process, and analyze data from hundreds of thousands of connected devices. We're looking for a Junior Cloud Backend Engineer to help modernize the heart of our cloud platform—the APIs, telemetry ingestion pipeline, and backend services that power our products. This is a highly hands‑on engineering role for someone who enjoys solving complex technical challenges, modernizing legacy systems, and building reliable, scalable cloud services. You'll work alongside a small team of senior engineers to safely migrate critical production systems from a legacy PHP environment to modern serverless architectures while sharing responsibility for the operational health, reliability, and scalability of our platform.

Technologies We Use: AWS, Serverless Architectures (Lambda, API Gateway), PHP (legacy), Python, Node.js, SQS / Kinesis / MQTT / event-driven systems, PostgreSQL / MySQL / DynamoDB / time-series databases, Terraform, GitHub Actions, Observability and logging platforms, and more.

Company Description

We are a leading provider of wireless, mesh-networked, "Internet of Things" (IoT) sensors for industrial environments. Our cost-effective, plug-and-play products empower plants of all sizes to conduct predictive and preventative maintenance on mission-critical and secondary equipment in order to maximize uptime. Our innovative sensors, machine learning, services, and solutions have been revolutionizing this industry for the past 15 years.

Reports to: Principle Software Architect

Location: Huntsville, AL

Travel: Minimal travel required

Work Authorization: Must be authorized to work in the U.S. Sponsorship is not available at this time

Exemption Status: exempt

Job Description

This position will give you the opportunity to:

• Engineer the core backend platform, including the API tier, telemetry ingestion pipeline, and supporting cloud services
• Modernize a legacy PHP application by migrating services incrementally to a serverless architecture using safe, low‑risk deployment strategies
• Read, understand, and improve existing production systems while ensuring uninterrupted service for customers
• Design and build highly reliable APIs, backend services, and scalable data ingestion pipelines
• Rebuild sensor‑data ingestion using durable, replayable streaming architectures to improve reliability and disaster recovery
• Develop characterization tests and leverage record‑and‑replay validation techniques to ensure migration accuracy before production deployment
• Contribute to Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, and observability to improve platform reliability and operational excellence
• Participate in the team's on‑call rotation and troubleshoot production systems you own
• Leverage AI‑assisted development, testing, and code review to improve engineering productivity and software quality
• Partner closely with platform, frontend, AI, and firmware engineering teams to deliver cohesive, scalable solutions
• Carry out additional responsibilities as needed to support business objectives

Requirements

Qualifications & Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent hands‑on experience
• Foundational knowledge of backend software development through internships, co‑ops, coursework, or personal projects
• Familiarity with cloud technologies, preferably AWS services such as Lambda, API Gateway, SQS, Kinesis, RDS, or DynamoDB
• Ability and willingness to learn, maintain, and help modernize existing PHP applications
• Understanding of API design, distributed systems, asynchronous processing, and event‑driven architecture concepts
• Exposure to data ingestion pipelines, queues, streams, or serverless technologies
• Strong software testing mindset with familiarity with unit, integration, or regression testing
• Familiarity with Infrastructure as Code and modern CI/CD practices
• Experience using AI‑assisted software development tools to support coding, testing, or problem‑solving
• Strong communication, collaboration, and analytical skills
• Eagerness to learn new technologies, receive feedback, and contribute within a collaborative

Preferred Qualifications

• Internship, co‑op, academic, or personal project experience involving IoT, telemetry, or data‑intensive applications
• Exposure to messaging or streaming technologies such as SQS, Kafka, Kinesis, RabbitMQ, or MQTT
• Experience with one or more backend languages, such as Python, Node.js, Go, or PHP
• Familiarity with databases such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, DynamoDB, Redis, or TimescaleDB
• Basic understanding of cloud security, data privacy, or compliance frameworks such as SOC 2
• Exposure to observability, monitoring, or logging tools
• A portfolio, GitHub profile, or examples of relevant academic or personal projects

What Success Looks Like

• Legacy APIs and services are successfully migrated to modern serverless architectures with no customer‑visible disruption
• Data ingestion pipelines operate reliably under heavy production workloads without silent data loss
• Production migrations are validated through comprehensive testing before deployment
• Systems are observable, well documented, and supported by multiple engineers rather than relying on tribal knowledge
• Engineering teams can confidently deploy and operate backend services with speed and reliability
• Security, reliability, and compliance are designed into systems from the beginning rather than added later

Culture Fit Requirements

• High intellect and strong analytical skills
• Innovative and driven to constantly improve
• Non‑bureaucratic, flexible, and able to thrive in a fast‑moving environment
• Positive energy and attitude towards people and problem‑solving
• Demonstrates a balance of humility, strong work ethic, and interpersonal savvy ("Humble, Hungry, and Smart") in approach to teamwork and problem‑solving.
• A genuine human.
• Demonstrates a “Can Do” mentality.

Why Waites?

At Waites, we offer an attractive base salary with a strong history of profit sharing. We are intensely customer-focused, with a culture that encourages hard work, fun, and mutual success. As we continue to grow, there will be many opportunities for professional advancement and development. If you are a talented Cloud Engineer professional looking for an exciting new challenge,

Learn more about who we are and what we do by checking out our website at www.waites.net.

WST is an Equal Opportunity Employer.