Lead Backend Architect for AI-Driven Growth

DEPT®; New York (NY); On-site; USD 122,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare

401k

PTO

Holidays

Parental Leave

Job summary

DEPT® is seeking a Principal Engineer to anchor architecture for backend distributed systems, data platforms, and AI-backed integrations. You will own end-to-end delivery, mentor engineers, and collaborate with product, design, and business teams to drive high-impact software solutions.

You will also guide frontend considerations, balance tradeoffs among cost, speed, and quality, and engage customers with clear, accessible explanations of complex technical choices.

Qualifications

• 7+ years writing software used by lots of people in the real world.
• 3+ years developing in Python, with deep expertise across multiple technical stacks.
• Expert-level knowledge of backend architecture, API design, and system design patterns, including microservices and serverless.
• Familiarity with agent development, plus working knowledge of LLM concepts and the ability to make sound tradeoffs between cost, relevancy, and speed.
• Proven experience using GenAI productivity tools (Gemini CLI, Claude Code, Codex) in real development workflows, and willingness to push the boundaries of what they can do.
• Proven experience integrating APIs and other systems in to end-user facing applications.
• Excellent understanding of database platforms, both SQL and NoSQL.
• A working command of modern web frameworks (Preferably Angular and Typescript), enough to make architectural decisions that account for the frontend and to guide the engineers building against your services.
• Experience with one or more major cloud providers. Google Cloud preferred, AWS and Azure also fine.
• Hands-on comfort with Docker: you know how to containerize services cleanly, keep local development environments consistent, and troubleshoot without getting stuck.
• Proficiency in version control (git, mercurial), Agile processes, and CI/CD tooling.
• A natural problem-solver who takes initiative and drives things forward with minimal guidance, with a track record of
• getting sh*t done
• in a fast-paced environment.
• Enjoyment of client conversations, and skill at distilling technical information for a variety of roles within a business.
• Strong leadership skills and the ability to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders alike.
• Commitment to DEPT®'s B Corp values and purpose-driven work.

Responsibilities

• Lead the architectural design of complex backend and distributed systems end to end, including deployment, monitoring, incident response, and what the team learns afterward.
• Take full ownership of your workstreams. Don't get blocked: either find the answer or change the conditions that created the roadblock.
• Ensure that on every project, technical scope, requirements, estimates, timelines, and risks are clearly documented, and flag scope gaps, ambiguities, and documentation debt to project leadership before they become budget problems.
• Act as a technical consultant to clients: answer their questions across every part of the project, run presentations, demos, and workshops, and distill technical information for audiences from engineers to executives.
• Step back and ask whether the work being proposed actually maximizes client value, and say so when it doesn't.
• Mentor P1 and P2 engineers through pairing, code review, and design guidance, building a culture of collaboration and knowledge sharing.
• Lead smaller project teams (2 to 5 ICs) as needed, and partner effectively with Project Managers, designers, and other crafts.

Skills

Python

Backend architecture

LLM concepts

GenAI tools

APIs integration

Docker

Cloud providers

Angular

Typescript

Git

Mercurial

CI/CD tooling

Tools

Docker

Git

Mercurial

CI/CD tooling

Job description

DEPT® is seeking a Principal Engineer to anchor architecture for backend distributed systems, data platforms, and AI-backed integrations. You will own end-to-end delivery, mentor engineers, and collaborate with product, design, and business teams to drive high-impact software solutions.

You will also guide frontend considerations, balance tradeoffs among cost, speed, and quality, and engage customers with clear, accessible explanations of complex technical choices.