Lead Backend Engineer (Modeling & Simulation)

Code Metal, Inc.; United States; Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401k plan

Hybrid work arrangement

PTO and holidays

Relocation assistance

Health care plan

Job summary

Code Metal, Inc. seeks a Lead Backend Engineer to design, build, and lead core backend services powering our platform. This hands-on role combines coding with technical leadership for a small backend team. You will shape architecture, API contracts, and integration boundaries across cloud and on‑prem deployments.

You will mentor engineers, review code, and drive pragmatic tradeoffs for speed, correctness, and long‑term maintainability while delivering reliable enterprise software.

Qualifications

• Proven backend engineering experience building enterprise software.
• Strong programming ability in Python for production systems.
• Experience designing backend services, APIs, and data pipelines.
• Ability to translate requirements into practical engineering plans.
• Experience leading technically without formal people management responsibilities.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain backend services, APIs, workers, and integration layers, primarily in Python.
• Lead a small team of backend engineers while remaining hands-on in codebase.
• Review code, mentor engineers, and raise code quality across the team.
• Define service architecture, API contracts, and persistence patterns.
• Ensure deployability, observability, security, and reliability across cloud and on-prem environments.

Skills

Python

API design

Code review

Mentoring

Distributed systems

Debugging

Observability

Security

Deployment

Communication

Tools

FastAPI

Django

Flask

SQLAlchemy

Alembic

PostgreSQL

Docker

Kubernetes

OpenAPI/JSON Schema

Job description

• We are looking for a Lead Backend Engineer to help design, build, and lead development of the core backend services that power our platform
• This is a hands‑on engineering role for someone who wants to write code while also providing technical leadership for a small team of backend engineers
• You will help define service architecture, implementation patterns, API contracts, integration boundaries, and delivery standards across backend systems
• You will work closely with platform engineering, data engineering, product, and domain experts to understand what needs to be built, break down ambiguous requirements, and turn them into reliable, maintainable backend services
• This role requires experience building enterprise software that can run in modern cloud environments as well as standalone, on‑premises, air‑gapped, or customer‑controlled deployments
• We are looking for someone who understands how to build systems that are not only functional, but also durable, observable, secure, deployable, and maintainable in real‑world production environments
• This is not a people‑management‑only role. The right person will lead by example through design, implementation, code review, debugging, mentorship, and technical decision‑making
• Design, build, and maintain backend services, APIs, workers, and integration layers, primarily in Python
• Lead a small team of backend engineers while remaining deeply hands‑on in the codebase
• Translate product goals, domain requirements, and technical constraints into clear backend designs and implementation plans
• Partner with platform engineering leads to ensure services are deployable, observable, secure, and reliable across cloud and on‑premises environments
• Partner with data engineering leads to define service boundaries, data contracts, persistence patterns, and integration points
• Own backend architecture decisions for service design, API design, domain logic, asynchronous workflows, and system boundaries
• Help break down larger initiatives into well‑scoped engineering tasks that can be implemented, reviewed, and delivered incrementally
• Review code, mentor engineers, and raise the quality of backend implementation across the team
• Debug complex production issues across services, databases, queues, APIs, infrastructure, and integrations
• Contribute to architecture discussions and make pragmatic tradeoffs between speed, correctness, reliability, and long‑term maintainability
• Build enterprise‑grade software that can operate in multiple deployment models, including:
  • Cloud‑hosted environments
  • Private cloud environments
  • Customer‑managed infrastructure
  • Standalone/on‑premises systems
  • Disconnected or constrained environments
• Establish and reinforce backend engineering standards, including:
  • Clean service boundaries
  • Typed API contracts
  • Testing expectations
  • Error handling patterns
  • Observability patterns
  • Database migration practices
  • Secure coding practices
  • Code review quality

Benefits

• Retirement Plan (401k, IRA)
• Flexible hybrid work arrangement
• Paid Time Off (Uncapped Vacation, plus Sick & Public Holidays)
• Relocation assistance for qualifying employees
• Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)

On-premises deploymentsDjango ORMStrong SQL and data modeling fundamentalsExperience building systems that run in production with real reliability, security, deployment, and operational constraintsExperience with relational databases, especially PostgreSQL or similar systemsSQLAlchemyOr comparable toolExperience building or supporting software deployed outside of standard SaaS environments, such as:Strong understanding of service architecture, domain modeling, API contracts, and backend system designAppliance-style deploymentsExperience working with ORMs and migration frameworks such as:Private infrastructureDisconnected or restricted networksAlembicCustomer-managed environmentsExperience with cloud deployment patterns in AWS, Azure, GCP, or similar environmentsAbility to reason about system boundaries, failure modes, data consistency, observability, and operational supportExperience leading technical work for a small team, including design guidance, code reviews, mentoring, and delivery ownershipAbility to convert ambiguous requirements into practical engineering plans and working softwareExperience designing and implementing backend services, APIs, background workers, and integration layersStrong professional experience as a backend software engineer building production enterprise softwareStrong programming ability in PythonStrong communication skills and comfort working across backend, platform, data, product, and domain teamsExperience with FastAPI, Flask, Django, or similar Python backend frameworksExperience with Pydantic, OpenAPI, JSON Schema, protobuf, or other typed contract systemsExperience with asynchronous processing, message queues, event‑driven systems, or workflow orchestrationExperience with containerized services using Docker, Kubernetes, or similar platformsExperience with deployment models that require strong packaging, reproducibility, versioning, and offline installation supportExperience building systems for regulated, security-sensitive, defense, government, financial, healthcare, or other enterprise environmentsExperience with observability tooling such as:Structured loggingMetricsTracingAlertingHealth checksService dashboardsExperience with authentication, authorization, RBAC, audit logging, and secure service‑to‑service communicationExperience designing systems that integrate with external services, legacy systems, third‑party APIs, simulators, data pipelines, or customer‑owned infrastructureExperience with geospatial systems, simulation systems, planning systems, logistics systems, or other complex operational domainsExperience helping teams establish engineering practices without adding unnecessary process or slowing delivery