Senior Backend Engineer

Acuity; Conyers (GA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Acuity Brands is seeking a senior backend engineer to design, build, and operate cloud services within the PLM ecosystem. You will work on integrations, data models, and AI-assisted tooling while maintaining production readiness and code quality.

You will own deployments, contribute to API design, and collaborate with product teams to deliver robust software in a fast-paced environment. This role emphasizes learning PLM data and delivering end-to-end solutions.

Qualifications

• 8+ years building and running production backend software.
• Strong command of code-level design patterns and SOLID principles.
• Proficiency in C#/.NET; willingness to work with other languages.
• Production cloud experience; Azure preferred, AWS/GCP acceptable.
• Containers and Kubernetes in production environments.
• Solid grasp of API integration: pagination, retries, idempotency.
• Data modeling in relational and document stores.
• OIDC/token concepts; infrastructure as code and pipelines needed.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and run backend services deployed to Kubernetes on Azure.
• Build integrations between PLM and downstream systems via APIs you do not control.
• Work directly in the PLM platform: OData and REST, configuration, Java extensions.
• Own deployment path: infrastructure as code, CI/CD pipelines, Kubernetes manifests.
• Write automated tests as part of shipping.
• Instrument services so production problems are found via telemetry.
• Review peers' code and maintain a high quality bar.
• Collaborate with product owners to turn problems into working software.
• Leverage AI tooling to improve implementation, debugging, testing, and docs.

Skills

Backend software architecture

C#/.NET

Azure cloud

Kubernetes

API integration

SOLID principles

CI/CD pipelines

Unit testing

Telemetry and monitoring

Multi-language backend familiarity

Tools

Azure

AWS

GCP

Kubernetes

Terraform

Bicep

ARM templates

OpenTelemetry

Application Insights

Grafana

Azure DevOps

Job description

Our PLM platform is the engineering system of record at Acuity Brands. It holds the part definitions, BOM structures, CAD data, and engineering changes behind everything we build. Our team owns the technical layer around it: the services, integrations, and automation that connect PLM to the rest of the enterprise and to the engineers who use it every day. You will build those services, and you will also work inside the PLM system itself, in its data model, its APIs, and its custom extensions. Recent and upcoming work includes syncing ECAD design releases into PLM, publishing engineering entities to analytics consumers, and integrating with ERP and downstream systems. This is a hands‑on role on a small team, owning services end to end from design through production support. PLM background is not required. Wanting to learn it is, because the engineers who do well here understand the product data, not just the code.

Key Tasks & Responsibilities (Essential Functions)

• Design, build, and run backend services that deploy to Kubernetes on Azure
• Build integrations between PLM and downstream systems, working with APIs you do not control and the failure modes that come with them
• Work directly in the PLM platform: OData and REST interfaces, configuration, and custom Java extensions
• Own your deployment path, including infrastructure as code, CI/CD pipelines, and Kubernetes manifests for what you build
• Write automated tests as part of shipping, not as a follow-up
• Instrument services so production problems are found in telemetry rather than by guessing
• Review peers' code and hold a consistent bar
• Work with product owners and engineering users to turn real problems into working software
• We expect our engineers to use AI tooling and to get real leverage from it, across implementation, debugging, testing, and documentation.

Skills And Minimum Experience Required

• 8+ years building and running production backend software
• Strong command of code-level design patterns and SOLID principles, including repository, unit of work, dependency injection, factory, and strategy, with the judgment to know when a pattern is earning its keep and when it is overhead.
• Deep fluency in at least one modern backend language, and the ability to pick up another without drama. We build primarily in C#/.NET, so that is ideal. Strong Java, Go, or Kotlin engineers willing to work in C# are equally welcome.
• Production cloud experience. Azure preferred, AWS or GCP fine.
• Containers and Kubernetes in a real environment, including debugging a cluster you did not build
• Solid grasp of API integration: pagination, retries, idempotency, partial failure
• Data modeling in relational and document stores
• Working knowledge of Specialist Growth & Transformation Software Engineering BUILD Program (July) 16341 2.0 and OIDC. You should know what is in a token and what breaks when it is wrong.
• Comfortable owning infrastructure as code and pipelines rather than handing them off
• Genuine interest in the engineering domain. Curiosity about how products are actually designed, revised, and released matters more here than it does on most teams.
• Clear writing. Design notes and runbooks are part of the job.

Preferred Skills And Experience

• PLM, PDM, ERP, or CAD systems experience. PTC Windchill is a strong plus, but we will teach it.
• Bicep, Terraform, or ARM
• Azure DevOps Pipelines
• Message-driven systems and their operational patterns: Azure Service Bus, Event Hubs, Event Grid
• OpenTelemetry, Application Insights, Grafana
• Modernizing a legacy system while it stays in production