Senior Backend Engineer

Beacon Technologies; Madison (WI); Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Beacon Technologies seeks a Backend Engineer to design and implement scalable HPC-driven backend systems for an advanced EM simulation platform. You will work across cloud, on-prem, and data-management layers, with a heavy focus on API unification, performance, and reliability.

Join a startup-minded team in Madison with hybrid onsite expectations and strong emphasis on innovation, scalable architectures, and collaboration with infrastructure and EM teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or computer engineering.
• Experience developing backend systems using Java, Python, and/or C++.
• Experience with AWS or similar cloud platforms (compute, storage, networking, IAM, infrastructure automation).
• Expertise in backend service development and web API architecture.
• Hands-on experience with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience designing and operating distributed systems in production environments.
• Strong Linux systems knowledge and infrastructure troubleshooting skills.
• Experience with infrastructure automation and configuration management (e.g., Terraform, Ansible, or similar tools).
• Familiarity with monitoring, logging, and observability tooling.
• Understanding of networking fundamentals and backend security best practices.
• Innovative Mindset: Ability to learn quickly, adapt to new challenges, and innovate in a fast-paced startup environment.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to general software development efforts, such as API unification, simulation data management (e.g., caching, syncing, storage), and scripting improvements.
• Collaborate with EM and infrastructure teams to implement simulation-specific solutions, including enhancements to back-end/scheduler integrations and Python front-end functionality.
• Improve our task pipelines through an innovative design for a web API in a multi-physical simulation context.
• Develop and maintain hybrid cloud compute and storage solutions, integrating on-premises HPC systems with modern cloud platforms.
• Optimize and manage high-performance computing clusters equipped with high-speed interconnects.

Skills

Backend development

AWS cloud platforms

API architecture

Docker & Kubernetes

Distributed systems

Linux

Infrastructure automation

Monitoring & observability

Networking & security

Innovative mindset

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Slurm

Terraform

Ansible

Job description

Beacon Technologies is seeking a Backend Engineer for our client partner. The Backend Software Engineer will help design and implement scalable solutions that meet the growing demands of an advanced EM simulation platform. The ideal candidate has expertise in high-performance computing (HPC), infrastructure, web API design, and systems design. Additionally, the candidate will be help us enhance our data management, frontend-backend API unification, and cloud integration.

Key Responsibilities:

• Contribute to general software development efforts, such as API unification, simulation data management (e.g., caching, syncing, storage), and scripting improvements.
• Collaborate with EM and infrastructure teams to implement simulation-specific solutions, including enhancements to back-end/scheduler integrations and Python front-end functionality.
• Improve our task pipelines through an innovative design for a web API in a multi-physical simulation context.
• Develop and maintain hybrid cloud compute and storage solutions, integrating on-premises HPC systems with modern cloud platforms.
• Optimize and manage high-performance computing clusters equipped with high-speed interconnects.

Requirements:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree or higher in computer science or computer engineering.

Technical Skills:

• Professional experience developing backend systems using Java, Python, and/or C++
• Strong experience with AWS or similar cloud platforms (compute, storage, networking, IAM, infrastructure automation)
• Expertise in backend service development and web API architecture
• Hands-on experience with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes)
• Experience designing and operating distributed systems in production environments
• Strong Linux systems knowledge and infrastructure troubleshooting skills
• Experience with infrastructure automation and configuration management (e.g., Terraform, Ansible, or similar tools)
• Familiarity with monitoring, logging, and observability tooling
• Understanding of networking fundamentals and backend security best practices
• Innovative Mindset: Ability to learn quickly, adapt to new challenges, and innovate in a fast-paced startup environment.

Bonus Skills:

• Experience integrating cloud platforms with HPC environments or large compute clusters
• Familiarity with job schedulers (e.g., Slurm), distributed compute frameworks, or large-scale data pipelines
• Experience supporting scientific computing or simulation platforms
• Knowledge of GPU infrastructure and resource scheduling
• Experience building developer platforms or internal infrastructure tooling

Example Projects:

• Architect and deploy Kubernetes-based infrastructure to run distributed simulation workloads
• Design and implement scalable web APIs for simulation job orchestration and data access
• Build CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code systems for reproducible deployments
• Develop hybrid cloud solutions connecting on-prem HPC clusters with AWS compute and storage
• Implement monitoring and observability systems to track simulation performance and reliability
• Improve platform scalability to support growing user traffic and compute demand
• Design secure service architectures, authentication, and licensing systems
• Optimize infrastructure utilization across CPU and GPU resources

Location:

• Hybrid in Madison, WI
• Typically 2-3 days onsite with flexibility depending on circumstances
• Main office in Boston, occasional paid travel for team visits there

About Beacon Technologies

Are you looking to advance your career in information technology? Beacon Technologies offers career advancement opportunities, extensive training, and excellent benefits including paying for health and dental premiums for salaried employees. In addition to providing interesting opportunities, Beacon Technologies provides that old fashioned, personal touch, so you feel like a part of the Beacon team.

Beacon Technologies, Inc. is an equal employment opportunity employer with a functioning Affi​tive Action Plan. It is the policy of Beacon Technologies, Inc. to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, marital status, citizenship, national origin,genetic information, ethnicity, ancestry, disability, medical condition, military and veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Beacon Technologies, Inc. prohibits any such discrimination or harassment.