Senior Backend Engineer, Cloud-Native, Real-Time Data

International Business Machines Corporation; Lowell (MA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

IBM Confluent in Lowell, MA seeks experienced backend engineers to design and operate cloud-native, multi-tenant data infrastructure. You will own backend services, drive architecture decisions, and work across teams to deliver reliable, scalable software at scale.

Ideal candidates have 7+ years building production-grade backend systems, strong Python and cloud experience, and a track record in leadership and observability.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience designing, building, and supporting backend systems in production.
• Strong knowledge of Python runtime environments and package management.
• Proficiency in a major programming language (Python, Go, C/C++, Java, etc.).
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and containers (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience leading projects and coordinating across teams.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills.
• Experience with observability (metrics, logging, tracing).
• BS, MS, or PhD in computer science or related field, or equivalent work experience.

Responsibilities

• Own and lead the design and implementation of complex backend services in a cloud-native, microservices environment.
• Make architecture decisions balancing reliability, scalability, performance, and operability.
• Drive end-to-end projects from requirements through production rollout.
• Improve service reliability via SLOs/SLAs and observability.
• Collaborate to define APIs and data models for platform coherence.
• Identify and drive platform and productivity improvements.
• Mentor engineers through reviews and guidance.
• Contribute to a culture of continuous improvement and high technical standards.

Skills

Python

Cloud (AWS/GCP/Azure)

Distributed systems

Leadership

Observability

Communication

Backend systems

Algorithms

Education

Master's Degree

Job description

IBM Confluent in Lowell, MA seeks experienced backend engineers to design and operate cloud-native, multi-tenant data infrastructure. You will own backend services, drive architecture decisions, and work across teams to deliver reliable, scalable software at scale.

Ideal candidates have 7+ years building production-grade backend systems, strong Python and cloud experience, and a track record in leadership and observability.