Senior Software Engineer

Planet Group; Dallas (TX); Hybrid; USD 101,000 - 117,000; Part time

Job summary

Planet Group is hiring a Senior Software Engineer for Search & Distributed Systems on a contract, hybrid basis in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. You will design scalable Python backends, own Elasticsearch indexing and tuning, and build real-time data pipelines with Kafka while deploying cloud-native services on Azure.

The role requires 7+ years of Python backend experience, strong Elasticsearch and Kafka expertise, and hands-on Azure deployment.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of hands-on Python backend development.
• Strong production Elasticsearch experience (Query DSL, relevance tuning, mapping).
• Experience with Kafka or a comparable enterprise event-streaming platform.
• Hands-on experience deploying and securing applications on Microsoft Azure.
• Solid grounding in distributed systems, microservices, and CI/CD (Git, Docker, Azure DevOps).

Responsibilities

• Design and build scalable backend services and REST APIs in Python (FastAPI, async).
• Own Elasticsearch index design, query performance, and relevance tuning for high-volume search workloads.
• Build event-driven data pipelines using Kafka for real-time, high-throughput processing.
• Develop and secure cloud-native services on Microsoft Azure.
• Integrate with Databricks and enterprise data platforms for large-scale data processing.
• Drive CI/CD, observability, and production performance across a modern distributed architecture.

Skills

Python backend

Elasticsearch

Kafka

Azure

Distributed systems

CI/CD

Tools

Kubernetes

Databricks

Job description

? We're Hiring: Senior Software Engineer - Search & Distributed Systems (Contract | Hybrid - Dallas-Fort Worth, TX)

We're partnering with a large enterprise organization building a high-volume enterprise search and intelligent-matching platform that processes millions of transactions daily. If you're a Python engineer who loves solving hard search-relevance and distributed-systems problems at scale, this one's worth a look.

What You'll Do

• Design and build scalable backend services and REST APIs in Python (FastAPI, async)
• Own Elasticsearch index design, query performance, and relevance tuning for high-volume search workloads
• Build event-driven data pipelines using Kafka for real-time, high-throughput processing
• Develop and secure cloud-native services on Microsoft Azure
• Integrate with Databricks and enterprise data platforms for large-scale data processing
• Drive CI/CD, observability, and production performance across a modern distributed architecture

What You Bring

• 7+ years of hands-on Python backend development -- this is foundational, not optional
• Strong production Elasticsearch experience (Query DSL, relevance tuning, mapping, index lifecycle management)
• Experience with Kafka or a comparable enterprise event-streaming platform
• Hands-on experience deploying and securing applications on Microsoft Azure
• Solid grounding in distributed systems, microservices, and CI/CD (Git, Docker, Azure DevOps)

Nice to Have

• Databricks, PySpark, and Delta Lake experience
• Semantic/vector search, LLM integration, or Azure OpenAI experience
• Kubernetes, Terraform/Pulumi, and observability tooling (Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry)
• Healthcare or supply chain industry background

The Details

• ? Hybrid - Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (must be able to commute onsite)
• ? Contract opportunity, 3 openings
• ? $73-85/hr, depending on W2 or C2C

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