Principal Software Engineer - Python

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Software Engineer with a strong background in Python-based backend development and scalable data-driven application architecture. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience working with relational databases, cloud platforms, and frontend technologies such as React.js and D3.js for data visualization. This role requires a hands-on leader who can contribute to complex coding tasks while guiding and mentoring engineering teams in a fast-paced production environment.

Key Responsibilities

- Design, document, and implement scalable backend and data-processing architectures for a biomedical data platform, utilizing Python frameworks such as Django and FastAPI, along with frontend integrations using React.js and D3.js.
- Lead technical direction at the project level, overseeing API design, data contracts, ingestion workflows, analytics pipelines, cloud services, and integration patterns to ensure maintainability, extensibility, and scalability across applications, data warehouses, reporting, and client-facing solutions.
- Architect reusable backend components, messaging systems, analytics modules, and data-processing pipelines that prioritize long-term maintainability, observability, and performance.
- Serve as a technical escalation point for complex backend, database, data-processing, and production issues, providing expert guidance and troubleshooting support.
- Lead and mentor engineering teams of five or more members, facilitating design discussions, code reviews, task breakdowns, debugging, release planning, and effective communication with product and client stakeholders.
- Act as a direct code contributor, handling complex features and tasks to improve code quality and development throughput.
- Collaborate closely with clients to establish processes, architecture, and software backlogs, ensuring alignment with business goals.
- Provide on-call production support, working alongside DevOps to manage outages, communicate issues, troubleshoot problems, and coordinate resolution efforts.
- Utilize Azure DevOps for continuous integration and deployment pipelines, environment promotion, release coordination, and ensuring deployment reliability.
- Employ Git workflows, including code reviews and branching strategies, to support collaborative software delivery.
- Use PostHog for application analytics, product insights, and usage tracking to inform development priorities.

Required Qualifications

- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field.
- 6 to 7 years of production-level software development experience with a strong emphasis on Python backend systems.
- Minimum of 5 years of expert-level Python programming experience.
- Proficiency in PostgreSQL database development, including schema design, relational data modeling, indexing, joins, stored functions, views, query optimization, and performance tuning.
- Experience with Airflow-supported ETL/data ingestion workflows and data warehouse integration.
- Strong knowledge of SQL Server and Azure SQL, including stored procedures, views, data models, query optimization, reporting, and analytical workflows.
- Hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure services such as Azure Functions, Azure Queues, Azure Log Analytics, and Azure SQL for cloud-based backend processing.
- Familiarity with event-driven processing, asynchronous workflows, and backend integration patterns.
- Proficient in containerization, Linux command shells, scripting, and production support tooling.
- Demonstrated leadership in managing engineering teams in production environments for at least three years.
- Fluent in English with excellent communication skills, capable of translating complex technical issues into clear, understandable language.
- Strong business acumen with the ability to align technical solutions with organizational goals.

Preferred Qualifications and Additional Responsibilities

- Experience working with frontend technologies React.js and D3.js for data visualization.
- Ability to engage directly with stakeholders, clients, and production-critical discussions as needed.
- Commitment to maintaining high standards of code quality and operational excellence.
- Willingness to participate in on-call rotations to ensure reliable production support and rapid incident response.

This role offers the opportunity to lead technical innovation in a dynamic environment, contributing both as a hands-on developer and a strategic leader. Candidates who thrive in collaborative settings and are passionate about building scalable, maintainable software solutions will find this position rewarding.