Backend Engineer

A Backend Engineer is required to support the delivery of high-priority, defence-aligned programmes operating within regulated and security-sensitive environments.

This is not a routine backend position. The systems under development underpin analytical workflows, simulations and operational decision-support tooling. Reliability, predictability and data integrity are fundamental. The backend layer forms the structural foundation of platform trust.

The organisation remains confidential due to the nature of the programme.

The Opportunity

The role sits within a small, senior technical team delivering backend services that power dashboards, analytics engines and operational monitoring systems.

Backend services must handle structured ingestion, aggregation and low-latency access to data in complex environments. Architectural clarity and disciplined implementation are essential.

This position requires strong engineering judgement, not just Python implementation capability. System behaviour, performance characteristics and long-term maintainability must be considered at every stage.

Autonomy is expected. Standards are high. Communication matters.

Responsibilities

Design and implementation of backend services supporting analytical dashboards, simulations and decision-support workflows.

Development and evolution of APIs consumed by frontend applications and external systems, ensuring well-defined data contracts and predictable behaviour.

Collaboration with frontend engineering to maintain alignment across API design, validation logic and system interactions.

Contribution to backend architectural decisions alongside technical leadership.

Design and optimisation of relational and non-relational data models supporting both high-throughput ingestion and efficient querying.

Implementation of data processing and aggregation logic within distributed environments.

Consideration of performance, scalability and data consistency across backend services.

Early identification of technical debt, architectural risks and operational gaps.

Strong commercial experience building backend systems using Python.

Hands-on experience with FastAPI or a comparable modern Python web framework.

Clear understanding of backend architecture principles and API design best practice.

Experience working with relational and non-relational databases such as PostgreSQL and MongoDB.

Ability to reason about data models, performance characteristics and distributed system behaviour.

Experience collaborating across frontend, product and technical leadership functions.

Structured and pragmatic technical communication.

Desirable

Experience with containerisation technologies such as Docker.

Exposure to CI/CD pipelines including GitHub Actions or equivalent.

Familiarity with AWS services such as ECR, ECS and S3.

Experience with backend testing strategies and tooling.

Understanding of observability and monitoring practices, including tools within the Grafana stack.

Awareness of security, data sensitivity and reliability considerations in regulated environments.

Engagement

Contract opportunity within a regulated and security-aligned programme. Further detail will be shared at qualification stage.

This role is suited to backend engineers who recognise that in high-trust systems, backend behaviour is not an implementation detail. It is the foundation of system credibility, operational stability and long-term platform integrity.