Staff Backend Software Engineer

Backend Engineer

On Lumafield's Backend team, you work on the core of our cloud platform from REST APIs through to massively parallelized data processing pipelines operating on our X-Ray and CT image data. We leverage Python in order to move quickly but ensure that we're getting the most out of the language through usage of powerful frameworks and parallelism concepts. Our backend team also owns their code all the way through deployment; you'll work to build your code into Docker containers and deploy them to our different environments including cloud Kubernetes clusters and on-premises servers.

What you'll do:

• Own backend architecture for cloud software supporting Neptune, Triton, and Voyager (services, APIs, persistence, async processing, storage and compute integrations).
• Design, build, and operate scalable Python backends (Django / DRF), Celery pipelines, and REST APIs with strong reliability, performance, and observability.
• Lead complex, data-heavy workflows: uploads, project/scan lifecycle, recipe automation, task orchestration, and algorithm integration.
• Architect AWS usage for backends: S3, RDS/Aurora/Postgres, IAM, networking; design SageMaker and related ML job flows (invocation, data paths, security, failure modes, cost) with ML and platform partners.
• Coach and mentor engineering team members across the organization in architecture best practices and principles.
• Collaborate closely with product managers and engineering leadership to align technical objectives with business deliverables.
• Get your hands dirty and build – expect to be hands-on and building regularly

About you:

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering or a related field
• 10+ years of experience developing software, mostly backend
• Expert Python; 5+ years shipping production backends (Django / DRF a strong fit).
• Deep PostgreSQL and AWS data/storage (S3, RDS/Aurora); solid IAM and VPC-aware patterns
• 5+ years production AWS; practical SageMaker (or similar) for services you orchestrate, not only notebooks.
• Async systems: Celery + Redis or equivalent—queues, retries, idempotency, backpressure, prod debugging
• 2+ years of startup experience
• Owned architecture for complex, cloud-hosted, data-heavy products.
• Demonstrated ability to coach and mentor engineering peers on architectural principles.
• Experience designing for and complying with SOC2, ISO27001, ITAR, and other security compliance frameworks and standards

Bonus points for:

• Extensive experience with high-traffic, data-intensive web applications.
• Django + Celery at meaningful scale.
• Deep expertise in Kubernetes and AWS architecture, security, and optimization.
• High-throughput or large-payload APIs and pipelines.
• Regulated or export-controlled environments

$180,000 - $225,000 a year The base salary range listed here represents the anticipated low and high end of the salary range for this position. Actual salaries may vary and may be above or below the range based on various factors including but not limited to work location, experience, and performance. All full time employees receive an equity grant.

Lumafield offers both competitive cash and equity compensation, as well as a health & wellness stipend, 401k, parental leave, flexible PTO, commuter benefits, company wide events and more!

Lumafield is committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills, because the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. Do you feel like your skills don't meet every single requirement listed? We encourage you to apply anyway – If you're excited about our technology, the opportunity, and are eager to learn more we'd love to hear from you!

In keeping with our beliefs and goals, no employee or applicant will face discrimination or harassment based on: race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, age, gender, marital domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, genetic information or veteran status.