Senior Developer, APIs

Role Description

The Sr. Developer, APIs is responsible for designing, building, and maintaining the API platform that supports YPO's member ecosystem, chapter operations, and agentic AI platform. This role owns the technical implementation of APIs that sit at the core of the digital experience and works closely with Product, Data Architecture, IT, and Security to deliver scalable, secure, and well-governed API solutions.

The role requires strong backend engineering expertise, a high standard for API quality, and the ability to translate complex integration requirements into maintainable, production-grade systems within an event-driven, domain-aligned, serverless-first architecture.

Your API Portfolio:

• Members API: Stable, semantic endpoints exposing member profile, identity, peer discovery, and graph relationships. The foundation of member experience.
• Chapters API: APIs powering chapter management, forum operations, event discovery, and role-based data access across YPO's global regional structure.
• Agentic Ecosystem APIs: Governed API contracts for AI agents (Peer Discovery, Event Discovery) built on OpenAI + RAG and Google Gemini. Agents consume only approved APIs. Agent reasoning must always be surfaceable.

Primary Responsibilities:

• API Design & Implementation:
  • Design and implement production-grade RESTful and GraphQL APIs deployed via AWS API Gateway.
  • Ensure all APIs conform to YPO's canonical ontology and global member graph.
  • Design APIs to operate within an event-driven architecture leveraging CDC, pub/sub messaging (Kafka and AWS EventBridge).
  • Apply Domain-Driven Design (DDD) principles.
  • Adopt a serverless-first approach using AWS Lambda, Step Functions, and EventBridge.
  • Write clean, well-tested, and well-documented code across the Members, Chapters, and Agentic Ecosystem API domains.
  • Define and enforce data models, versioning standards, authentication flows, and integration patterns.
  • Apply performance-aware design intentional pagination, caching strategies, query constraints, and rate-limiting.
  • Ensure every API response includes provenance and explanation metadata.
• Agentic Ecosystem Engineering:
  • Implement the API governance layer for YPO's AI agents.
  • Build and maintain kill-switch-capable API boundaries.
  • Instrument agent API integrations with feedback loop mechanisms.
  • Collaborate with data science and ML teams to translate agentic data flow requirements.
• API Lifecycle, Versioning & Governance:
  • Own the full API lifecycle: development, testing, documentation, versioning, deprecation, and migration planning.
  • Establish and maintain engineering standards for API versioning and backward compatibility.
  • Build and maintain sandbox environments, integration test suites, and automated contract tests.
  • Ensure reliable CI/CD pipelines, deployment automation, observability via Datadog.
  • All infrastructure changes must be deployed via Infrastructure as Code.
• Cloud Architecture, IAM & Security:
  • Design and enforce IAM boundary design using least-privilege principles.
  • Operate within and contribute to YPO's multi-account AWS strategy.
  • All cloud infrastructure must be defined and maintained as code.
• Developer Experience & Enablement:
  • Produce and maintain clear API documentation.
  • Support technical onboarding for new product teams and integration partners.
  • Identify and address developer friction proactively.
  • Act as a technical resource for Engineering peers.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration:
  • Work closely with Data Architecture to ensure APIs maintain stable semantic meaning.
  • Partner with IT and Security to enforce role-based access and member consent policy.
  • Collaborate with Product teams to translate requirements into production implementations.
  • Evaluate and integrate third-party technologies that enhance YPO's member ecosystem.

Qualifications

• Ability to work collaboratively in a multi-cultural organization.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including strong diplomacy skills.
• Resourceful and able to work independently with initiative and common sense.
• Possesses a distinct global mindset, sensitive to local and international customs.
• Demonstrate empathy through active listening.
• Able to identify problems, research alternatives, and provide solutions.
• Analytical thinker with the ability to influence and guide processes.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Professional presence to interact easily with YPO members and executives.
• Strong ability to translate complex security risks into clear business decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively across product, engineering, and global teams.
• High degree of discretion and integrity in handling confidential information.
• Ability to operate independently in fast-moving, ambiguous environments.

Requirements

• 5+ years of hands-on experience in security engineering.
• At least 3 years focused on cloud infrastructure security (AWS, Azure, and/or GCP).
• Experience integrating security tooling into CI/CD platforms.
• Experience securing AI/ML infrastructure, including model APIs and data pipelines.
• Strong experience with IaC tools (Terraform, CloudFormation, ARM).
• Familiarity with container security and Kubernetes environments.
• Proficiency in Python or equivalent scripting language.
• Strong knowledge of IAM, encryption, OAuth/OIDC, RBAC, and secure cloud architecture principles.
• Understanding of compliance & security frameworks (SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST).

Education/Training/Certification

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Security, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• Security certifications are highly desirable (AWS, Azure, GCP, CISSP, CCSP, GIAC, etc.).

Physical Requirements

• Ability to work flexible and/or extended hours as needed.
• Willingness and ability to travel, domestically and internationally, approximately 5-10% per year.

Compensation & Pay Transparency

Compensation at YPO is one part of a broader Total Rewards philosophy built to attract, motivate, and retain talented people. For United States applicants, the compensation range is USD 119,200 - 155,000 annually. Associates are also eligible for performance-based bonus opportunities and a comprehensive rewards package.

EOE

YPO is an Equal Opportunity Employer. YPO takes pride in supporting a diverse workforce and does not discriminate in recruiting, hiring, training, promotion, or other employment practices.