Lead Backend Software Engineer

Role Description

SITE Technologies is seeking a hands-on Lead Backend Software Engineer to lead and grow a small backend team while personally building and evolving SITE's platform and related customer systems. This is a player-coach role:

• Directly manage 3 to 4 senior backend engineers.
• Set technical direction and remain deeply involved in the architecture, implementation, quality, and operation of critical backend systems.
• Oversee nearshore engineers or consultants as the team evolves.
• Partner closely with product managers, other technical teams, and business stakeholders.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in backend development, with strong proficiency in Python.
• Demonstrated experience as a hands-on technical lead while directly managing engineers.
• Very strong ability to reason from first principles about backend architecture, workflow modeling, API boundaries, data consistency, security, and operational failure modes.
• Strong product judgment and ability to turn ambiguous business needs into clear technical plans and deliverable milestones.
• Proven ability to mentor senior engineers, give direct feedback, and raise team performance.
• Strong communication skills and ability to lead across product, frontend, data, operations, and business teams.
• Experience building production APIs with FastAPI or similar Python frameworks.
• Strong understanding of relational data modeling, PostgreSQL, SQLAlchemy or comparable ORM libraries, and database migration tools such as Alembic or Flyway.
• Experience with AWS backend services such as ECS, Lambda, RDS, S3, IAM, and related services.
• Experience with Docker, Git, and designing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions, AWS CodePipeline, or similar tools.
• Practical fluency with AI coding agents such as Claude Code and Cursor.

Requirements

• Lead the technical design and hands-on implementation of core backend APIs and services, primarily in Python and FastAPI.
• Set architectural direction for domain models, relational schemas, service boundaries, data consistency, and API contracts.
• Translate product priorities into well-scoped delivery plans, milestones, and technical decisions.
• Personally lead critical-path development, code reviews, release planning, and incident response.
• Set and maintain high standards for testing, CI/CD, observability, security, performance, and production reliability.
• Build reliable integrations across geospatial, media, reporting, asset management, and third-party vendor systems.
• Develop and maintain ETL and data migration processes for imagery, geospatial, and operational data.
• Directly manage 3 to 4 senior backend engineers through regular one-on-ones, feedback, performance management, and career development.
• Delegate work effectively, remove delivery blockers, and ensure the team ships high-quality backend systems predictably.
• Partner with product, frontend, data, operations, and QA teams to prioritize tradeoffs and deliver customer value.
• Hire, onboard, mentor, and develop strong backend engineers.

Benefits

• This is a remote, US-based position that can be based in one of 18 states where SITE is an employer.
• A competitive base salary of $70,000 to $90,000 per year plus the opportunity to participate in SITE’s stock options plan.
• Generous paid vacation and separate sick time banks.
• Ten (10) Company holidays off plus two (2) floating holidays.
• Two (2) paid days per year to do volunteer work.
• Paid parental leave benefits available after ninety (90) days of employment.
• Employee health, dental, vision, life and short-term disability coverage at no cost available on the first of the month after your hire date.
• 401K plan with a 4% employer safe harbor contribution.
• A strong workplace culture with a smart, collaborative team.