Senior Backend Engineer

Role Description

We’re looking for a Senior Backend Engineer with deep Django expertise to help build and scale the core application layer at TaxGPT. This is a hands-on role for someone who has strong judgment in designing backend systems, writing clean and maintainable Django code, modeling complex business logic, and improving performance, reliability, and security in production systems.

You’ll work closely with product, design, and leadership to ship backend features that power critical workflows for tax professionals. You should be comfortable operating in ambiguity, owning projects end-to-end, and helping shape backend engineering standards as the company scales.

What You’ll Do

• Design, build, and maintain core backend systems using Python, Django, and Django REST Framework
• Own application architecture for backend features, including domain modeling, business logic, API design, and integrations
• Build reliable, secure, and well-documented APIs used by our frontend and internal services
• Write efficient, scalable database queries in PostgreSQL, and improve performance through indexing, query tuning, caching, and thoughtful schema design
• Manage database migrations and evolving data models safely in production
• Build and maintain asynchronous and background job workflows for longer-running tasks and system processes
• Improve system reliability, observability, and operational readiness in collaboration with the broader engineering team
• Implement secure authentication, authorization, and data protection patterns appropriate for sensitive financial workflows
• Review code, mentor other engineers, and raise the standard for backend quality, testing, and maintainability
• Partner closely with product, frontend, and leadership to translate ambiguous requirements into clean technical solutions
• Contribute to architectural decisions and help the team balance speed, simplicity, and long-term scalability

Qualifications

• 7+ years of backend engineering experience, with significant production experience in Python and Django
• Deep understanding of Django architecture, including models, views, serializers, middleware, auth, admin, signals, migrations, and application structure
• Strong experience with Django REST Framework
• Strong experience with PostgreSQL, including schema design, query optimization, indexing, and migration strategy
• Experience building and scaling production backend services and complex business logic in growing product environments
• Strong understanding of testing and reliability practices, including unit, integration, and API-level testing
• Experience with asynchronous systems and background job processing, plus strong backend security fundamentals
• Clear communicator who collaborates well across teams and operates effectively in a fast moving startup environment

Nice to Have

• Experience with AI/LLM-enabled products or backend systems that support AI workflows
• Experience in fintech, tax, accounting, or other regulated domains
• Experience scaling Django applications with caching, background workers, performance monitoring and production deployment environments
• Experience improving developer experience, code quality, and engineering standards across a backend team

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Remote-first: Work from anywhere across US, Canada or Mexico.
• Ownership & Impact: Direct visibility into leadership, product strategy, and company growth initiatives. Your work directly influences revenue.
• Professional Development: Access to top-tier sales training, AI tooling, and development resources including a $350 credit, all to sharpen your craft.
• Culture: We’re a high-trust, high-output team. Expect fast feedback loops, real ownership, and cross-functional collaboration.

Hiring Process

• Intro Call
• Technical Assessment
• Technical Interview
• Final Conversations