Staff Backend Engineer (Python / AI Platforms)

Backend Engineer (Python / AI Platforms)

New York City (Hybrid)

Carter Wellington is partnering with a high-growth, AI-first technology company to hire an experienced Backend Engineer with strong Python expertise and a track record of building scalable systems used by real customers.

This role is ideal for engineers who thrive in fast-moving startup environments, take ownership of architecture decisions, and enjoy solving complex backend challenges at scale.

The Role

You will design and build backend systems that power AI-driven products, contributing directly to platform scalability, performance, and reliability. This is a hands-on engineering position where technical ownership, product thinking, and execution speed are essential.

What You’ll Do

• Design and build scalable backend services using modern Python (Python 3).
• Architect distributed systems supporting real-world production workloads.
• Develop APIs and backend infrastructure powering AI-native features.
• Build or integrate agentic workflows, automation pipelines, or LLM-powered capabilities.
• Collaborate closely with product and engineering teams to ship high-impact features.
• Contribute to scaling systems as usage and customer demand grow.

What We’re Looking For

Experience

• 6–10 years building production-grade software or platforms.
• Candidates with 4+ years considered if they demonstrate strong ownership during scaling journeys.
• Experience at high-growth startups (Series A–D) or AI-first environments preferred.
• Background as an early engineer, founding engineer, or key contributor during growth phases highly valued.

Technical Skills

• Strong Python backend engineering expertise.
• Experience designing scalable backend architectures and distributed systems.
• Understanding of modern AI systems and infrastructure.
• Experience with LLM integrations, agentic workflows, or AI-powered backend services is highly desirable.
• Cloud experience with AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Containerisation and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).

Mindset

• High ownership and accountability.
• Strong product sense and customer-focused thinking.
• Comfortable operating autonomously in ambiguous environments.
• Direct communicator who moves quickly and solves problems creatively.

Additional Details

• Hybrid role based in New York City.
• Office collaboration expected (approx. 5 days per week with flexibility).

About Carter Wellington

Carter Wellington partners with venture-backed and high-growth technology companies to build exceptional engineering teams. We specialise in connecting AI-native startups with engineers who combine deep technical expertise with strong product thinking and ownership.