Backend API Developer

About SmartQ

A leading B2B Food-Tech company built on 4 pillars-great people, great food, great experience, and greater good. Solving complex business problems with our heart and analyzing possible solutions with our mind lie in our DNA. We are on the perpetual route of serving our clients wholeheartedly. Armed with the stability of an MNC and the agility of a start-up, we have spread across 17 countries, having collaborated and executed successfully with 600 clients. We have grown from strength to strength with a blend of exuberant youth and exceptional experience. Bengaluru, being our headquarters, is known as the innovation hub and we have grown up to be the global leader in the institutional food tech space. We were recently acquired by the world's largest foodservice company – Compass group which has an annual turnover of 20 billion USD.  

In this role, you will:

1. Collaborate with Product & Design Teams Work closely with the Product team to ensure that we are building a scalable, bug-free platform. You will actively participate in product and design discussions, offering valuable insights from a backend perspective to align technology with business goals.

2. Drive Adoption of New Technologies

You will lead brainstorming sessions and define a clear direction for the backend team to incorporate the latest technologies into day-to-day development,continuously optimizing for performance, scalability, and efficiency.

3. RESTful API Design & Development:You will ensure that the APIs you design and develop are well-structured, following best practices, and are suitable for consumption by frontend teams across multiple platforms. A key part of your role is making sure these APIs are scalable and maintainable.

4. Third-Party Integration Support:As we sometimes partner with third-party providers to expedite our market entry,you’ll work closely with these partners to integrate their solutions into our system.This involves participating in calls, finding the best integration methods, and providing ongoing support.

5. AI and Prompt Engineering:With AI becoming more integral to backend development, you’ll leverage AI to speed up development processes and maintain best practices. Familiarity with prompt engineering and AI-driven problem-solving is a significant plus in our team.

Must-Have Requirements:

• Strong expertise in Python, microservices, backend development and scalable architectures.
• Proficiency in designing and building REST APIs.
• Experience with unit testing in any testing framework and maintaining 100% code coverage.
• Experience in working with NoSQL DB.
• Strong understanding of any Cloud platforms such as - GCP/AWS/Azure.
• Profound knowledge in Serverless design pattern .
• Familiarity with Django or Webapp2 or Flask or similar web app frameworks.
• Experience in writing unit test using any testing framework.
• Experience collaborating with product and design teams.
• Familiarity with integrating third-party solutions.

Good-to-Have Requirements:

• Educational background includes a degree (B.E/B.Tech/M.Tech) in ComputerScience, Engineering, or a related field.  
• 4+ years’ experience as a backend/cloud developer.
• Good understanding of google cloud platform.
• Knowledge of AI and how to leverage it for day-to-day tasks in backend development.
• Familiarity with prompt engineering to enhance productivity.
• Prior experience working with global or regional teams.
• Experience with agile methodologies and working within cross-functional teams.

Job description

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain serverless applications using AWS services such as Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, and S3.
• Collaborate with front-end developers to integrate user-facing elements with server-side logic.
• Build and maintain RESTful APIs to support web and mobile applications.
• Implement security best practices for AWS services and manage IAM roles and policies.
• Optimize application performance, scalability, and reliability through monitoring and testing.
• Write clean, maintainable, and efficient code following best practices and design patterns.
• Participate in code reviews, providing constructive feedback to peers.
• Troubleshoot and debug applications, identifying performance bottlenecks and areas for improvement.
• Stay updated with emerging technologies and industry trends related to serverless architectures and Python development.

Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• Proven experience as a Python backend developer, with a strong portfolio of serverless applications.
• Proficiency in AWS services, particularly in serverless architectures (Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, etc.).
• Solid understanding of RESTful API design principles and best practices.
• Familiarity with CI/CD practices and tools (e.g., AWS CodePipeline, Jenkins).
• Experience with containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes) is a plus.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently and collaboratively.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.

Preferred Skills

• Experience with frontend technologies (JavaScript, React, Angular) is a plus.
• Knowledge of data storage solutions (SQL and NoSQL databases).
• AWS certifications (e.g., AWS Certified Developer Associate) are a plus.

Python Backend Developer (5+ years experience)

We are seeking an experienced Python Backend Developer with at least 5 years of hands-on experience in Python and Django development. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in MySQL and MongoDB databases, as well as knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript frameworks, and cloud technologies like AWS, Azure or Google Cloud.Key Responsibilities:

• Design and develop scalable, high-performance Python applications using the Django framework
• Write clean, maintainable, and well-documented code
• Optimize database queries and schema design for improved performance
• Integrate applications with various APIs and third-party services
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to gather requirements and deliver solutions
• Participate in code reviews, testing, and deployment processes
• Continuously learn and stay updated with the latest technologies and best practices

Required Skills and Experience:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology or a related field
• 5+ years of professional experience in Python and Django development
• Proficient in MySQL and MongoDB databases, with the ability to write complex queries and optimize database performance
• Hands-on experience with HTML, CSS, and at least one JavaScript framework (e.g., React, Angular, Vue.js)
• Knowledge of cloud technologies like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud is preferred
• Strong problem-solving and algorithmic skills
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills
• Passion for continuous learning and innovation

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in developing and deploying applications on cloud platforms
• Knowledge of containerization technologies like Docker and Kubernetes added advantages

Function: Software Engineering → Backend Development

• Python
• Flask

Requirements:

• Should be a go-getter, ready to shoulder more responsibilities, shows enthusiasm and interest in work.
• Excellent core Python skills including threading, dictionary, OOPS Concept, Data structure, Web service.
• Should have work experience on following stacks/libraries: Flask
• Familiarity with some ORM (Object Relational Mapper) libraries
• Able to integrate multiple data sources and databases into one system
• Understanding of the threading limitations of Python, and multi-process architecture Familiarity with event-driven programming in Python
• Basic understanding of front-end technologies, such as Angular, JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS3
• Writing reusable, testable, and efficient code
• Design and implementation of low-latency, high-availability, and performant applications
• Understanding of accessibility and security compliance
• Experience in both RDBMS(MySQL), NoSQL databases (MongoDB, HDFS, HIVE etc) or in-memory caching technologies such as ehcache etc is preferable.

Who are we?

Centre for Research on Start-ups and Risk Financing (CREST) has been set up by IIT Madras to provide thought leadership and intellectual impact to the start-up and innovation ecosystem. CREST has embarked on an ambitious mission of becoming one of the top global research centres in the area of start-ups and innovation. The core of CREST is the development of an AI-driven Intelligent
Information Platform that would enable cutting edge research as well as influence policy and practice like never before
With the recent exponential growth in the start-up and innovation ecosystem, new data-driven approaches would play a critical part in sustaining the current growth curve. The objective of CREST would be to become the gold standard of information and intelligence on Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Private Equity investments in India

The Opening
We are currently looking for our next passionate, skilled and motivated Python developer, who can join us immediately. The candidate should
● Be excited about building a next-generation intelligence platform
● Have a can-do attitude and ready for challenges
● Value working with a greatteam - confident, creative and thoughtful people who come together to achieve great things
● Be eager to experiment, learn and bring new things, improving the platform
● Be high on self-belief and enthusiasm to work in a startup-like culture - small team, fast-paced work environment If this is you, we're excited to interact!

As the Data Science Engineer in CREST, you will

● Write reusable code and build libraries for future use
● Establish solid data-pipelines and automate routine tasks
● Develop & deploy custom Machine Learning (ML) models using the latest
research in ML and Natural Language Processing (NLP)
● Build performant applications following best practices, maximizing speed and scalability
● Improve upon the existing codebase mitigating technical debt
● Take ownership of all aspects of the application - architecture, quality and efficiency
Requirements
● Proficient understanding of Python language
● Expertise with data-modelling, data-wrangling & data-mining techniques
● Familiar with Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) processes and hands-on experience with packages like Pandas, Numpy etc
● Experience with data visualisation tools and libraries like Plotly, Seaborn etc
● Good understanding of advanced Statistical and ML techniques on
regression, classification, forecasting etc
● Skilled in NLP and specifically ML applications in NLP like information
extraction, feature engineering, classification, building language models etc
● Should provide direction and mentorship to junior team members
● Bachelor’s or Master’s degree from premier educational institutions
● Minimum 2 years of experience (research or professional) in the
above-mentioned areas
Good to have
● Comfortable with using Command Line and Linux systems
● Experience and knowledge in version control systems like git, svn, etc
● Knowledge in developing & deploying web apps & web APIs with an overall understanding of client-server interactions
● Experience with NoSQL databases like MongoDB
Job type
● Full time, on-site
● Immediate joiner
● Initial appointment for 1 year, it would be renewed subsequently based on performance

Work location
Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras campus, Chennai, Tamil Nadu,
India - 600036

Why work with us?
● Get to interact with the best of the minds. IIT Madras has been ranked as the
top university in India for 5 years in a row
● Be at the forefront of the Entrepreneurial ecosystem in India
● Enormous opportunities for learning