Backend Developer - Python/Java/Performance Tuning

A BIT ABOUT US

Appknox is one of the top Mobile Application security companies recognized by Gartner and G2. A profitable B2B SaaS startup headquartered in Singapore & working from Bengaluru.

The primary goal of Appknox is to help businesses and mobile developers secure their mobile applications with a focus on delivery speed and high-quality security audits.

Our business includes Fortune 500 companies with Major brands spread across regions like India, South-East Asia, Middle-East, Japan, US, and expanding rapidly. 

The Opportunity:

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Software Engineer (Backend) to join our dynamic software development team. In this role, you will contribute to key backend projects, collaborate across teams, and play a vital part in delivering robust, scalable, and high-performance software solutions. As a senior engineer, you will work independently, make impactful technical decisions, and help shape the backend architecture while collaborating with a passionate, high-performing team.

You will work hands-on with products primarily built in Python, with opportunities to contribute to Golang. These technologies are at the core of our development stack, and your focus will be on building, scaling, and maintaining distributed services. Distributed systems are integral to our architecture, providing a chance to gain hands-on experience with maintaining and optimizing them in a fast-paced environment.

As a Senior Engineer, you are expected to:

• Write clean, maintainable, and testable code while following best practices.
• Architect solutions, address complex problems, and deliver well-thought-out technical designs.
• Take ownership of assigned modules and features, delivering them with minimal supervision.
• Contribute to code reviews and technical discussions, ensuring high-quality deliverables.

We highly value open source contributions and encourage you to check out our work on GitHub at Appknox GitHub. While no prior experience in security is required, our experienced security professionals are available to support you in understanding the domain.

This role offers a unique opportunity to work on cutting-edge technology, drive impactful solutions, and grow within a collaborative environment that values autonomy, innovation, and technical excellence.

Responsibilities:

• Contribute to backend development for a cutting-edge product in the Security domain, with focus on performance, reliability, and maintainability.
• Implement software components and features based on high-level architectural guidance using Django and Django REST Framework (DRF).
• Collaborate with senior engineers to translate functional and technical requirements into robust backend implementations.
• Write clean, modular, and testable code following industry best practices and team standards.
• Participate in design discussions and code reviews to maintain code quality and continuously learn from peers.
• Work closely with frontend, QA, and security teams to deliver well-integrated, end-to-end solutions.
• Troubleshoot, debug, and resolve issues in existing systems, ensuring stability and efficiency.
• Contribute to the creation of technical documentation for components and modules you build or maintain.
• Follow defined verification plans and contribute to improving test coverage and automation.
• Participate in sprint planning, estimations, and agile ceremonies to support timely and effective project delivery.
• Proactively seek feedback and continuously improve your technical skills and understanding of system architecture.
• Support team success by collaborating effectively, sharing knowledge, and guiding junior team members when needed.

Requirements:

• Solid hands-on experience with Django and Django REST Framework 3-4 years
• Good understanding of relational databases, SQL, and working with ORMs such as Django ORM.
• Ability to contribute to design discussions and implement well-structured, maintainable backend systems.
• Exposure to writing unit and integration tests; familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and version control systems
• Proficiency in debugging, performance optimization, and addressing scalability concerns under guidance.
• Strong fundamentals in data structures, algorithms, and clean coding practices.
• Able to collaborate effectively within a team and take ownership of moderately complex modules.
• Good communication skills, with the ability to document and explain solutions to peers.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms and microservices architecture is a plus.
• Self-driven with a growth mindset and willingness to learn from peers and feedback.

Work Expectations:

Within 1 month-

• Attend KT sessions conducted by the engineering and product teams to gain a deep understanding of the product, its architecture, and workflows.
• Learn about the team's development processes, tools, and key challenges.
• Work closely with the product team to understand product requirements and contribute to the design and development of features.
• Dive deep into the existing backend architecture, including database structures, APIs, and integration points, to fully understand the technical landscape
• Begin addressing minor technical challenges and bugs, while understanding the underlying architecture and tech stack.
• Begin to participate in creating action plans for new features, ensuring that design and implementation are aligned with product goals.

Within 3 months-

• Achieve full autonomy in working on the codebase, demonstrating the ability to independently deliver high-quality features from design to deployment.
• Take complete ownership of critical modules, ensuring they are optimized for performance and maintainability.
• Act as a technical resource for the team, offering support and guidance to peers on complex issues.
• Collaborate with DevOps to optimize deployment pipelines, debug production issues, and improve backend infrastructure.
• Lead discussions for technical solutions and provide recommendations for architectural improvements.
• Contribute to the design of new features by translating functional requirements into detailed technical specifications.
• Prepare regular updates on assigned tasks and communicate effectively with the engineering manager and other stakeholders.

Within 6 months-

• Be fully independent in their development tasks, contributing to key features and solving critical challenges.
• Demonstrate strong problem-solving skills and the ability to take ownership of technical modules.
• Actively participate in code reviews and technical discussions, ensuring high-quality deliverables.
• Collaborate seamlessly with cross-functional teams to align technical solutions with business requirements.
• Establish themselves as a reliable and proactive team member, contributing to the team’s growth and success.

Personality traits we really admire:

• Great attitude to ask questions, learn and suggest process improvements.
• Has attention to details and helps identify edge cases.
• Proactive mindset. 
• Highly motivated and coming up with ideas and perspective to help us move towards our goals faster.
• Follows timelines and absolute commitment to deadlines.

Interview Process 

• Round 1 Interview - Profile Evaluation (EM)
• Round 2 Interview - Assignment Evaluation & Technical Problem Solving discussion (Tech Team)
• Round 4 Interview - Engineering Team & Technical Founder (CTO)
• Round 5 Interview - HR

Compensation

• Best in industry

We prefer that every employee also holds equity in the company. In this role, you will be awarded equity after 12 months, based on the impact you have created.

Please be aware that all your customers are Enterprises and Fortune 500 companies.

Why Join Us:

• Freedom & Responsibility: If you are a person who enjoys challenging work & pushing your boundaries, then this is the right place for you. We appreciate new ideas & ownership as well as flexibility with working hours.
• Great Salary & Equity: We keep up with the market standards & provide pay packages considering updated standards. Also as Appknox continues to grow, you’ll have a great opportunity to earn more & grow with us. Moreover, we also provide equity options for our top performers.
• Holistic Growth: We foster a culture of continuous learning and take a much more holistic approach to training and developing our assets: the employees. We shall also support you all on that journey of yours.
• Transparency: Being a part of a start-up is an amazing experience one of the reasons being the open communication & transparency at multiple levels. Working with Appknox will give you the opportunity to experience it all first hand.
• Health insurance: We offer health insurance coverage upto 5 Lacs for you and your family including parents.

Desired Experience

3+ years

Job Description

What You’ll Do

• Design financial systems for scale. Measure, plan, iterate.
• Writing reusable, testable, and efficient code
• Design and implementation of low-latency, high-availability, and performant applications
• Setup and own the engineering architectures built around event sourcing, application sharding, database sharding, service communication mesh, etc.
• The tech: Go, Google Cloud Spanner, Kafka, Redis

What you bring to the table

• 3+ years of experience. Relevant experience is preferred.
• Knowledge of 2 common programming languages - Java & Node / Rust /Python & Go
• Comfortable in linux command line, AWS or GCP
• Strong unit test and debugging skills
• Great communication skills

Bonus if you have…

• Love building great products and engineering systems from scratch
• Are a Self-starter, Hustler and Curious to Learn
• Have an understanding of fundamental design principles behind a scalable application
• Thrive in an early-stage startup environment with less stability and more ambiguity
• Have an interest in financial products and/or cryptocurrency