Backend Engineer

Senior Xano Developer

Visual Backend Development, APIs & AI-Assisted Build

📍 Mumbai (On-site) | Full-time | 3-5 years

About the Role:

Unico Connect is an AI-first technology partner that builds custom mobile, web, and AI products for clients across multiple geographies.

We are hiring a Xano Developer who will build backend systems and APIs for our customer engagements on Xano, the visual backend development platform.

The mandatory requirement for this role is hands-on production backend engineering experience, including PostgreSQL data modelling and REST API design, in either a Node.js or Python environment.

Prior production work on Xano is strongly preferred.

The role is hands-on and customer-facing. You will own backend delivery across engagements: designing data models, building API flows in Xano, integrating third-party services, and partnering with frontend, mobile, and AI engineers on contracts and behaviour.

The work spans all three Xano build modes: no-code function stacks, custom code through Xano’s scripting and code blocks, and Xano’s AI assistance and agentic features.

A typical week includes a data model review for a new engagement, building a complex API flow in Xano, integrating a third-party webhook, and a customer working session on a new module.

Responsibilities:

Backend Delivery on Xano

Own end-to-end backend implementation on Xano: database schema, API endpoints, function stacks, background tasks, and integrations.

Ship production-ready work that meets customer requirements and engineering quality standards.

Build Across All Three Xano Modes

Use Xano’s no-code function stacks for standard CRUD and business logic.

Drop into custom code (JavaScript, Python through code blocks, expressions) where visual flows would be unwieldy.

Use Xano’s AI assistance and agentic features to accelerate routine build work.

Database Design on PostgreSQL

Own data model decisions for each engagement: table design, relationships, indexes, addons, and query performance.

Make schema choices that hold up as product usage grows and that map cleanly to the API contracts the client needs.

API Design and Integration

Design clean REST API contracts that the frontend, mobile, and third-party consumers can rely on.

Cover authentication, input validation, pagination, error handling, and rate limiting.

Integrate external services (payment gateways, messaging, storage, AI providers) through Xano’s connectors and custom requests.

Product Thinking and Solutioning

Translate fuzzy product asks from customers into concrete backend solutions.

Ask the right questions about edge cases, data lifecycle, multi-tenancy, and access control before building.

Push back on requirements that will cause pain later.

Customer Communication

Work directly with customers in discovery, design reviews, demos, and weekly working sessions.

Explain trade-offs in plain language, present options with clear recommendations, and write tight technical updates.

AI-Assisted Backend Development

Use Xano’s built-in AI features as well as external AI tools (Claude, Cursor, and similar) day to day for schema drafts, function stack scaffolding, query writing, integration setup, and review.

Develop strong instincts for when AI output is usable as-is and when it must be reworked.

Quality, Testing, and Reliability

Test the flows you ship.

Set up sensible error handling, logging, and alerts for the backend services you own.

Participate in incident response when something breaks in production.

Documentation and Handover

Document data models, API contracts, and non-obvious decisions inside Xano and in shared docs so the rest of the team and the customer can pick up the work without you in the room.

Continuous Learning

Track changes to the Xano platform, including new features, performance improvements, and AI capabilities.

Apply them to active engagements where they reduce build effort or improve product outcomes.

Requirements:

Hands-on Production Backend Engineering Experience (Mandatory)

Must have personally shipped backend systems to production for real users, with ownership of API design and data modelling.

POCs, coursework, and internal-only tools do not qualify.

3 to 5 Years of Professional Backend Engineering Experience

In either a Node.js or Python environment.

Candidates with slightly less time but strong demonstrated ownership are welcome to apply.

Strong PostgreSQL Skills

Schema design, indexing, query writing, and migrations on at least one production system.

Able to reason about query performance and design data models that hold up under realistic product usage.

REST API Design and Integration Depth

Comfort designing API contracts that are clean, predictable, and easy for frontend, mobile, and third-party consumers to work with.

Experience integrating external services such as payment gateways, messaging providers, storage, and AI APIs.

Familiarity with at Least One Node.js or Python Backend Stack

Such as Express, NestJS, Fastify, FastAPI, Django, or Flask.

Comfort reading and writing application code outside of visual environments when the situation calls for it.

Product Thinking and Solutioning

Ability to take a fuzzy product brief, ask the right questions, and propose a backend design that is fit for purpose.

Strong instincts for what to build first, what to defer, and what not to build.

Strong Written and Spoken English Communication

Confident in customer working sessions and design reviews.

Comfortable writing precise technical documentation and explaining trade-offs to non-engineering stakeholders.

Cloud and Deployment Fundamentals

Working knowledge of at least one of AWS, GCP, or Azure: deploying services, reading logs, managing environments, and basic operational tasks.

Familiarity with Docker is a plus.

Bachelor’s Degree

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related engineering discipline.

Exceptional candidates with demonstrable production experience and strong portfolios may be considered without a formal degree.

Nice to Have

• Prior production experience on Xano, Bubble, Retool, or comparable visual or low-code backend platforms
• Full stack experience with React, Next.js, React Native, or Flutter
• Experience integrating LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) into backend workflows
• Multi-tenant SaaS product experience
• Prior agency, consulting, or product-engineering experience

Job Title: Principal Backend Engineer

Experience: 7+ Years

Location: Panchkula (Onsite)

📍 Office will move to IT Park, Chandigarh from February

Work Mode: Onsite | 5 Days a Week

About the Role

We are looking for a Principal Backend Engineer to architect, scale, and lead the development of robust backend systems. This is a hands-on leadership role where you’ll drive technical decisions, mentor engineers, collaborate closely with clients and product teams, and help modernize platforms using scalable architectures and emerging technologies, including AI/ML where relevant.

Tech Stack

• Backend: PHP (Laravel / CodeIgniter), Node.js
• Databases: MySQL, MongoDB
• Architecture: Microservices / Modular Monolith
• Cloud (Good to Have): AWS / GCP

Key Responsibilities

Backend Architecture & Development

• Own and evolve backend architecture across PHP and Node.js services
• Design and review scalable, maintainable systems (microservices or modular monoliths)
• Manage and optimize integrations across MySQL and MongoDB (data modeling, indexing, performance tuning)

Technical Leadership

• Lead system design discussions, architecture reviews, and code quality initiatives
• Establish backend development standards, best practices, and documentation
• Mentor mid and senior engineers on design patterns, testing strategies, and CI/CD pipelines
• Drive decisions around refactoring legacy systems and platform modernization

Client & Stakeholder Communication

• Act as the technical SPOC for backend architecture and integrations
• Translate business and product requirements into technical solutions
• Explain trade-offs, constraints, and backend workflows to non-technical stakeholders
• Present PoCs and technical approaches confidently to clients

AI & ML Integration (Strategic / Optional)

• Identify backend use cases for AI such as personalization, recommendations, fraud detection, or data enrichment
• Design backend APIs, services, or cron jobs that interact with AI/ML models
• Collaborate with data teams and stay updated on AI tools/APIs (e.g., OpenAI, LangChain)

Scalability, Security & Performance

• Ensure API security, role-based access control, and rate limiting
• Optimize system performance using caching, queues, and query optimization
• Plan and support horizontal/vertical scaling on cloud infrastructure

What We’re Looking For

• 8+ years of backend development experience in PHP and/or Node.js
• Strong expertise in database design (MySQL & MongoDB)
• Proven experience leading architecture decisions and mentoring engineers
• Ability to clearly communicate technical concepts to clients and stakeholders
• Proactive mindset toward scalability, performance, and system resilience
• Bonus: Experience or curiosity around AI APIs and real-world AI integration

Why Join uEngage?

• Work on high-impact systems used by thousands of users
• Collaborate with product, design, data, and client teams
• High ownership and freedom to architect and innovate
• Competitive compensation and a collaborative work culture

As a Node.js Developer, you will be responsible for:

Designing, developing, and maintaining server-side applications and systems using Node.js, a JavaScript runtime environment. Your expertise in backend development, JavaScript, TypeScript, and REST APIs will play an essential role in creating efficient and powerful server-side applications.

Responsibilities:

● Design and implement efficient, secure, and maintainable server-side code using Node.js.

● Collaborate with the front-end development team to integrate user-facing elements with server-side logic.

● Develop APIs for seamless data flow between the front-end and back-end.

● Optimize application performance and ensure high availability and scalability.

To succeed in this role – you should have the following:

● Minimum of 3-4 years of experience as a backend developer.

● Must have proven experience as a Back-End Developer, with a focus on Node.js.

● Proficiency in JavaScript, TypeScript, and related frameworks (Express.js, Hapi.js, etc.).

● Experience with RESTful API design principles.

● Experience with agile development methodologies.

● Familiarity with working with at least one of PostgreSQL or MongoDB.

● Familiarity with version control systems (Git)

● Strong communication skills and ability to work collaboratively in a team.

● Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail.

Added bonus:

● Familiarity with frontend development technologies like HTML and CSS.

● Experience working with Docker, Github Actions, and other common CI/CD pipelines

● Knowledge about AWS components (S3, EC2, Cloudfront, Redis Clusters, etc.)

Education:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field

About Us

Instavans is a Logistics tech startup focused on the development of SaaS products for the Road Trucking industry. Instavans has built and rolled out SmarTruck™, a SaaS based TMS with a private marketplace. SmarTruck has customers in India & the MENA region and is poised to enter Latam and Sub-saharan Africa.

The company’s innovative go-to-market plan involves working with large Shippers and 4PLs (Fourth Party Logistics Service Providers) to synergistically bring their Carriers on board.

We are looking for people to help us supercharge our growth, while we continue to embody the values that have got us so far already. As we are a rapidly growing company you will gain exposure to all areas of the platform, understanding the key success drivers at an engineering team and gaining invaluable experience for your future career. Success in this role will lead to opportunities for growth across the entire engineering team with significant scope for future development.

We have openings in Frontend (Angular 8+), Backend(Node.js), Android (Kotlin) and QA (Automation)