Senior Backend Web Developer

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:

• Drive backend development for a disruptive product in the Security domain, focusing on innovation, performance, scalability, and maintainability.
• Take ownership of the software design process, including designing workflows, system architecture, and implementation plans.
• Translate functional and technical requirements into detailed architecture and design, making independent decisions to ensure efficiency and scalability.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including frontend and security teams, to deliver cohesive and high-quality solutions.
• Conduct thorough code reviews to ensure adherence to best practices, maintainability, and coding standards.
• Write clean, maintainable, and testable code using Django and Python, adhering to industry best practices.
• Design and implement scalable software components, frameworks, and APIs using Django and Django REST Framework (DRF).
• Troubleshoot, debug, and optimize existing systems to improve functionality and performance.
• Create detailed technical documentation, including flowcharts, layouts, and system requirements, to ensure clarity and alignment.
• Develop and enforce robust software verification plans, quality assurance procedures, and deployment strategies.
• Ensure timely delivery of software updates while addressing user feedback to enhance solutions.
• Provide technical expertise to solve backend challenges and participate in critical decision-making processes.
• Support team growth by sharing knowledge, fostering collaboration, and mentoring junior engineers informally as needed.

Requirements:

• 5–6 years of professional experience in backend development with a strong focus on Django and Python.
• Proficiency in Django REST Framework (DRF), relational databases, SQL, and ORMs (e.g., Django ORM, SQLAlchemy).
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to make independent technical decisions regarding system design and implementation.
• Hands-on experience in designing and developing scalable, maintainable, and high-performing backend systems.
• Deep understanding of software engineering practices, including Test-Driven Development (TDD), CI/CD pipelines, and deployment processes.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to document and present technical specifications and workflows clearly.
• Familiarity with cloud infrastructure, deployment pipelines, and microservices architectures is a bonus.
• Self-motivated and capable of working independently in a fast-paced environment with minimal supervision.
• Ability to handle ambiguity and adapt to rapidly changing business needs while maintaining focus on delivering quality solutions.

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.
• 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 3 Interview - System Design (Sr. Architect)
• 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.

Our client has a B2C startup in the Fintech space building the payment system for the

subscription economy. We have raised pre-seed funding from some of the leading

investors in the country. A small brief about their product - To build the payment

system for the subscription economy and make it easier to discover and manage

subscription payments in India and abroad. To give subscription merchants the

power to increase their offering by providing user subscription data, multiple login

authentication, distribution and one click subscription checkouts. To enable users to

participate in the subscription economy & increase adoption of new subscriptions.

The core team come from strong backgrounds having been alumni of IIT Madras,

IIM Calcutta as well as having worked with some of the top startups in the

ecosystem including Swiggy, Mckinsey, Barclays, etc..

What we're looking for

We are looking for an experienced Python developer to join our engineering team

and help us develop our mobile application. In this role, you will be responsible for

writing and testing scalable code, developing back-end components, and integrating

user-facing elements in collaboration with front-end developers.

To be successful as a Python developer, you should possess in-depth knowledge of

object-relational mapping, experience with server-side logic, and above-average

knowledge of Python programming.

As one of the earliest members in engineering, you will have the flexibility to design

the application and systems from ground up. As any early-stage start-up, we expect

you to be comfortable wearing various hats, and be proactive contributor in building

something truly remarkable.

Responsibilities

Coordinating with development teams to determine application requirements.Python Backend Developer

2

Writing scalable code using Python programming language.

Developing back-end components.

Implement business logic in the backend

Integrating user-facing elements using server-side logic.

Create restful APIs for a seamless integration with our mobile front end

Testing and debugging applications.

Assessing and prioritizing client feature requests.

Integrating data storage solutions.

Coordinating with front-end developers.

Reprogramming existing databases to improve functionality.

Developing digital tools to monitor online traffic.

Qualifications

4+ years of experience in Python, Django, Mongo, Express, MySQL, etc

Have built applications capable of serving high volume with low latency in

production

Following practices of agile development with continuous integration/deployment

A deep understanding and multi-process architecture and the threading

limitations of Python.

Experience in deploying applications in AWS cloud

Ability to collaborate on projects and work independently when required.

Knowledge in building applications for Fintech/payments domain is a bonus

Bachelor's or Master's degree in CS or equivalent from a reputed institution

Postgress developer cum database architect

5-7 years experience

Knowledge and experience, specifically PostGre

-           SQL

-           Query Optimization / Optimization strategies (in PostGre)

-           AWS - RDS Relational Databse Service

-           Optional: AWS – RDS API / PostGre API