Software Development Engineer

About Astra:

Astra is a cyber security SaaS company that makes otherwise chaotic pentests a breeze with its one of a kind Pentest Platform. Astra's continuous vulnerability scanner emulates hacker behavior to scan applications for 9300+ security tests. CTOs & CISOs love Astra because it helps them fix vulnerabilities in record time and move from DevOps to DevSecOps with Astra's CI/CD integrations.

Astra is loved by 650+ companies across the globe. In 2023 Astra uncovered 2 million+ vulnerabilities for its customers, saving customers $69M+ in potential losses due to security vulnerabilities. 

We've been awarded by the President of France Mr. François Hollande at the La French Tech program and Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi at the Global Conference on Cyber Security. Loom, MamaEarth, Muthoot Finance, Canara Robeco, ScripBox etc. are a few of Astra’s customers.

Role Overview:

As a Tech Lead/Principal SDE, you'll be leading the engineering team for the 0->1 journey of an upcoming product on our platform. You will be the owner of the product and would require a unique balance between hands-on development, architecture knowledge and production support.

You would be ensuring technical excellence, innovation, and alignment within your team. Drive feature design, ensuring regular releases, system optimization, and mentorship while shaping our overall tech strategy along with the Technical Program Manager (TPM).

This is a high visibility & high impact role, where you will be working with the founders & TPM directly. You will be leading the 0->1 journey of an upcoming product on our platform.

Love solving hard problems? Want to build high impact products rooted in first principles? Is coding your poetry? Join us in shaping the future of cyber security.

Roles & Responsibilities:

• Specialization in Technology: Act as the go-to person for specific technologies and proactively learn new ones to stay ahead in the industry.
• Technical Architecture: Create the technical architecture for the product, and keep evolving it to meet future requirements, defining and ensuring adherence to SLAs. Focus on reducing technical debt within the product.
• Ownership and Monitoring: Take ownership of production operations, releases, ensuring system uptime, and being mindful of Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
• Hands-On Coding: Engage in hands-on coding activities, contributing 30% to 70% of your time to development tasks.
• Be like Yoda: The wise and learned mentor who guides others through challenges. If the engineering team is stuck, you should be able to step in, and show them how it's done.
• Team Coordination: Coordinate team members, providing constructive feedback, and facilitate productive discussions.
• Process Adjustment: Adapt and refine team processes based on feedback, guiding the team through necessary changes.
• Technology Evangelism: Research, create proofs of concept, and introduce innovative technologies to the team.
• Process Definition: Define and implement appropriate processes for the team’s maturity level, balancing agility and discipline.
• Company-wide Impact: Contribute to the overall tech organization, influencing its direction and strategies.

Role Expectations:

• Quarterly Co-working: You would be expected to work for 1-2 weeks out of Bengaluru once every quarter depending on the requirements. Rest of the time will be fully remote.
• Architecture and Integration: Lead architectural discussions and ensure seamless product integration.
• Tech Mentoring and Alignment: Mentor team members, drive technology adoption, and ensure alignment with company goals.
• Technical Experiments: Conduct technical experiments, and drive innovation within the team.
• Code Reviews and Feedback: Conduct thorough code reviews and provide constructive feedback to team members.
• System Design Presentations: Present and communicate system designs effectively within the team and to stakeholders.
• Technical Capacity Planning: Plan and forecast technical resource requirements, contributing to hiring decisions.
• Production Issue Management: Manage and escalate production issues, ensuring timely resolution and minimal downtime. What you build is what you own.
• System SLAs and Monitoring: Define and monitor system SLAs, metrics, and performance indicators.
• Product Direction and Practices: Define product direction & roadmap, establish best practices, and drive continuous improvement.
• Cross-team collaboration: Collaborate with other Tech leads, Technical Program Manager, Product manager, leadership to ensure alignment and synergy
• Development Process Improvement: Continuously improve the development process, promoting efficiency and quality.

Required Qualifications & Skills:

• 5+ years experience in a similar role or similar working experience
• Strong product & development background preferably in dev-tools or infra product is highly desirable (as a developer, SDET, architect, etc.).
• Knowledge of application & infrastructure security is a plus.
• Knowledge of Golang, Python.
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms such as AWS, Google Cloud, Azure etc.
• Proven experience in leading and managing technical teams, including mentoring and coaching team members.
• Strong understanding of software architecture principles and design patterns. Experience leading change in large-scale systems.
• Experience with database technologies (SQL, NoSQL) and data modeling.
• Experience with Agile methodologies.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to think strategically about technical solutions.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional remote teams.
• Demonstrated track record of delivering high-quality software products on schedule.
• Experience with system monitoring and performance optimization.
• Knowledge of industry best practices in software development, security, and compliance.

What We offer:

• Adrenalin rush of being a part of a fast-growing company.
• Fully remote & agile working environment.
• A wholesome opportunity in a fast-paced environment where you get to build things from scratch, improve and influence product design decisions.
• Holistic understanding of SaaS and enterprise security business.
• Opportunity to engage and collaborate with developers globally.
• Experience with the security side of things.
• Annual trips to beaches or mountains (last one was Chikmangaluru).
• Open and supportive culture.
• Health insurance & other benefits.

Job Location: Sewri, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Required experience:

• Minimum 2 year of experience in Web & Backend Development using Python

Overview

We are looking for Python developers with a strong understanding of object orientation and experience in web and backend development. Experience with Analytical algorithms and mathematical calculations using libraries such as Numpy and Pandas are a must. Experience in some form of Machine Learning. We require candidates who have working experience using Django Framework

Key Skills required (Items in Bold are mandatory keywords) :

1. Proficiency in Python 3.x based web and backend development
2. Solid understanding of Python concepts
3. Experience with some form of Machine Learning (ML)
4. Experience in using libraries such as Numpy and Pandas
5. Some form of experience with NLP and Deep Learning using any of Pytorch, Tensorflow, Keras, Scikit-learn or similar
6. Hands on experience with RDBMS such as Postgres or MySQL
7. Experience building REST APIs using DRF or Flask
8. Comfort with Git repositories, branching and deployment using Git
9. Working experience with Docker
10. Basic working knowledge of ReactJs
11. Experience in deploying Django applications to AWS,Digital Ocean or Heroku

KRAs includes:

1. Understanding the scope of work
2. Understanding and adopting the current internal development workflow and processes
3. Understanding client requirements as communicated by the project manager
4. Arriving on timelines for projects, either independently or as a part of a team
5. Executing projects either independently or as a part of a team
6. Developing products and projects using Python
7. Writing code to collect and mathematically analyse large volumes of data.
8. Creating backend modules in Python by building or reutilizing existing modules in a manner so as to

provide optimal deliveries on time

1. Writing Scalable, maintainable code
2. Building secured REST APIs
3. Setting up batch task processing environments using Celery
4. Unit testing prepared modules
5. Bug fixing issues as reported by the QA team
6. Optimization and performance tuning of code

Responsibilities:

• Contribute as a developer to our platform - from specification to design, development, and troubleshooting.
• Collaborate with other team members on the development of games
• Write bug-free, scalable and well-structured code.
• Track user data using analytics tools and implement data visualization on our dashboards.

Requirements:

• Excellent understanding and expertise of all aspects of Node js.
• Experience with Angular, React JS, MongoDB, Aws, Docker will be a plus.
• Experience with version control systems such as Git.
• Ability to collect specifications and design a user experience to track the performance of our batteries.
• Ability to have smart technical conversations and defend hypotheses with factual data.
• Good problem-solving skills.
• Open to candidates who want to work remotely or willing to work from our office in Mumbai.

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING: 

• Compile and analyze data, processes, and codes to troubleshoot problems and identify areas for improvement. 
• Collaborate with the front-end developers and other team members to establish objectives and design more functional, cohesive codes to enhance the user experience. 

• Develop ideas for new programs, products, or features by monitoring industry developments and trends. 
• Record data and report it to proper parties, such as clients or leadership. 
• Participate in continuing education and training to remain current on best practices, learn new programming languages, and better assist other team members. 
• Take the lead on projects, as needed. 
• Be involved and participate in the overall application lifecycle. 

• Build high-quality reusable code that can be used in the future. 
• Develop functional and sustainable web applications with clean codes. 
• Conduct UI tests and optimize performance. 
• Manage cutting-edge technologies to improve applications. 

QUALIFICATIONS: 

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Programming or relevant field. Master’s Degree in a related field is preferred. 
• 5-7 years of relevant experience 
• Must be an expert programmer, skilled at computer languages such as HTML, C+++, C#, PHP, Python and Java. 
• Must understand Spring Core, Spring Boot, Spring MVC, Spring Data, JMS, Mysql, Redis, CouchDb, Micro Services, Docker, Kubernetes 
• Must be able to interpret and follow instructions related to the ultimate functionality of our IT-based product 

• Familiarity with front-end languages such as HTML, JavaScript and CSS 
• Must be comfortable with technology architecture and how a computer and its software functions. 
• Deadline driven, organized and understand how people view and understand content on the front-end 
• Proven experience in highly complex environments 
• Strong technical documentation skills 

• An ability to solve multifaceted technical issues in a fast-paced environment 
• Self-motivated and accountable for your work 
• Passionate about learning and continuous improvement 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills 
• Ability to work overtime 

Basic Qualifications:

• 2+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
• Programming experience with at least one modern language such as Java, C++, or C# including object-oriented design
• 1+ years of experience contributing to the architecture and design (architecture, design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and current systems.

Additional Job requirements

• BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science/Math or equivalent
• BS in computer science or related field.
• 2+ years of relevant professional software development experience: designing, developing, and delivering software written in Java, C#, or C++, web development.
• Knowledgeable in object-oriented design patterns.
• Experience building highly scalable and distributed systems

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with service-oriented architecture and application/services development
• Passion for performance debugging and benchmarking
• Ability to clearly and concisely communicate with technical and non-technical stakeholders across all levels of the organization