AWS API Developer

Position Overview

Please note this role is not open to sponsorship, visa transfer, or C2C partnership with a vendor.

We are seeking a Sr. AWS API Developer / Python Backend Engineer to design, build, test, deploy, and support secure, scalable enterprise APIs and backend services on AWS. This role will own the full API engineering lifecycle, including API contract design, Python development, cloud integration, automated testing, CI/CD, observability, security, and production support.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on engineer with deep expertise in Python, AWS, API architecture, and test automation. You will work closely with architecture, product, frontend, data, DevOps, security, and quality engineering teams to deliver reliable, cloud-native solutions that support critical business initiatives.

Primary Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain secure, scalable REST APIs and backend services using Python.
• Build backend services using modern Python frameworks such as FastAPI, Flask, or Django REST Framework.
• Define and maintain API contracts using OpenAPI/Swagger, including request/response models, validation, error handling, versioning, filtering, and pagination.
• Develop cloud-native solutions utilizing AWS services including API Gateway, Lambda, ECS, Aurora/RDS, S3, EventBridge, SQS/SNS, CloudWatch, IAM, KMS, and Secrets Manager.
• Implement authentication and authorization solutions using OAuth 2.0, OIDC, JWT, RBAC, scopes, claims, and machine-to-machine authentication.
• Integrate APIs with identity platforms such as Okta.
• Design and implement synchronous and asynchronous/event-driven integrations with databases, data platforms, and downstream applications.
• Create and maintain automated unit, functional, integration, regression, and smoke tests.
• Automate positive, negative, security, validation, error-handling, and downstream-failure test scenarios within CI/CD pipelines.
• Collaborate with Quality Engineering while maintaining ownership of engineering-level API automation.
• Build and support CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions and Infrastructure as Code practices.
• Implement logging, tracing, metrics, monitoring, alerting, and observability solutions using CloudWatch, Dynatrace, and related tools.
• Apply secure coding practices, secrets management, encryption, least-privilege access controls, and OWASP API security principles.
• Troubleshoot application, API, database, integration, and production issues across distributed systems.
• Participate in solution design, code reviews, estimation, story refinement, technical documentation, and production-readiness activities.
• Partner with frontend teams using platforms such as OutSystems, React, Vue, or similar technologies to deliver efficient API integrations.

Required Skills

• 12+ years of software development experience.
• 7+ years of hands-on API and cloud development experience.
• Strong Python development experience building backend services and APIs.
• Experience with FastAPI, Flask, Django REST Framework, or similar Python frameworks.
• Strong experience designing and developing RESTful APIs and API-first solutions using OpenAPI/Swagger.
• Hands-on AWS development experience, including API Gateway and related cloud services.
• Experience building cloud-native solutions using AWS services such as Lambda, ECS, Aurora/RDS, S3, EventBridge, SQS/SNS, CloudWatch, IAM, KMS, and Secrets Manager.
• Experience with API test automation and performance testing using Playwright and/or Python-based frameworks.
• Experience with PostgreSQL, Aurora, or comparable relational databases.
• Strong understanding of OAuth 2.0, OIDC, JWT, authentication, authorization, and secure API design.
• Experience writing automated unit, API, integration, regression, and smoke tests.
• Experience with pytest, unittest, or similar Python testing frameworks.
• Experience with API automation tools such as Postman/Newman, Playwright, Karate, or equivalent.
• Experience with Git, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and deployment practices.
• Strong understanding of secure coding standards, observability, software engineering best practices, and production support.

Preferred Skills

• Experience implementing Infrastructure as Code practices.
• Experience integrating with Okta or similar identity platforms.
• Experience implementing structured logging, distributed tracing, correlation IDs, metrics, and alerting.
• Experience u…