Role overview
**Senior Software Engineer Backend**
**Mental Health AI Platform**
**Onsite in Miami, FL**
**Compensation: $120k-$150k base + equity**
**About the Company**
A fast-growing AI and cloud technology company is developing next-generation conversational intelligence platforms that combine advanced natural language processing (NLP) with modern, scalable cloud infrastructure.
The team is building the intelligent backbone of an AI-powered product that delivers secure, real-time user experiences. As part of its growth, the company is expanding its engineering organization to strengthen backend services, API orchestration, and model integration pipelines.
**The Role**
The Senior Backend Python Developer will design and build the core backend systems that power real-time AI interactions. You’ll be responsible for creating fast, scalable APIs and services that integrate directly with advanced NLP models—ensuring high performance, reliability, and data security.
This role is ideal for an experienced backend engineer who thrives at the intersection of Python engineering, AI integration, and distributed systems, and wants to shape the technical foundation of an emerging AI platform.
**Key Responsibilities**
* **Design & Build APIs:**
Develop and maintain robust RESTful APIs and WebSocket endpoints using modern Python frameworks such as
**FastAPI**
,
**Flask**
, or
**Django**
.
* **Integrate AI Models:**
Collaborate with AI researchers and data scientists to deploy, scale, and manage NLP models in production environments.
* **Manage Data Systems:**
Architect and maintain a multi-database ecosystem combining
**SQL**
,
**NoSQL (Cosmos DB)**
, and
**Redis**
caching for high-performance data access.
* **Orchestrate Real-Time Communication:**
Implement server-side WebSocket logic for audio stream processing, speech-to-text integration, and AI model routing.
* **Ensure Security & Compliance:**
Apply best practices in authentication (JWT/OAuth), encryption, and secure API design to protect sensitive user data.
* **Optimize for Scale:**
Design and implement systems capable of supporting large-scale, real-time AI workloads with low latency and high reliability.
**About You**
* 5+ years of professional experience developing backend systems with Python.
* Expertise in modern Python web frameworks such as FastAPI (preferred), Flask, or Django.
* Proven experience building and scaling REST APIs and WebSocket services.
* Hands-on experience with Azure or other major cloud platforms.
* Strong knowledge of both SQL and NoSQL databases (Cosmos DB preferred), and in-memory caching tools such as Redis.
* Familiarity with integrating or deploying AI/ML models (e.g., via Hugging Face, spaCy, or OpenAI APIs).
* Solid understanding of API security, authentication protocols, and encryption.
* Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent hands-on experience.
**Bonus Points:**
* Experience with Python’s asyncio and asynchronous programming patterns.
* Familiarity with Azure App Service or Azure Functions.
* Knowledge of data privacy and compliance frameworks (e.g., HIPAA).
**Tech Stack**
Python, FastAPI, Flask/Django, Azure, Cosmos DB, Redis, SQL, NoSQL, WebSockets, OAuth/JWT, Hugging Face, spaCy, OpenAI APIs, asyncio
**Why Join**
* Competitive compensation: $120K-$150K base + equity
* Hybrid flexibility across the U.S.
* Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage
* Opportunity to build the backend architecture behind an AI-powered platform
* Work closely with AI engineers and researchers on cutting-edge NLP applications