Senior Backend Engineer

We’re looking for a Senior Backend Engineer with deep Django and API experience to help build and scale the backend powering our mobile app, web platform, internal tools, payments, automation systems, and integrations.

You’ll operate as the senior backend IC leading implementation, while collaborating closely with our engineering leadership on architecture, larger decisions, and long‑term direction. Over time, you’ll take on increasing ownership of backend systems and engineering standards.

This role demands reliability, strong problem‑solving, and the ability to figure things out independently without compromising system stability.

ABOUT URBAN LEGEND:

Urban Legend is a tech startup that’s redefining influencer marketing for public affairs and advocacy campaigns. The Urban Legend Exchange is an invite‑only platform where advertisers run campaigns that mobilize creators to drive meaningful and measurable actions in support of issues that matter.

• Build and maintain high‑quality backend systems using Django, Django REST Framework, and PostgreSQL
• Improve and optimize complex Django Admin workflows to make our internal tools faster, more usable, and more robust
• Design and refine database schemas, migrations, and data models for complex business logic
• Develop reliable REST APIs consumed by our mobile apps, web platform, and partner integrations
• Implement and maintain integrations with critical third‑party APIs (Brex, Pay Pal, Twilio, Send Grid, AWS S3, OpenAI, social platforms, Zapier, and more)
• Manage async/background tasks using Redis, RQ, and related tooling
• Work closely with the Product Design Lead and frontend engineers to ensure requirements are clear, feasible, and technically sound
• Collaborate with the engineering leadership—reviewing architecture, aligning on best practices, and planning backend evolution
• Participate in on‑call rotation and help diagnose/resolve production issues when needed
• Write high‑quality tests (unit, integration) and maintain a stable CI pipeline
• Contribute to performance improvements across the stack—query optimization, caching strategies, and backend efficiency
• Help establish backend engineering standards as we grow the team
• Make pragmatic technical decisions that balance speed, quality, and long‑term maintainability

• Deep experience building production Django apps
• Strong knowledge of Django REST Framework
• Ability to design and optimize complex Django models, queries, and admin workflows
• Comfortable with advanced ORM features and occasional raw SQL
• Strong Postgre
  
  SQL experience (indexing, optimization, schema design)
• Experience with REST API design and documentation
• Experience integrating with third‑party APIs and handling webhook systems
• Ability to diagnose and debug flaky or unreliable integrations
• Redis + job queue experience (RQ, Celery, or similar)
• Understanding of task workers, retries, failure handling, and monitoring
• Familiarity with JWT‑based auth, rate limiting, secure data flows, and general Django security best practices
• Comfortable working with Docker
• Heroku or similar platforms
• Familiar with Git Hub Actions or other CI systems
• Understanding of logging, monitoring, and error tracking (Sentry, etc.)
• Strong testing habits (Django Test Framework, pytest‑django)
• Familiar with Factory Boy, Faker, or similar tools
• Will not ship code without understanding its impact on stability

• Competitive compensation structure and bonus opportunities
• Health benefits package
• Unlimited PTO

• Mid‑Senior level

• Full‑time

• Engineering and Information Technology

• Advertising Services

Salary: $ – $

Location:

Washington, DC