Senior Python Engineer; AI Platforms & Distributed Systems

Senior Python Engineer (AI Platforms & Distributed Systems)

Location: Chicago ·
Work Arrangement: Hybrid ·
Employment Type: Contract

We are seeking a highly specialized Senior Python Engineer to design and build scalable backend platforms, automation frameworks, and distributed systems within a cloud‑native environment. This role requires deep expertise in Python development, microservices architecture, API engineering, and high‑performance data processing.

The ideal candidate will have strong experience developing enterprise‑grade applications, building scalable services, and working across modern Dev Ops and cloud ecosystems.

• Design and develop scalable backend applications and distributed systems using Python
• Build high‑performance RESTful and asynchronous APIs
• Develop microservices and event‑driven architectures
• Optimize application performance, concurrency, and scalability
• Collaborate with platform engineering, Dev Ops, and cloud teams
• Build automation frameworks and orchestration tooling
• Implement monitoring, logging, and observability standards
• Contribute to CI/CD pipeline automation and infrastructure improvements
• Participate in architecture reviews and technical strategy discussions
• Troubleshoot complex production issues and perform root cause analysis

• 7+ years of software engineering experience
• 5+ years of advanced Python development experience
• Strong expertise in:
  • FastAPI
  • Flask or Django
  • AsyncIO
  • Microservices architecture
  • REST and Graph
    
    QL APIs
• Experience building scalable distributed systems
• Strong understanding of multithreading, concurrency, and asynchronous programming
• Hands‑on experience with:
  • Docker
  • Kubernetes
  • Kafka or RabbitMQ
  • Redis
• Experience with cloud‑native environments:
  • AWS
  • Azure
  • GCP
• Strong database experience:
  • PostgreSQL
  • MongoDB
  • Cassandra
• Experience implementing CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, Git Hub Actions, or Git Lab
• Familiarity with observability tools:
  • Prometheus
  • Grafana
  • ELK
  • Open Telemetry
• Strong Linux systems and scripting knowledge

• Experience supporting AI/ML or data‑intensive platforms
• Knowledge of infrastructure‑as‑code tools such as Terraform
• Exposure to serverless architectures and event‑driven workflows
• Experience supporting enterprise‑scale applications with high availability requirements
• Background in telecom, media, or large‑scale enterprise environments

• Experience with Celery or distributed task processing frameworks
• Exposure to MLOps tooling and model deployment pipelines
• Familiarity with security best practices and API authentication standards