Senior Engineer II, Python - Catalog Engineering

Description & Requirements

lululemon is an innovative performance apparel company for yoga, running, training, and other athletic pursuits. Setting the bar in technical fabrics and functional design, we create transformational products and experiences that support people in moving, growing, connecting, and being well. We owe our success to our innovative product, emphasis on stores, commitment to our people, and the incredible connections we make in every community we’re in.

As a company, we focus on creating positive change to build a healthier, thriving future. In particular, that includes creating an equitable, inclusive and growth‑focused environment for our people.

lululemon is an innovative performance apparel company for yoga, running, training, and other athletic pursuits. Setting the bar in technical fabrics and functional design, we create transformational products and experiences that support people in moving, growing, connecting, and being well.

lululemon Engineering is dedicated to building secure, reliable, and performant products for our guests and partners. We embrace the philosophies of Agile, Dev Ops, and SRE to accelerate our development process and provide the most enjoyable, inclusive, and supportive work environment possible. We believe our journey is more fun when it is collaborative, as we focus on the future instead of the past.

As an Engineer, you will work as part of a global team supported by our business and architecture partners to help us collaboratively develop and deliver industry leading technology solutions that drive lululemon's business goals.

As a Senior Engineer II, you will bring a high level of technical knowledge as well as strong mentoring abilities. You will be counted on as a leader in your technology space as you contribute to all areas of development and operations (pre‑production to production). You will work closely with Tech Leads & Technology Manager, using your experience and knowledge to guide a team of Engineers through their day‑to‑day process, and provide a central escalation point for production concerns.

You will be part of an Agile production release team and may perform on‑call support functions as needed. As a Senior Engineer I, you would be a primary caretaker of production systems and would maintain a deep understanding of how delivered products are functioning.

• Design, develop, and maintain highly scalable backend services and APIs using Python.
• Implement and manage Kafka‑based messaging systems, handling high‑throughput, low‑latency, and distributed event‑driven architectures.
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams to understand business requirements and translate them into technical solutions.
• Develop cloud‑native applications and services using AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Lead efforts in optimizing Kafka configurations for performance and scalability, including topic design, partitioning, consumer group management, and message retention strategies.
• Mentor junior engineers and provide technical leadership, ensuring a high standard of code quality, performance, and reliability.
• Conduct code reviews, design discussions, and drive best practices for software design, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud architecture.
• Troubleshoot and resolve production issues related to both backend services and Kafka message processing.
• Contribute to architectural decision‑making and ensure solutions are maintainable, extensible, and secure.
• Implement automated testing frameworks and work within an agile software development lifecycle.

• 8+ years of professional backend development experience.
• Strong experience with Python in building production‑grade systems.
• Deep understanding of Kafka and experience working with Kafka in a high‑scale production environment (e.g., Kafka clusters, message processing, schema management).
• Experience designing, deploying, and maintaining cloud‑native applications on AWS (preferred), Azure, or GCP.
• Proficient in containerization and orchestration technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.
• Experience with microservices architecture, RESTful APIs, and event‑driven systems.
• Solid understanding of…