Freelance Senior Python Engineer
Lisbon / London
A leading technology consultancy is looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to join their engineering team. This role will focus on building and scaling backend services that power high-volume data processing and AI-enabled platforms used by enterprise clients.
You will work on distributed systems running on Google Cloud, designing scalable APIs and backend services capable of handling large concurrent workloads. The role offers the opportunity to work with modern Python frameworks, event-driven architectures, and emerging AI integrations.
The Role
You will take ownership of core backend services and contribute to the design, development, and deployment of scalable cloud-native systems.
Key responsibilities include:
Backend Development
* Design and maintain RESTful APIs using Python and FastAPI
* Implement robust data models using Pydantic
* Manage persistence layers using Google Cloud Datastore (NoSQL)
Cloud & Distributed Systems
* Build and maintain event-driven architectures on Google Cloud
* Use services such as Cloud Run, Cloud Tasks, and Pub/Sub to orchestrate asynchronous workloads
* Ensure systems are scalable, reliable, and performant
Data Processing
* Develop and optimise batch processing and aggregation pipelines
* Improve query performance for large datasets and audit workloads
CI/CD & Infrastructure
* Maintain and improve CI/CD pipelines using GCP Cloud Build
* Manage containerised deployments using Docker
* Support deployment workflows across development, QA, UAT, and production environments
AI Integration
* Integrate AI-powered components using LLMs via Vertex AI
Quality & Engineering Practices
* Work within a test-driven development environment
* Contribute to a mature testing framework with extensive unit test coverage
* Support high engineering standards and maintainability across distributed systems
Requirements
* Strong commercial experience with Python (asyncio experience preferred)
* Production experience building APIs with FastAPI or similar frameworks
* Hands-on experience with Google Cloud Platform
* Experience designing distributed or event-driven systems
* Comfortable owning features end-to-end from design through to deployment