Requirement Description

A fast-growing technology company is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer for a 3-month contract to lead workflow orchestration, SDK modernization, and microservices initiatives. Based in Melbourne with a hybrid working arrangement (home-based in Victoria, with on-site visits when project milestones demand), this role offers the opportunity to build automated workflows using Google Cloud Composer (Apache Airflow), construct high-performance services with FastAPI, and deploy cloud-native solutions across GCP (Cloud Run, Cloud Functions).

Working as the core backend specialist, the consultant will design and optimise end-to-end data pipelines, drive the modernization of application SDKs and core microservices, and integrate backend workflows with BigQuery, Cloud Dataflow and Pub/Sub to process large-scale datasets.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the core backend specialist leading the design, implementation, and optimization of end-to-end data pipelines and workflow orchestration using Google Cloud Composer (Apache Airflow).
• Drive software engineering initiatives to facilitate the seamless transition, integration, and continuous upgrade of application SDKs and core microservices across client ecosystems.
• Architect production-grade Python applications, write complex Airflow workflows/custom plugins, and build high-performance asynchronous microservices with FastAPI.
• Build cloud-native architectures on Google Cloud Platform, with expertise in Cloud Composer, Cloud Functions, Cloud Run, and containerization via Docker.
• Interface backend microservices and orchestration workflows with BigQuery, Cloud Dataflow, and Pub/Sub to process, manage, and transform large-scale datasets.
• Maintain robust Git-based CI/CD workflows for automated pipeline deployment, zero-downtime SDK releases, and seamless backend updates.

Your Background

Essential:

• 5+ years of experience in backend software engineering, data orchestration, and microservices architecture.
• Strong hands-on expertise with Google Cloud Composer / Apache Airflow, including workflow authoring, dynamic task generation, custom operators, and pipeline management.
• Mastery of Python 3.x, asynchronous programming, and modern frameworks (e.g. FastAPI, AsyncIO).
• Strong GCP foundation with hands-on experience across Cloud Composer, Cloud Run and Cloud Functions.
• Direct experience integrating microservices and orchestrated workflows with data pipelines, BigQuery, and Cloud Dataflow.
• Robust containerization skills using Docker for container creation, optimization, and deployment.
• Proven track record in SDK management, including API/SDK design, versioning, and seamless client integration.
• Proficiency in DevOps & CI/CD tools (Git, GitHub Actions, Cloud Build) for continuous deployment of code and orchestration workflows.
• Commitment to software quality through rigorous testing frameworks like pytest and automated integration tests.

Desirable:

• Advanced Airflow/Composer mastery — experience managing enterprise-grade Airflow clusters, performance tuning, and building modular workflow frameworks.
• GCP certifications — Google Cloud Certified Professional Data Engineer, Cloud Developer, or Cloud Architect.
• SDK publishing experience — practical experience publishing, versioning, and maintaining public or internal open-source SDK packages (e.g. PyPI packages).
• Enterprise modernization experience — modernizing legacy batch or monolithic systems into scalable, event-driven, orchestrated cloud microservices.
• Stream processing familiarity — Apache Beam, Pub/Sub, or Kafka for real-time and event-driven data architectures.
• Security & compliance familiarity — API and workflow security standards (OAuth2, OIDC, IAM, secret management, zero-trust frameworks).
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field.