About the Role : We are looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to own backend systems operating at this scale. This is a hands-on engineering role: you will design and run production services, optimize performance under concentrated assessment-window traffic, integrate AI/ML inference services (handwriting OCR, speech recognition) into the platform. You will also serve as a senior engineering anchor in our Pune office — mentoring engineers, driving code quality, and participating in architectural decisions.

Roles And Responsibilities Design, develop, and maintain scalable backend services and RESTful APIs in Python (FastAPI).

Build secure, fault-tolerant systems that handle large, spiky production traffic — millions of students, with load concentrated during assessment windows.

Design efficient database schemas and optimize performance across MongoDB and PostgreSQL in production.

Contribute hands-on to our cloud migration from AWS to ESDS, including containerized deployments on Kubernetes.

Integrate AI/ML inference services (OCR, ASR) into production pipelines, including async processing via message queues.

Implement caching (Redis), monitoring and observability (New Relic), logging, and performance optimization strategies.

Own CI/CD (GitHub Actions), Docker-based builds, and Kubernetes deployment workflows.

Implement security best practices: authentication and authorization (OAuth2/JWT), encryption, and data protection aligned with DPDP Act obligations.

Conduct code reviews, mentor engineers in the Pune office, and set engineering standards.

Troubleshoot production issues and maintain system availability with minimal downtime.

Participate in architectural discussions and contribute to technical roadmap planning alongside the CTO.

Required Skills & Qualifications Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology,



or any discipline.

3+ years of experience in backend software development.

Solid proficiency in Python; production experience with FastAPI (or Flask/Django with demonstrated ability to work in FastAPI).

Strong hands-on experience with MongoDB and PostgreSQL in production (schema design, indexing, query optimization).

Production experience deploying and operating services on Kubernetes - not just familiarity; you should have run, debugged, and scaled workloads on K8s.

Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure, or Indian cloud providers);

experience with cloud migrations is a strong plus.

Good understanding of distributed systems, event-driven architecture, message queues, and caching mechanisms.

Experience implementing authentication and authorization using OAuth2, JWT, or similar.

Familiarity with Git, CI/CD pipelines, and automated testing.

Strong debugging and diagnostic reasoning — we value the ability to work through unfamiliar failures methodically over recall of specific frameworks.

Excellent communication and collaboration abilities; comfortable being the senior on-ground engineering presence in the office.

Preferred Qualifications Experience running high-traffic consumer or SaaS applications in production.

Experience integrating ML inference services (vLLM, ONNX Runtime, GPU-backed APIs) into backend systems.

Familiarity with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Helm, etc.).

Experience with data protection and compliance requirements (DPDP Act or similar).

Experience in EdTech, social impact, or public sector domains.

Details Location: Kothrud, Pune.

Interested candidates should fill in the application on career website https://careers.vopa.in/ Salary :

- 10 LPA to 12 LPA (Depending on last drawn salary, Interview and Skills) Salary Range ₹10,00,000 – ₹12,00,000 Document Applications Closed

📌 Senior Backend Engineer (Pune)
🏢 Vowels Of The People Association
📍 Pune