SDE - Backend

Company Description

Qtanea Solutions is dedicated to improving the quality of life for physicians and patients by transforming research into innovative, affordable healthcare technologies. The company focuses on empowering the healthcare system with impactful solutions to address pressing challenges. By prioritizing accessibility and innovation, Qtanea Solutions strives to make a meaningful difference in the healthcare industry.

Role Description

We are seeking a highly capable Backend Engineer (SDE – Backend) to own and evolve our large-scale Django / DRF-powered Research Information Management System (RIMS). You will lead core API architecture, data pipelines, performance tuning, and integration efforts across a fast-paced product ecosystem.

This role requires strong engineering fundamentals, deep experience running production Django systems, and the ability to iterate rapidly while maintaining reliability, observability, and operational discipline.

Key Responsibilities

1. API Ownership & Reliability

Maintain and extend a production-grade Django / DRF API powering profiles, publications, analytics, media, and integrations.

Ensure predictable performance, high uptime, optimal caching, and efficient query patterns across all surfaces.

Drive clean API design, versioning, error structures, and schema evolution.

2. Environment, Release & Infrastructure Management

Manage multi-stage environments (local / dev / stage / prod) with strong env-var and secrets hygiene.

Oversee web, worker, beat, and Channels / WebSocket processes with stable static / media pipelines (S3 / R2 + CDN).

Implement secure, smooth, startup-paced release flows—including migrations, rollbacks, and safe deploy patterns.

3. Data Layer Operations

Administer and optimize PostgreSQL (indexing, tuning, migrations, backups, schema evolution).

Maintain Redis and Celery with careful attention to queue health, worker reliability, and task monitoring.

Implement observability : logs, metrics, alerts, performance tracking, and incident response loops.

4. Integrations & External Research Pipelines

Own and maintain connectors for OpenAlex, Scopus, Clarivate, Google Books, and other scholarly data providers.

Operate GenAI / OpenAI enrichment flows, OSync / Importer microservices, and maintain API keys / quotas safely.

Ship new data integrations rapidly as product needs evolve.

5. Governance, Security & Access Control

Steward Django Admin (django-unfold), RBAC, API key systems, and request-scoping headers.

Enforce practical security principles : secrets hygiene, least-privilege access, monitoring, and audit trails.

Balance compliance needs with fast product iteration.

6. Quality, Delivery & Roadmap Execution

Work closely with product to shape the roadmap, estimate features, plan releases, and manage trade-offs.

Drive regression testing, release readiness checks, and post-release monitoring.

Enable rapid delivery through lightweight QA cycles, safety nets, and iterative improvement.

7. Documentation & Developer Enablement

Maintain runbooks, onboarding guides, environment templates, and architectural diagrams.

Document API usage patterns, scoping rules, versioning strategies, and error-handling best practices.

Ensure knowledge sharing across engineering, design, and product teams.

Required Skills & Experience

Technical Expertise

3–6+ years operating Django / DRF systems in production.

Deep experience with PostgreSQL, Redis, Celery, and Channels / WebSockets.

Strong understanding of observability, performance tuning, debugging, and API reliability.

Proficient with S3 / R2 storage, CDN-backed static / media delivery, and cloud-native patterns.

Experience integrating scholarly APIs (OpenAlex / Scopus / Clarivate) or similar data providers.

Solid grounding in security : secrets management, RBAC, auditability, and privacy concepts.

Familiarity with microservices, task queues, async patterns, and scalable API architecture.

Nice to Have

Experience with FastAPI, SQLModel, or microservice patterns.

Working knowledge of GraphQL, WebSockets, or event-driven systems.

Experience setting up monitoring stacks (Grafana, Prometheus, Sentry).

Familiarity with Kubernetes, Docker, CI / CD, or IaC workflows.

Who You Are

An engineer who takes ownership of systems end-to-end.

Comfortable debugging complex issues across API, DB, queues, and integrations.

Able to iterate quickly in a high-velocity startup environment without compromising fundamentals.

Pragmatic, detail-oriented, and capable of balancing speed with stability.

A clear communicator who aligns fast, documents well, and thrives in ambiguity.

Someone who can wear multiple hats—operator, integrator, performance tuner, and release captain.