SENIOR BACKEND ENGINEER, GOLANG

<p>We are looking for a Senior Go Backend Engineer to build the backend foundation for a new real-time transportation product.</p><p>The platform will ingest shuttle location and operational data from third-party webhooks and APIs, validate and store it in PostgreSQL on AWS, and expose it through APIs that power a live vehicle-tracking map.</p><p>This is a hands-on delivery role. You will work closely with product and engineering to make pragmatic architectural decisions, build and deploy the core services, and leave the system production-ready, well tested, and documented for continued development.</p><p>The ideal contractor can ramp up quickly, work independently, and communicate decisions, progress, risks, and blockers clearly.</p><p><strong>Primary focus:</strong> Backend architecture and implementation<br> <strong>Core technologies:</strong> Go, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, REST APIs, webhooks, and AWS</p><p><strong>Key Responsibilities</strong></p><p><strong>Backend Development and Integrations</strong></p><ul><li>Design and build production-quality backend services in Go.</li><li>Develop REST APIs for vehicle, route, location, and operational data, with clear contracts for the frontend application.</li><li>Build secure webhook endpoints to ingest data from external transportation systems.</li><li>Validate, normalize, and persist incoming events, with appropriate authentication, authorization, and input validation.</li><li>Ensure webhook processing is idempotent and resilient to duplicate, delayed, or out-of-order events.</li><li>Handle retries, failures, rate limits, and malformed third-party payloads.</li><li>Enable real-time or near-real-time vehicle updates using WebSockets, Server-Sent Events, polling, or another agreed approach.</li></ul><p><strong>Data Architecture</strong></p><ul><li>Design PostgreSQL schemas for vehicles, locations, routes, events, and related operational data.</li><li>Build efficient queries for current and historical vehicle locations.</li><li>Model geospatial data using PostgreSQL and PostGIS where appropriate.</li><li>Evaluate whether queues or asynchronous processing are needed for the initial product.</li></ul><p><strong>AWS Deployment and Reliability</strong></p><ul><li>Deploy and operate the backend within AWS using the appropriate services, including RDS, ECS/Fargate, Lambda, API Gateway, SQS, and CloudWatch.</li><li>Configure logging, metrics, health checks, and basic alerting.</li><li>Establish secure credential and application-secret management.</li><li>Create repeatable deployments using the existing CI/CD and infrastructure tooling.</li><li>Investigate and resolve integration or production issues during the engagement.</li></ul><p><strong>Product Delivery and Handoff</strong></p><ul><li>Partner with the product manager to clarify requirements, prioritize the scope, and translate product needs into pragmatic technical solutions.</li><li>Identify technical risks, unknowns, and external integration dependencies early.</li><li>Deliver incrementally so product and engineering teams can test and provide feedback.</li><li>Collaborate with frontend engineers on API contracts and real-time update behavior.</li><li>Write automated unit and integration tests for all delivered functionality.</li><li>Document the architecture, APIs, webhook behavior, deployment process, operational procedures, known limitations, and recommended next steps.</li><li>Provide clear local development and testing instructions.</li><li>Conduct a technical handoff with the internal engineering team before the engagement ends.</li></ul><p><strong>Expected Outcomes</strong></p><ul><li>A production-ready Go service structure.</li><li>Secure webhook ingestion for the initial external data provider.</li><li>Reliable validation and persistence of vehicle-location events.</li><li>A PostgreSQL schema supporting current and historical location data.</li><li>The APIs required for the frontend’s real-time vehicle map.</li><li>An agreed real-time update mechanism using WebSockets, Server-Sent Events, polling, or another suitable approach.</li><li>Deployment to the appropriate AWS environment.</li><li>Automated tests, observability, and operational documentation.</li></ul> <ul><li>Strong professional experience building production backend services in Go.</li><li>Experience designing and delivering REST APIs and third-party webhook integrations.</li><li>Strong PostgreSQL and relational data-modelling skills.</li><li>Experience deploying and operating applications in AWS.</li><li>Understanding of concurrent, asynchronous, and event-driven processing.</li><li>Experience implementing idempotency, retries, and failure handling.</li><li>Strong automated testing and debugging skills.</li><li>Familiarity with CI/CD and modern software-delivery practices.</li><li>Ability to work independently, take ownership, and deliver effectively.</li><li>Clear written and verbal communication skills.</li><li>Experience collaborating with product and frontend teams.</li></ul><p><strong>Nice to Have</strong></p><ul><li>Experience with real-time location, fleet, transportation, or telemetry systems.</li><li>Experience with geospatial data and PostGIS.</li><li>Experience implementing WebSockets or Server-Sent Events.</li><li>Experience with ECS/Fargate, RDS, SQS, Lambda, API Gateway, and CloudWatch.</li><li>Experience designing systems that process high-frequency webhook events.</li><li>Experience with Terraform or Terragrunt.</li><li>Familiarity with distributed tracing and production observability.</li><li>Experience taking an early-stage product from architecture through its initial production release.</li></ul> <p><strong>How You’ll Be Successful</strong></p><ul><li><strong>Passion for Impact:</strong> Understand how your work contributes to innovation, operational excellence, and client success.</li><li><strong>Challenge the Expected:</strong> Approach problems with curiosity and creativity, learning from experimentation and driving smarter solutions.</li><li><strong>Integrity and Respect:</strong> Lead with empathy, listen actively, and take responsibility for outcomes.</li><li><strong>Commitment to Quality:</strong> Set and uphold high standards; seek feedback and continuous improvement.</li><li><strong>Collaborative Mindset:</strong> Build strong partnerships, share knowledge, and contribute to shared goals.</li><li><strong>Customer-Centered Thinking:</strong> Listen deeply, understand needs, and translate them into meaningful business outcomes.</li></ul>