Senior Backend Engineer (Contract)

Company / Role Overview

This role sits within a technology-driven organisation building and scaling modern backend platforms that support complex, high-volume business processes. The team operates in a cloud-native, microservices-based environment with a strong emphasis on clean architecture, system reliability, and long-term maintainability. The position is well-suited for a senior backend engineer with deep hands-on expertise who is progressing toward a technical leadership or architecture-focused career path, contributing not only through delivery but also through architectural thinking and engineering standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable backend services using modern server-side languages and frameworks, with a focus on performance, reliability, and extensibility.
• Apply established software engineering principles, clean coding practices, and proven design patterns to ensure high-quality, maintainable systems.
• Contribute to backend and application architecture decisions, balancing technical robustness with practical delivery needs.
• Build and enhance microservices-based systems, including API design and service-to-service communication patterns.
• Design and maintain secure authentication and authorisation mechanisms, including role-based access control and token-based security models.
• Develop and support workflow orchestration or workflow engine logic to handle complex, multi-step business processes.
• Collaborate on database design and optimisation, ensuring data integrity, performance, and scalability across core services.
• Uphold engineering excellence through code reviews, technical discussions, and continuous improvements in performance, security, and automation.

Job Requirements

Must-have requirements:

• 6–10 years of hands-on experience in backend software engineering within production environments.
• Strong proficiency in server-side development using modern backend technologies and frameworks (including Node.js-based frameworks and Go).
• Solid experience designing and operating microservices architectures in cloud-based environments.
• Strong working knowledge of relational databases, including schema design, query optimisation, and performance tuning.
• Practical experience with containerisation, orchestration, and CI/CD pipelines in backend environments.
• Hands-on exposure to cloud platforms (preferably AWS) and core services used for backend and microservices deployments.
• Strong understanding of software design principles, clean architecture, backend security, and authentication/authorisation concepts.

Nice-to-have requirements:

• Experience with event-driven or messaging-based architectures.
• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code tools and automated environment provisioning.
• Exposure to domain-driven or alternative architectural patterns.
• Experience designing for high performance, scalability, and distributed system resilience.

Soft skills and mindset:

• Strong problem-solving ability with a system-level and architectural perspective.
• Clear communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Ownership-oriented mindset, taking responsibility for solutions from design through to production.

If this role aligns with your experience and career goals, please send your application to [email protected].

Argyll Scott Asia is acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy.