Backend Engineer, Contractor | Python, FastAPI, Kubernetes, AWS | High-Throughput Data & API Platform, Scale-up | £575-725/day Outside IR35 | 6 Months+ | Hybrid, London or UK Remote

Backend Engineer, Contractor | Python, FastAPI, Kubernetes, AWS | High-Throughput Data & API Platform, Scale-up | £575-725/day Outside IR35 | 6 Months+ | Hybrid, London or UK Remote

Posted Today by Owen Thomas | Pending B Corp™

£725 Per day
Outside
Hybrid
United Kingdom

Summary: The Backend Engineer role involves designing and building high-performance Python services using FastAPI for a rapidly scaling AI infrastructure company. The position focuses on creating robust APIs, optimizing cloud workloads, and ensuring reliability under heavy load, with a strong emphasis on collaboration with various teams. This is a contractor position offering a hybrid working arrangement in London or UK remote. The role is outside IR35 and has a duration of 6 months or more.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Designing and building internal & public APIs in Python (FastAPI) for high-throughput environments
  • Architecting services with reliability and scalability as core principles
  • Deploying containerised workloads in AWS via Kubernetes and Terraform
  • Collaborating closely with DevOps, ML, and product teams to integrate backend services into complex data ecosystems
  • Owning your code from design to production, including monitoring, logging, and on-call rotation

Key Skills:

  • Strong backend experience with Python and frameworks like FastAPI or Django
  • Deep AWS knowledge, especially around containerisation (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes)
  • API design skills for both internal and external consumption
  • Database skills with PostgreSQL, Redis, and/or other distributed stores
  • Comfort with IaC (Terraform) and CI/CD pipelines
  • Experience with other Backend languages like Go, Rust, C++ are beneficial

Salary (Rate): £725/day

City: London

Country: United Kingdom

Working Arrangements: hybrid

IR35 Status: outside IR35

Seniority Level: undetermined

Industry: IT

Detailed Description From Employer:

Backend Engineer, Contractor | Python, FastAPI, Kubernetes, AWS | High-Throughput Data & API Platform, Scale-up | £575-725/day Outside IR35 | 6 Months+ | Hybrid, London or UK Remote

Opportunity: We’re partnering with a rapidly scaling AI infrastructure company, building the backend systems that power complex data pipelines and real-time APIs for global clients. You’ll work on the backbone of their platform - engineering high-performance Python services with FastAPI, integrating deeply with Kubernetes-native infrastructure, and deploying at scale in AWS. This is a backend-first role where you’ll design robust APIs, optimise cloud workloads, and ensure the platform runs reliably under heavy load.

What You’ll Be Doing for this Backend Engineer, Contractor | Python, FastAPI, Kubernetes, AWS | High-Throughput Data & API Platform, Scale-up | £575-725/day Outside IR35 | 6 Months+ | Hybrid, London or UK Remote

  • Designing and building internal & public APIs in Python (FastAPI) for high-throughput environments
  • Architecting services with reliability and scalability as core principles
  • Deploying containerised workloads in AWS via Kubernetes and Terraform
  • Collaborating closely with DevOps, ML, and product teams to integrate backend services into complex data ecosystems
  • Owning your code from design to production, including monitoring, logging, and on-call rotation

Core Skills We’re Looking For in this Backend Engineer, Contractor | Python, FastAPI, Kubernetes, AWS | High-Throughput Data & API Platform, Scale-up | £575-725/day Outside IR35 | 6 Months+ | Hybrid, London or UK Remote

  • Strong backend experience with Python and frameworks like FastAPI or Django
  • Deep AWS knowledge, especially around containerisation (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes)
  • API design skills for both internal and external consumption
  • Database skills with PostgreSQL, Redis, and/or other distributed stores
  • Comfort with IaC (Terraform) and CI/CD pipelines
  • Experience with other Backend languages like Go, Rust, C++ are beneficial

Bonus Points For:

  • Previous work on backend infrastructure for AI/ML or data-intensive platforms
  • Event-driven architecture experience (Kafka, SQS, SNS)
  • Startup or scaleup experience in high-availability environments

The Details For This Backend Engineer, Contractor | Python, FastAPI, Kubernetes, AWS | High-Throughput Data & API Platform, Scale-up | £575-725/day Outside IR35 | 6 Months+ | Hybrid, London or UK Remote:

  • Rate: £575–725/day Outside IR35
  • Duration: 6 months+, likely extensions
  • Location: Hybrid (London 2–3 days/week) or UK Remote
  • Start: ASAP

If you want to build backend services that form the foundation of next-generation AI and data platforms, we’d love to hear from you. Apply now and WE will be in touch quickly if it’s a good match.

Backend Engineer, Contractor | Python, FastAPI, Kubernetes, AWS | High-Throughput Data & API Platform, Scale-up | £575–725/day Outside IR35 | 6 Months+, likely extensions | Hybrid (London) or UK Remote