Backend Engineer - Tech Lead (Python, GCP, Event-Driven) at Vonage

Join Vonage and help us innovate cloud communications for businesses worldwide! Why this role matters: We are seeking a Backend Tech Lead for our Jumper AI / Conversational Commerce platform to provide technical leadership and architectural direction for backend systems powering our commerce and conversational messaging platforms. This role combines hands-on engineering with technical leadership, guiding a team of backend engineers while owning system design for payments, messaging templates, and event-driven processing. You will partner closely with Product, SRE, and Security teams to ensure systems are scalable, reliable, and aligned with business goals. Your key responsibilities: • Own and evolve backend architecture for commerce, payments, and messaging platforms. • Lead technical design for APIs, data models, and event-driven workflows across services. • Stay hands-on with critical backend systems handling high-traffic and revenue-impacting flows. • Drive reliability, scalability, and performance improvements across distributed systems. • Set backend engineering standards, best practices, and design patterns. • Partner with SRE and platform teams on observability, incident response, and operational maturity. • Mentor engineers, lead code/design reviews, and contribute to hiring and technical growth. What you'll bring • 8+ years of backend engineering experience with proven technical leadership. • Strong expertise in Python and backend frameworks (Django, FastAPI, Flask). • Experience designing and operating large-scale, production-critical systems. • Deep understanding of event-driven architectures, async processing, and failure handling. • Solid background in API design, data modeling, and distributed system patterns. • Hands-on experience with SQL and NoSQL databases. • Ability to translate product requirements into robust, scalable technical solutions. Experience we consider a plus: • Experience with commerce, payments, or messaging platforms (WhatsApp, SMS, Email, RCS). • Strong exposure to Google Cloud Platform and cloud-native services. • Experience influencing CI/CD, release engineering, and DevOps practices. • Prior experience mentoring senior engineers or acting as a technical lead across teams. How you’ll benefit: • Attractive Discretionary Time Off • Private Medical Insurance with optional dependent coverage • Educational Assistance Reimbursement Program • Opportunities for reimbursement for conferences, trainings, and other personal development events • Maternity and Paternity Leave • Ask recruiter for country specific information • Additional benefits and perks will be shared and discussed with you by the recruiter during the interview process. There’s no perfect candidate. You don't need all the preferred qualifications to make a valuable impact on our team. Our employees and customers come from diverse backgrounds, so if you're passionate about what you could achieve at Vonage, we'd love to hear from you. To learn how we process your personal data during the recruitment process, please refer to our Privacy Notice. Who we are: Vonage is a global cloud communications leader. And your talent will further help brands - such as Airbnb, Viber, WhatsApp, and Snapchat - accelerate their digital transformation through our fully programmable-based unified communications, contact center solutions, and communications APIs. Ready to innovate? Then join us today. Note: The purpose of this profile is to provide a general summary of essential responsibilities for the position and is not meant as an exhaustive list. Assignments may differ for individuals within the same role based on business conditions, departmental need or geographic location.