Lead Backend & Cloud Engineer in Portland, Oregon - #71563 | VanderHouwen

Description

Job Id: 71563

Lead Backend & Cloud Engineer
Our client is seeking a Lead Backend & Cloud Engineer to play a pivotal role in bringing a greenfield, AI-driven platform from early concept to a production-ready, distributed system. This role sits at the intersection of backend engineering, cloud architecture, and AI orchestration, with a strong emphasis on scalability, state management, and low-latency performance. The ideal candidate thrives in high-autonomy environments and is energized by building complex systems from the ground up.

This role is fully remote.

Lead Backend & Cloud Engineer Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end backend and cloud architecture, designing a scalable, cloud-native environment on Google Cloud Platform that supports long-lived, stateful user interactions.
• Define and implement infrastructure using Infrastructure as Code principles, leveraging Terraform to provision and manage compute, networking, storage, and supporting services.
• Lead containerization and deployment strategies, managing Dockerized services and CI/CD pipelines to ensure reliable, zero-downtime releases.
• Design and build core backend services in Python that orchestrate interactions between user clients, data layers, and generative AI systems.
• Architect robust state management solutions, including relational and non-relational data models, to persist session history, evolving user context, and shared application state.
• Develop high-performance, event-driven APIs capable of handling asynchronous and long-running AI workloads without blocking or timeouts.
• Continuously optimize system performance with attention to latency, data flow, caching strategies, and concurrency concerns.
• Serve as a technical owner, proactively identifying risks, proposing architectural improvements, and guiding the system toward production readiness.

Lead Backend & Cloud Engineer Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with demonstrated success designing and delivering complex systems from initial concept through production.
• Deep backend engineering expertise in Python, including the design of scalable APIs using frameworks such as FastAPI or Flask.
• Strong, hands-on production experience within the Google Cloud ecosystem, including services such as Cloud Run, Cloud SQL, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Storage, and Cloud CDN.
• Advanced experience with Infrastructure as Code and DevOps practices, including writing Terraform configurations from scratch and managing Docker-based workloads.
• Proven ability to design and maintain sophisticated data architectures that combine relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL) with NoSQL or document-based systems.
• Familiarity with AI system integration patterns, including managing conversation state, context persistence, and request chaining for large language models.
• A systems-thinking mindset, with the ability to reason about orchestration, race conditions, fault tolerance, and long-term scalability.
• Comfort operating with high autonomy, taking ownership of ambiguous problem spaces and translating prototypes into durable, production-grade platforms.

Compensation: $70-$90/hr. (DOE)

VanderHouwen Contractors Enjoy Exceptional Benefit Perks!
As an eligible contract employee with VanderHouwen, you’ll have access to a full suite of benefits designed with your well-being in mind. Our comprehensive package includes medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short- and long-term disability, and a matching 401(k) to help secure your future.

Meet VanderHouwen
What kind of recruiter do you see yourself working with? One who prioritizes your best interest, no matter what? VanderHouwen does, and we’re in it for the long game! Our recruiters focus on YOU, building meaningful, long-term relationships while developing a deep understanding of companies’ staffing needs and workplace cultures. This approach helps us find an ideal job match that aligns with your unique career aspirations and goals.

VanderHouwen is an award-winning, Women & Diversity-Owned, WBENC certified professional staffing firm. Founded in 1987, VanderHouwen places experienced professionals across the nation! Our recruitment teams specialize in either Technology and IT, Engineering, Human Resources, or Accounting and Finance career markets. Partner with us to land your next exciting career!

VanderHouwen is an Equal Opportunity Employer and participates in E-Verify. VanderHouwen does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local, state, or federal civil rights laws.

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