Senior Software Engineer, Backend (Platform)

Optimal Dynamics develops intelligent transportation logistics technology based on pioneering research and data-driven planning. The company is seeking a Senior or Staff-level Backend Software Engineer to build and scale platform infrastructure, developer tooling, security controls, and cloud-native systems while guiding technical direction and mentoring engineers.

Responsibilities:

• Platform Architecture & Evolution: Design, implement, and scale core infrastructure to ensure reliability, performance, and security
• Developer Experience (DevEx): Build and improve tooling, CI/CD pipelines, and workflows, optimizing developer productivity and minimizing friction
• Security & Compliance: Champion security-by-design principles, implementing controls that safeguard systems and data without slowing innovation
• Mentorship & Influence: Serve as a technical leader across teams, coaching engineers, and driving alignment on platform strategy
• Collaboration: Partner with product and engineering leaders, balancing speed, cost, and resilience in every decision
• Embrace the Dynamic Startup environment: You’ll wear multiple hats, tackle new challenges, and contribute wherever needed to fuel our growth!

Requirements:

• • Educated: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, or equivalent technical experience
• 8+ years of hands-on Infrastructure & Platform Engineering experience
• Proven track record of scaling cloud-native systems
• Strong Python 3 expertise
• Strong AWS expertise
• Familiarity with event-driven architectures (Kafka or similar)
• Familiarity with Relational databases (Postgres, DynamoDB, MySQL, SQL Server, or similar)
• Hands-on IaC tool experience (i.e. Terraform, Spacelift, CloudFormation), observability, monitoring, & incident response
• Hands on containerization and orchestration experience (i.e. Docker, Kubernetes, ECS)
• Proven track record of improving DevEx by leveling up tooling, pipelines, & automation
• Experience improving monorepo developer workflows (i.e. Bazel, Buck, Pants)
• Knowledge of compliance frameworks (SOC 2, ISO 27001, etc.) and how to operationalize them
• Experience leading security initiatives(i.e. hardening environments; building secure-by-default workflows)
• A history of mentoring engineers and shaping technical direction across teams
• This is a full-time, remote-friendly position open to candidates across the United States
• • Experience with transportation systems (e.g., TMS, ELD) or scientific/analytics applications is a significant advantage
• • Familiarity with modern data tools such as dbt and DuckDB is highly valued