Senior Software Engineer - Backend / Cloud Services

About This Role:

The Senior Software Engineer (Backend/Cloud Services) provides hands-on technical leadership for the backend systems that support Hunter’s AWS-based IoT consumer application. This role owns cloud architecture, leads the design, development, and implementation of AWS Lambda microservices, infrastructure as code, REST APIs consumed by mobile and web applications, event-driven services, database models, telemetry pipelines, and AWS IoT Core device communication. The position acts as a player-coach by contributing directly to production code while mentoring engineers, reviewing designs, guiding consultants, and helping establish scalable backend engineering practices.

Demonstrates behavior that is consistent with the company’s values of Customer Satisfaction, Innovation, Family, and Social Responsibility.

Essential Job Functions/Tasks:

• Leads the technical design, implementation, and evolution of backend and cloud services for a scalable AWS-based IoT consumer application.
• Owns backend architecture across APIs, service domains, data models, event-driven workflows, telemetry pipelines, AWS IoT Core integrations, and cloud/device communication patterns.
• Designs, develops, deploys, and maintains Python-based AWS Lambda microservices, RESTful APIs, and backend services that connect mobile and web applications to cloud, device, scheduling, user, notification, reporting, and support functions.
• Provides player-coach technical leadership to backend engineers, consultants, and cross-functional contributors through design reviews, code reviews, mentoring, implementation guidance, and hands-on development.
• Defines and documents architecture patterns, API contracts, data flows, service boundaries, schema standards, integration patterns, and operational expectations.
• Leads cross-functional technical alignment with firmware, mobile, QA, DevOps, Product, Security, and consultant teams to translate requirements into reliable backend, cloud, and device communication designs.
• Designs and implements scalable AWS IoT Core and telemetry architectures, including secure device connectivity, MQTT communication, Device Shadows, command processing, device synchronization, event ingestion, and fleet-scale operational patterns.
• Owns backend service logic, data models, and automation workflows that support irrigation scheduling, user preferences, environmental conditions, offline behavior, provisioning, notifications, firmware workflows, reporting, analytics, and AI/ML-supported recommendations.
• Ensures backend systems are production-ready through monitoring, alerting, structured logging, testing, CI/CD integration, deployment safety, incident response, root-cause analysis, and operational runbooks.
• Implements secure backend and cloud practices, including authentication, authorization, access controls, data protection, secrets management, least-privilege permissions, and secure device communication.
• Troubleshoots and resolves complex production and integration issues, ensuring high availability, data integrity, and minimal customer impact.
• Leads technical planning for backend and cloud initiatives by translating product requirements, integration needs, and architectural goals into implementation plans, estimates, sequencing, and delivery milestones.
• Establishes and improves backend engineering standards, including coding practices, service templates, Terraform module patterns, testing expectations, review processes, documentation practices, and reusable implementation patterns.
• Guides long-term backend and cloud technical roadmap decisions, including platform scalability, service decomposition, technical debt reduction, cost optimization, multi-environment strategy, and support for future connected device capabilities.
• Reviews and validates technical deliverables from internal engineers, consultants, and vendor partners to ensure alignment with Hunter architecture standards, security expectations, operational requirements, and product goals.
• Focuses on the voice of the customer and continuously improves products and services to deliver meaningful user value.

Education/Training Required and Preferred:  

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical field, or a combination of education and relevant work experience.

Experience Required and Preferred:

• Minimum six years of professional software engineering experience, including four years designing and operating backend/cloud systems in production.
• Experience leading technical design for distributed, serverless, event-driven, or IoT-connected systems preferred.

What You Bring:

• Advanced proficiency designing, developing, deploying, and maintaining production backend services using Python.
• Strong hands-on experience building AWS Lambda microservices, REST APIs, event-driven workflows, and serverless backend systems.
• Hands-on experience with Terraform or similar Infrastructure-as-Code tools to define, deploy, and maintain cloud infrastructure across multiple environments.
• Strong working knowledge of AWS services including Lambda, API Gateway, AWS IoT Core, Device Shadows, EventBridge, SQS, DynamoDB, Aurora/RDS, S3, CloudWatch, IAM, Secrets Manager, and related serverless technologies.
• Experience designing scalable backend architectures, service boundaries, API contracts, data flows, database models, and integration patterns for production applications.
• Strong understanding of AWS IoT Core concepts including MQTT communication, Device Shadows, IoT Rules, telemetry ingestion, command processing, secure device connectivity, and fleet-scale device communication.
• Strong database design skills across SQL and NoSQL systems, including schema design, indexing, query optimization, data modeling, and performance considerations.
• Experience implementing secure backend systems, including authentication, authorization, OAuth/OIDC, JWT, IAM policies, least-privilege access, secrets management, data protection, and secure API design.
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate technical tradeoffs involving scalability, cost, performance, reliability, security, observability, maintainability, and delivery speed.
• Experience with testing, CI/CD, code quality practices, automated deployment, structured logging, monitoring, alerting, troubleshooting, and production support.
• Demonstrated ability to provide technical leadership as a player-coach through hands-on development, design reviews, code reviews, mentoring, implementation guidance, documentation, and reusable engineering patterns.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with firmware, mobile, QA, DevOps, Product, Security, consultants, and other cross-functional partners, including the ability to document architecture, APIs, data flows, technical decisions, operational expectations, and implementation plans.

What We Offer:

• Amazing corporate culture - we walk the walk when it comes to our values!
• FUN company events!
• Company donation matching and volunteer rewards
• Career development opportunities and profit sharing bonus

Follow us on LinkedIn, check out our rave reviews on Glassdoor, and learn more about our company culture on our career site: http://corporate.hunterindustries.com/careers 

Hunter is a global leader in the irrigation, outdoor lighting, dispensing technology, and custom manufacturing industries. Driving our continued success is the combined energy and talents of the nearly 4,000 people on our team. Together, we create a diverse array of products that can be seen all over the world, from residential landscapes to national landmarks, stadiums, parks, hotels, and municipal buildings. 

Hunter Industries and its Family of Companies is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, military and veteran status, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other applicable legally protected status or characteristic.

The salary for this opportunity ranges from $120,000 to $135,000

The Company complies with all federal/local/state regulations in regard to pay. The above represents the expected salary range for this job requisition. Compensation offered to the successful candidate will be determined by qualifications, prior experience, other job-related factors, and geographic location.