Backend Developer

Backend Developer Python / Data Engineering / GCP Latino Legends is partnering with a growing U.S. housing market data company to find a hands-on Backend Developer who can take ownership of backend systems, data pipelines, and GCP infrastructure while contributing to features across the full product. THE DETAILS - Compensation: $37–$42 USD/hour - Location: Remote from Latin America - Schedule: Full-time, 40 hours/week aligned with US Central Time - Type: Long-term international independent contractor - Hiring timeline: ASAP ABOUT THE ROLE - This is primarily a backend and data engineering role, with strong ownership across the full product lifecycle. - You'll work with Python services, APIs, ETL pipelines, BigQuery, production jobs, and GCP infrastructure that processes large-scale housing and economic datasets. - You'll also contribute to frontend features using React, Next.js, and TypeScript, leveraging AI coding tools to take projects from technical planning through launch and iteration. - The ideal candidate is not a ticket-closer. You should be comfortable owning a feature end-to-end and thinking beyond whether the code works — including performance, reliability, user adoption, and what should improve after launch. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Build and maintain Python backend services and APIs - Design and optimize ETL and large-scale data processing pipelines - Work extensively with BigQuery and advanced SQL - Manage scheduled jobs, queues, background processes, and asynchronous workflows - Work with GCP infrastructure including Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, Pub/Sub, monitoring, and load balancing - Optimize how data is precomputed, packaged, cached, compressed, and served - Debug issues across data sources, pipelines, databases, APIs, infrastructure, and the frontend - Contribute to React/Next.js/TypeScript features using AI coding tools - Own selected features from architecture and data pipeline through API, frontend, deployment, analytics, and iteration - Monitor performance, reliability, scalability, and product usage after launch MUST-HAVES - Strong professional experience with Python backend development and production APIs - Advanced SQL and hands-on BigQuery experience with large datasets - Production experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) - Strong experience building ETL/data pipelines - Experience with asynchronous processing and background jobs - Strong understanding of data architecture, system design, performance optimization, and debugging - Enough React, JavaScript, or TypeScript experience to work productively within an existing frontend codebase - Daily experience using AI coding tools such as Claude, Cursor, or GitHub Copilot - Strong English communication skills for daily standups and 1:1s with the CEO - Experience with Git and modern development workflows NICE-TO-HAVES - Experience with PostHog or other product analytics platforms - Experience working with geographic or time-series data - Experience with caching and data packaging for high-traffic applications THIS ROLE IS NOT A FIT IF... - Your experience is primarily data engineering without building APIs or backend services - Your backend experience is mostly CRUD applications without large-scale data - Frontend development is your strongest skill set - Backend, data engineering, and GCP are not clearly your strongest areas AI-NATIVE DEVELOPMENT - The team actively uses AI coding tools such as Claude, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot. - You should be comfortable using AI to understand unfamiliar code, troubleshoot bugs, write tests, refactor systems, and build or modify frontend features independently. WORKING STYLE - Hands-on and highly technical — you'll write code, investigate bugs, deploy solutions, and troubleshoot production systems - Proactive and ownership-driven — identify blockers, risks, and reliability issues early and recommend solutions - Comfortable working 40 hours/week with consistent availability during Central Time business hours - Collaborative — you'll work closely with the CEO and development team through daily standups, brief daily 1:1s, and ongoing communication - Product-minded — you care about whether features are actually used, how they perform, and what should be improved after launch WHAT MATTERS MOST - The strongest candidates will bring a combination of: Python backend + APIs + data engineering + GCP - You should be capable of taking a feature from: Architecture → Data Pipeline → Database → API → Frontend → Launch → Analytics → Iteration - This is an opportunity for someone who wants real ownership over a growing product and enjoys solving complex backend, data, and infrastructure challenges.