Job Description
Senior Backend Engineer (Python & AWS)
North Sydney | Hybrid (3 days in office)
This isn’t a role for someone who just wants to ship tickets.
It’s for an engineer who wants to shape architecture, modernise a real platform, and influence technical direction inside a profitable, globally operating data business.
The company operates at serious scale, processing and resolving large volumes of identity and data signals used by major international organisations. They are stable, growing (40%+ revenue growth over the past two years), and backed by long-term enterprise contracts.
Now they’re ready to uplift their platform for its next phase.
What You’ll Love About Working Here
1. Genuine Architectural Influence
You’ll act as a 2IC to the Head of Technology. Your thinking will shape direction not just implementation.
2. Real Scale (Not Resume Scale)
Large datasets. Performance-sensitive systems. Complex resolution logic.
You’ll solve meaningful engineering problems, not UI tweaks.
3. Modernisation with Backing
There’s technical debt and full leadership buy-in to fix it properly.
4. Stability Without Bureaucracy
Profitable. Long-tenured team. Flat structure.
No corporate red tape but strong standards and ISO discipline.
5. Ownership Over Noise
You won’t be one of 200 engineers.
You’ll be one of a small, high-trust team.
What You’ll Get From This Role
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End-to-end ownership of backend architecture decisions
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Exposure to large-scale AWS system design
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The opportunity to uplift engineering standards
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Influence over roadmap and prioritisation
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A stable environment where your work compounds over time
If you want to look back in three years and say,
“I built that platform properly” - this is that role.
What You Need to Have Already Done
This is not a stretch role.
To be successful here, you will likely have:
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6–10 years backend engineering experience
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Designed and built production systems in AWS
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Strong Python expertise (Django/Flask or similar)
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Worked on systems handling meaningful data scale
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Made architectural decisions not just implemented them
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Improved performance, security, or scalability of legacy systems
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Influenced stakeholders and extracted unclear requirements
You must be able to:
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Think architecturally first
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Communicate with gravitas
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Operate without ego in a flat structure
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Prioritise effectively when everything feels important
Environment
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AWS cloud-native
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Python backend
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Snowflake and large-scale data querying
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Hybrid (Mon, Tues, Fri in North Sydney - weekly team lunches)
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Strong culture, many team members have worked together 10-15+ years
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Investment in learning and conferences
This role suits someone who wants impact over title.Ownership over hierarchy. And long-term influence over short-term noise.
If this sounds like you then apply here or share your resume to Dani - danielle@theonset.com.au