Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Ascend is a membership-based travel concierge service that provides 24/7 journey management for travelers. They are seeking a Senior Python Backend Developer to lead the development of Python-based web applications using Django and FastAPI, architect scalable solutions, and integrate AI-assisted development into their engineering practices.
Responsibilities
- Lead development of features using Django and FastAPI
- Architect and implement scalable web applications
- Establish technical standards for our Python codebase, including standards for AI-assisted contributions
- Optimize our cloud infrastructure (Railway, with selective AWS usage)
- Build and maintain the AI tooling, prompts, and skills the engineering team relies on day-to-day, and treat that work as a real engineering deliverable rather than a side project
- Help define the company-wide policies, guardrails, and enablement that let teams across Ascend use AI tools effectively without creating IP, security, or data-handling risk
- Mentor developers, conduct thorough code reviews, and help raise the bar for how we evaluate AI-assisted work
- Collaborate with product managers and designers
- Implement testing and evaluation strategies, including for workflows that involve AI in the loop
- Evaluate new technologies, AI and otherwise, to enhance our tech stack
Skills
- 5+ years of Python web development experience
- Strong proficiency with Django and FastAPI frameworks
- Expert knowledge of web development best practices
- Experience with PostgreSQL and ORM frameworks
- Solid understanding of front-end technologies
- Advanced Git skills and collaborative workflows
- Experience with Agile methodologies and CI/CD
- Demonstrable experience using AI coding assistants (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code, Copilot) on production work, with sound judgment about when AI output needs more scrutiny or rework
- Excellent problem-solving and communication skills
- Ability to balance technical excellence with business needs
- Experience with AWS services and/or Railway
- Knowledge of cloud architecture and infrastructure
- Experience with microservices and containerization
- API design and scalability expertise
- Experience designing reusable AI artifacts (prompts, skills, agents, internal tooling) that encode team expertise rather than living in one person's head
- Experience setting up AI guardrails at an organizational level: code review policies for AI-assisted contributions, IP and data-handling practices, secrets and access controls, model and tool selection, evaluation frameworks
- Experience enabling non-engineering teams (operations, concierge, growth, finance) to use AI tools safely and productively
Company Overview
Save time and money with 24/7 access to a travel concierge. Book flights, hotels and cars from one WhatsApp Group. It was founded in 2017, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA, with a workforce of 51-200 employees. Its website is https://fly-flat.com.