What do we do? 

As a pioneer for digital transformation, GFT develops sustainable solutions across new technologies – from cloud engineering and artificial intelligence to blockchain/DLT. With its deep technological expertise, strong partnerships, and comprehensive market know-how, GFT offers advice to the financial and insurance sectors, as well as the manufacturing industry. Through the intelligent use of IT solutions, GFT increases productivity and creates added value for clients. Companies gain easy and safe access to scalable IT applications and innovative business models. 

Who are we? 

Having started in Germany in 1987, GFT Technologies has grown to become a trusted Software Engineering and Consulting specialist for the international financial industry, counting many of the world’s largest and best-known banks as our clients. We are an organization that empowers you to not only explore but also raise your potential and seek out opportunities that add value. At GFT, diversity, equality, and inclusion are at the core of who we are. Ensuring a diverse and inclusive working environment for all communities is one of the main pillars of our diversity strategy, based on our core values and culture. We have been certified for 2022/23 as a ‘Great Place to Work’ in the APAC region. So, if you want to have the opportunity to work with an outstanding and progressive organization, this position could be right for you. 

Sign-on Bonus: Eligible for candidates who are currently employed elsewhere and able to join GFT within 30 days of offer acceptance.

Role Summary 

We are seeking an expert and autonomous contract Senior Python Engineer to accelerate the creation of our Developer Platform. Your primary mission will be to build the V1 of our "Python Paved Road", a standardized framework for deploying reliable, observable, and performant AI services. You will be a key builder on a new initiative, channeling your deep expertise in production Python services into foundational tools that will be used by every engineer in the company. This role is for a hands-on engineer who is a master of their craft. You will be fully empowered to own the implementation of our core developer libraries and templates, directly unblocking our most critical product initiatives.

Key Responsibilities 

• Build the "Python Paved Road": Own the end-to-end creation of our V1 framework for on-demand Python services, including cookiecutter templates and the python-commons shared library.
• Embed Production Best Practices: Implement the core patterns for writing reliable, observable, and performant Python microservices directly into our foundational libraries and templates.
• Champion Developer Experience (DX): Partner closely with our internal engineering teams to gather feedback and ensure the tools you build are intuitive, well-documented, and solve their most pressing problems.
• Deliver Pragmatic Solutions: Consistently make pragmatic technical decisions that prioritize business value and speed of delivery, in line with our early-stage startup environment.
• Prototype and Enable: Collaborate on the design and initial implementation of our "Internal App Sandbox", a platform for deploying data science prototypes.

Required Qualifications 

• 5+ years of dedicated software engineering experience, with a strong focus on backend or platform systems.
• Expertise in Building Production Python Services: You have a proven track record of architecting, building, and operating robust, scalable, and maintainable backend services in Python.
• Deep Backend Knowledge: You have a strong understanding of concurrency models (e.g., asyncio), API design (REST, gRPC), performance optimization, and testing strategies for complex services.
• Full Lifecycle Experience: You are intimately familiar with the full lifecycle of a service,  including containerization (Docker), CI/CD, and production observability (structured logging, tracing, metrics)
• Passion for Developer Tooling: You have a demonstrated passion for channeling your backend expertise into building tools, libraries, or frameworks that provide leverage and make other developers better. Familiarity with Go is a strong plus.

Preferred Qualifications 

• AWS Experience: Familiarity with core AWS services used in a platform context (Kubernetes/EKS, RDS, S3, IAM).
• Experience in a Startup Environment: Comfortable with ambiguity and a fast-paced setting.