Senior Backend Python Engineer

Job description

About Shelf Shelf builds software that helps enterprises make AI work in the real world. We care about the hard part: reliable systems, clear operational logic, and production-grade engineering that makes AI useful instead of brittle. Job Description: This role is for a senior backend engineer who can own important systems, not just implement tickets. You will take ambiguous problems, design the right backend approach, ship it, and keep it healthy in production. We want someone who is strong technically, communicates clearly, and has the judgment to make systems simpler, safer, and easier to evolve over time. This is a product engineering role with real ownership from system design through production. What You Will Own: - Design and ship backend services, APIs, data flows, and background processing for production systems. - Turn vague requirements into concrete technical plans, trade-offs, and execution. - Own services after launch: reliability, observability, performance, and incident follow-through. - Make sound decisions around system boundaries, data models, interfaces, and scaling paths. - Write clear technical specs, architecture notes, and diagrams when they help the team mo...