Contract Backend Python Developer Jobs in Buffalo, NY

We are looking for an exceptional Software Engineer IV (DR) to lead, architect, and elevate our engineering team. We need a leader who thrives in a fast‑paced, collaborative environment and is passionate about solving complex technical challenges. The ideal candidate has a strong foundation in software development, database design, multi‑cloud environments, and in‑memory data technologies. You bring deep technical expertise in software development, demonstrate strong communication and collaboration skills, and embrace a hands‑on, problem‑solving mindset to tackle ACV’s most challenging data engineering problems. In this dual‑impact role, you will serve as a senior technical authority while directly managing and mentoring a team of talented software engineers. You will bridge the gap between high‑level business strategy and technical execution, ensuring your team ships high‑quality, scalable software while fostering an environment of continuous growth and collaboration. If you are passionate about solving complex architectural challenges and are equally invested in developing the careers of those around you, this is the perfect opportunity.

• Lead a team of software engineers to architect, build, and maintain highly scalable, reliable, and fault‑tolerant software systems.
• Drive the technical vision for your team’s domain, making critical decisions on multi‑cloud infrastructure, in‑memory technologies, and overall system architecture.
• Architect, develop, and maintain robust Python backend services operating seamlessly across a complex multi‑cloud infrastructure.
• Enact best practices for the team to follow.
• Directly manage a small team of software engineers, owning their performance, growth, and day‑to‑day engagement. Conduct regular 1:1s, provide actionable and constructive feedback, and map out clear career progression paths for your direct reports.
• Cultivate a collaborative, inclusive, and psychologically safe team culture where engineers are empowered to innovate and take ownership.
• Provide technical leadership through mentoring, coaching, and strong design/code review feedback, helping raise overall engineering quality.
• Own Scrum agile methodologies within the team. Facilitate and lead core Agile ceremonies including sprint planning, daily stand‑ups, backlog grooming/refinement, sprint reviews and retrospectives.
• Partner closely with Product Managers to define technical roadmaps, scope projects, translate epics into actionable user stories, and deliver features on time.
• Translate complex technical concepts to non‑technical stakeholders and align engineering efforts with broader company objectives.
• Collaborate with software and production engineers to design scalable services, plan feature roll‑out, and ensure high reliability and performance of our products.
• Participate in on‑call rotation.
• Maintain standard Eastern Time (ET) working hours to ensure seamless collaboration with your team and direct reports.
• Other duties as assigned.

• Ability to read, write, speak, and understand English.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field (or equivalent work experience).
• 3+ years of experience directly managing, mentoring, or acting as a formal Tech Lead for a team of software engineers.
• 7+ years of experience programming in Python.
• 5+ years of experience with cloud platforms preferably in AWS or GCP.
• 5+ years of experience with Terraform/Infrastructure as Code concepts.
• 5+ years of experience working with continuous integration and build tools.
• Experience architecting and designing systems from the ground up, including making pragmatic decisions for scalability, reliability, and maintainability.
• Experience with in‑memory data processing, database monitoring and diagnostic tools, preferably Datadog.
• Experience with Domain Driven Design.
• Strong experience integrating 3rd‑party APIs, implementing authentication & authorization and developing asynchronous data flows.
• Strong experience developing unit and integration‑tests, and setting expectations for test strategy and coverage.
• Proficiency in SQL query writing and optimization.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively in a fast‑paced global team environment.
• Deep practical experience operating within and leading Agile development environments, with a strong understanding of how to run effective sprints and agile ceremonies.