Backend Python Engineer - APIs / GCP

U.S. citizenship is required by the federal engagement supporting this role. Candidates must reside in and perform all work from within the United States. Work is remote, although occasional approved travel may be required. Visa sponsorship is not available. Lanthos is hiring a Backend Python Engineer to build secure, production-grade APIs and cloud services for regulated public-sector applications on Google Cloud. This is a hands-on individual-contributor role focused on reliable Python services, enterprise integrations, data access, observability, and secure deployment. What you'll do - Design, build, test, and operate Python APIs and backend services using FastAPI, Flask, Django, or comparable frameworks. - Implement RESTful and event-driven integrations with clear API contracts, validation, pagination, retries, idempotency, and resilient error handling. - Deploy containerized services to Cloud Run, GKE, or another approved Google Cloud runtime. - Integrate services with Pub/Sub, Cloud Tasks, BigQuery, Cloud SQL, Firestore, Cloud Storage, Secret Manager, and approved enterprise APIs as needed. - Implement OAuth 2.0, OIDC, JWT, service-to-service authentication, IAM, least-privilege access, and secure secrets handling. - Build asynchronous workers, scheduled jobs, document or data-processing pipelines, and integration services. - Write unit, integration, contract, and end-to-end tests and participate in code review and CI/CD. - Add structured logging, metrics, tracing, alerting, auditability, and performance diagnostics. - Troubleshoot production issues and maintain API documentation, implementation notes, runbooks, and handoff material. - Collaborate with front-end, AI, cloud-platform, security, and architecture teams. Minimum qualifications - Four or more years of professional backend software-engineering experience. - Strong production Python skills, including typing, testing, packaging, dependency management, and asynchronous programming. - Experience building and operating REST APIs or microservices using FastAPI, Flask, Django, or a comparable Python framework. - Hands-on experience deploying containerized services to Google Cloud, Cloud Run, GKE, or a comparable platform. - Experience with relational or document databases and cloud messaging or task queues. - Practical knowledge of authentication, authorization, secrets management, and secure service-to-service communication. - Experience with Git-based development, automated testing, and CI/CD. - Ability to explain personal technical contributions clearly and maintain useful documentation. Preferred qualifications - Hands-on Google Cloud experience with Cloud Run, Pub/Sub, Cloud Tasks, BigQuery, Cloud SQL, Firestore, Cloud Storage, IAM, Secret Manager, logging, or monitoring. - Experience integrating Vertex AI, Gemini, enterprise search, document-processing, or workflow systems. - Experience with Terraform or another infrastructure-as-code tool. - Experience in federal, public-sector, financial-services, healthcare, or another regulated environment. - A current Google Cloud Associate Cloud Engineer, Professional Cloud Developer, Professional Data Engineer, or Professional Cloud Architect certification is a plus. Federal program requirements - Must be a U.S. citizen. - Must reside in and perform all work from within the United States. - Must be able to obtain and maintain the required MBI or Public Trust suitability determination. - Must be willing to complete required fingerprinting, identity verification, security and privacy training, and applicable compliance checks. Compensation and engagement - $70.00-$100.00 per hour, based on relevant experience and final assigned scope. - Independent-contractor engagement, anticipated up to 40 hours per week based on project needs and approved work. - Direct engagement with the individual or a candidate-owned corporation may be considered. - This contract engagement does not include company-sponsored employee benefits. No bonus, commission, or equity compensation is currently offered. - Third-party staffing submissions are not accepted. Interview process - Initial conversation covering eligibility, availability, and engagement expectations. - Practical technical interview focused on Python, API design, authentication, testing, Google Cloud deployment, and a backend system the applicant personally delivered. - Team conversation covering troubleshooting, collaboration, and regulated-program fit. Lanthos LLC is an equal opportunity employer. The citizenship and suitability requirements above are imposed by the federal engagement supporting this position. Pay: $70.00 - $100.00 per hour Work Location: Remote