{"id":3475722,"url":"https://alion.io/job/africa-web-services-afws-principal-distributed-systems-engineer","title":"Principal Distributed Systems Engineer","company":{"id":4487163,"name":"Africa Web Services (AfWS)","domain":null,"url":"https://alion.io/company/africa-web-services-afws","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":null,"truth_index":null},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"lead","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Lagos, Nigeria"],"countries":["NG"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":13000,"max_usd":39000,"period":"year","method":"global_role_cell_scaled_by_country","sample_n":2257},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Docker","optional":false},{"name":"K3s","optional":false},{"name":"Kubernetes","optional":false},{"name":"MQTT","optional":false},{"name":"PostgreSQL","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-12T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":null,"last_verified_at":"2026-10-12T00:00:00Z","board_verified":false,"closed_at":null,"days_open":23,"trust":{"level":"not_scored","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":23},"description":"Principal Distributed Systems Engineer\nLocation: Hybrid — minimum 50% on-site in Lagos\nJob Type: Independent Retainer — Milestone-Based Deliverable Contract\nDuration: October 2026 – December 2026\nAbout the RoleWe are seeking a Principal Distributed Systems Engineer / Lead Quantitative Architect to design and build the technology powering a sovereign compute exchange and cloud infrastructure platform. The role combines distributed systems, mathematical optimisation, secure billing, multi-tenant database security, and distributed edge computing.\nKey ResponsibilitiesDesign a multi-threaded Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) engine to optimise compute resource bids against power, thermal, SLA, processor-state, and cooling constraints.\nBuild an append-only, tamper-evident billing ledger using SHA-256 hash chaining, with integrity verification and tamper detection.\nDesign and deploy PostgreSQL Row-Level Security (RLS) policies for strict multi-tenant data isolation, supported by access-validation middleware and security testing.\nDevelop an edge compute orchestration backend to aggregate distributed nodes, identify available capacity, and coordinate workload distribution, encryption, execution, and result return.\nDeploy production-ready systems with the local Lagos development team, conduct load testing, and lead architectural handover sessions.\nRequirementsStrong experience in distributed systems and high-throughput backend architecture.\nProficiency in Python backend engineering and performance-critical data pipelines.\nAdvanced PostgreSQL and multi-tenant database architecture experience.\nExperience with Kubernetes, k3s, Docker, and cloud infrastructure.\nKnowledge of MILP, mathematical optimisation, quantitative engineering, operational research, or resource allocation.\nExperience with cryptographic data structures, SHA-256, and data-integrity verification.\nFamiliarity with distributed edge/IoT orchestration, MQTT, and IoT data pipelines.\nStrong technical documentation and architecture handover skills.\nExperience in quantitative trading infrastructure, operational research, high-throughput fintech, or large-scale SaaS multi-tenancy is an advantage.\nAdditional DetailsReports to: Technical Partner Project Manager.\nPotential for long-term engagement after launch.\nWeekly 90-minute technical walkthroughs, comprehensive architecture manuals, and API, solver, and database documentation are required.\nIn-person knowledge transfer during Lagos-based periods and formal final sign-off are required. The local team must be able to build the systems independently from source.\nKey MilestonesM1: MILP Solver — Python + C\nM2: Immutable Billing Ledger — SHA-256\nM3: PostgreSQL RLS — Multi-Tenant Isolation\nM4: Edge Aggregator — k3s + Orchestration\nM5: Production Deployment & Handover\nHow to apply: ","description_format":"text","description_chars":2854,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":[],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-29T18:38:15Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":50,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":0.85,"p_active":0.777,"p_room":0.75,"age_days":23,"expected_fill_days":28,"reasons":["seen:23","win:late"],"computed_at":"2026-11-04T06:34:25Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/africa-web-services-afws-principal-distributed-systems-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/africa-web-services-afws-principal-distributed-systems-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-04T12:42:18Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":19114,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-05T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":4487163},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=4487163"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fafrica-web-services-afws-principal-distributed-systems-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fafrica-web-services-afws-principal-distributed-systems-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fafrica-web-services-afws-principal-distributed-systems-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/africa-web-services-afws-principal-distributed-systems-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fafrica-web-services-afws-principal-distributed-systems-engineer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3475722}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":4487163,"detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3475722},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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