Backend Engineer

We are looking for a Backend Engineer to work across two core layers of our platform: the backend application and the cloud infrastructure it runs on. You will build and maintain our Python/FastAPI backend and work hands-on with the AWS infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, and day-to-day reliability of the system, alongside senior engineers who set the overall architecture.

This role suits someone who enjoys writing clean application code and is equally comfortable reasoning about cloud infrastructure.

We operate in an emerging market with evolving requirements and limited documentation. The people who thrive here see that as an opportunity rather than an obstacle. They make confident decisions with imperfect information, adapt as things change, and treat uncertainty as a normal part of the job.

Tech Stack

You will be working primarily with:

• Backend: Python, FastAPI, Peewee ORM
• Database: PostgreSQL (AWS RDS)
• Cloud: AWS (EC2, RDS, S3, IAM, CloudWatch)
• Infrastructure: AWS CDK
• Containers: Docker
• CI/CD: GitHub Actions
• Frontend: Next.js, React, TypeScript, Vercel hosting
• Tooling: GitHub, Linear

Responsibilities

• Build backend features across the application and API layer
  • Build features in our Python/FastAPI application and contribute to data modeling and API contracts, working within the architecture set by the team
  • Backend feature development planning and execution
• Work hands-on with cloud infrastructure and DevOps
  • Manage and improve our AWS environment (EC2, RDS, S3, IAM, and related services)
  • Maintain and evolve CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code
  • Contribute to monitoring, alerting, and observability tooling
• Take part in incident response for backend and infrastructure issues, helping diagnose and resolve production problems
• Collaborate with frontend engineers on API design and integration, and contribute to frontend work as needed
• Make pragmatic trade-offs between engineering rigor and business speed, and communicate those trade-offs clearly
• Communicate progress, blockers, and technical decisions proactively and asynchronously

Requirements

• 3+ years of backend engineering experience, with strong Python skills
• Experience building and maintaining production APIs with FastAPI or a comparable Python framework
• Hands-on AWS experience: you have worked with EC2, RDS, S3, IAM, and related services in a production environment
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code tools
• Experience setting up and maintaining CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions or equivalent)
• Strong database skills: schema design, query optimization, and management of PostgreSQL or similar
• Experience with Docker and containerized deployments
• Fluent English (written and spoken) for async collaboration across a multilingual team
• High agency: you identify problems, propose solutions, and act on your own initiative
• Comfort with ambiguity: you can scope, sequence, and ship work even when requirements are incomplete
• AI tools are a vital part of your workflow, and you pay close attention to how the space is evolving
• Technical expertise is the foundation. What determines whether someone thrives at eMotion Fleet is a set of working qualities we care just as much about:

  • Ownership, not just delivery. You take end-to-end responsibility for what you build, including validating it against customer needs and surfacing problems proactively.

  • Bias towards shipping, not perfectionism. You find a way forward when conditions aren’t ideal and make practical calls about what needs to be right from the start versus what can be refined later.

  • Problem-solving under uncertainty. You give problems a genuine attempt before asking for help, and when you do ask, you come prepared with what you’ve already tried.

  • Strong async communication. You keep others informed of your thinking and progress proactively and move conversations toward decisions.

Nice to haves

While not specifically required, tell us if you have any of the following.

• Experience with observability tooling
• Familiarity with event-driven architectures or messaging systems
• Comfortable developing frontend features (TypeScript, React, Next.js) or directing AI to do it; you can get frontend work done independently without pulling in a frontend engineer for every task
• Experience with IoT data pipelines or real-time telemetry systems
• Japanese language skills (conversational or above)