Urgent: Senior Backend Engineer

Job Description

About RightWalk

At RightWalk Foundation (RWF), we are committed to addressing the root causes of poverty and inequality by activating transformative social policies from inception to last-mile delivery. We work with System Leadership, Lawmakers, and Communities to design and drive scalable solutions that bridge the opportunity gap for marginalized populations.

Our Mission: To enable access to equitable opportunities and social justice for all by influencing and implementing transformative policies at scale.

Our Vision: A society where every individual, regardless of their socio-economic background, has equal access to opportunities and the ability to live a life of dignity.

Our pioneering efforts have unlocked the RTE 12.1(c) provision in Uttar Pradesh, enabling over 950,000 children from economically weaker sections to access quality education across 28,000 schools. We have also been instrumental in activating Apprenticeship Policies across multiple states, connecting over 120,000 youth with skilling and employment opportunities. With a blend of policy advocacy, system design, capacity building, and on-ground execution, we aim to shape India's social policy landscapeto be more equitable and inclusive. To know more about us, visit www.rightwalk.org.

The Opportunity: Senior Backend Engineer (Python) / Tech Lead

As Senior Backend Engineer / Tech Lead, you will own the backend architecture and LLM/agent infrastructure powering our Chatbot platforms. Our stack includes FastAPI, async Python, SQLAlchemy/ Alembic, Redis, Playwright automation, and LiteLLM/OpenAI integrations. You will serve as the technical lead for architecture, reliability, cost optimization, and team mentorship, ensuring robust, scalable, and efficient systems.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who thrives on solving complex backend challenges, building scalable AI-driven platforms, and guiding engineers to excellence.

Key Responsibilities

Backend Architecture & Delivery

- Lead design and implementation of backend systems including conversation graphs, LLM integrations, persistence layers, and automation workflows.
- Define and evolve architecture to ensure scalability, reliability, and cost efficiency.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate backend services with chatbot platforms and external systems.

LLM Pipelines & Integrations

- Implement robust LLM call pipelines including context construction, token management, safety filters, retries, and cost controls.
- Design inbound webhook adapters and outbound flows for io / WhatsApp orchestration, ensuring idempotency, retries, and observability.
- Optimize performance of LiteLLM/OpenAI integrations to deliver seamless AI experiences.

Data Persistence & Storage

- Own persistence patterns using Postgres + SQLAlchemy/Alembic and Redis for session/history management.
- Design and manage embedding/vector workflows to support intelligent retrieval and personalization.
- Establish standards for database migrations, indexing, and query optimization.

Reliability, Testing & DevOps

- Improve CI/CD pipelines, test coverage, and release reliability across environments.
- Implement monitoring and observability frameworks (Prometheus, Grafana, Sentry) to ensure uptime and performance.
- Drive best practices in containerization, deployment, and automation (Docker, Kubernetes/Helm).

Technical Leadership & Mentorship

- Mentor engineers through code reviews, knowledge sharing, and technical guidance.
- Define coding standards, enforce engineering best practices, and champion a strong testing culture (pytest).
- Participate in technical hiring and ensure continuous capability building within the team.

Who Will Thrive in This Role - You'll love this role (and we'll love working with you) if:

- BE/B.Tech preferably in Computer Science or allied areas
- 6+ years of backend engineering with at least 3+ years in technical leadership or project ownership.
- Deep expertise in Python (asyncio), FastAPI, async SQLAlchemy/Alembic, Postgres, and Redis.
- Proven experience integrating LLMs or similar AI systems (prompt pipelines, safety frameworks).
- Hands-on experience with Playwright or other browser automation tools.
- Strong foundation in testing, observability, CI/CD, Docker, and deployment practices.

Bonus if you have:

- Exposure to LiteLLM, Langfuse, sentence-transformers, vector DBs, or embedding pipelines.
- Familiarity with Kubernetes/Helm for container orchestration.
- Working knowledge of TypeScript and React to collaborate effectively with frontend teams.

At RightWalk, thriving also means embodying our core values every day

- Integrity & Ethics: Do what's right, always.
- Ownership & Excellence: Take full charge, no excuses.
- Resilience & Audacity: Be fearless, even when it's hard.
- Empathy & End-User First: Listen, understand, and design what matters most.
- Helicopter Mindset: Zoom out to think big, zoom in to deliver relentlessly.