Senior Backend Engineer, Golang

We are looking for a Senior Go Backend Engineer to build the backend foundation for a new real-time transportation product. The platform will ingest shuttle location and operational data from third-party webhooks and APIs, validate and store it in PostgreSQL on AWS, and expose it through APIs that power a live vehicle-tracking map. This is a hands-on delivery role. You will work closely with product and engineering to make pragmatic architectural decisions, build and deploy the core services, and leave the system production-ready, well tested, and documented for continued development. The ideal contractor can ramp up quickly, work independently, and communicate decisions, progress, risks, and blockers clearly.

Primary focus: Backend architecture and implementation

Core technologies: Go, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, REST APIs, webhooks, and AWS

Backend Development and Integrations

• Design and build production-quality backend services in Go.
• Develop REST APIs for vehicle, route, location, and operational data, with clear contracts for the frontend application.
• Build secure webhook endpoints to ingest data from external transportation systems.
• Validate, normalize, and persist incoming events, with appropriate authentication, authorization, and input validation.
• Ensure webhook processing is idempotent and resilient to duplicate, delayed, or out-of-order events.
• Handle retries, failures, rate limits, and malformed third-party payloads.
• Enable real-time or near-real-time vehicle updates using WebSockets, Server-Sent Events, polling, or another agreed approach.

Data Architecture

• Design PostgreSQL schemas for vehicles, locations, routes, events, and related operational data.
• Build efficient queries for current and historical vehicle locations.
• Model geospatial data using PostgreSQL and PostGIS where appropriate.
• Evaluate whether queues or asynchronous processing are needed for the initial product.

AWS Deployment and Reliability

• Deploy and operate the backend within AWS using the appropriate services, including RDS, ECS/Fargate, Lambda, API Gateway, SQS, and CloudWatch.
• Configure logging, metrics, health checks, and basic alerting.
• Establish secure credential and application-secret management.
• Create repeatable deployments using the existing CI/CD and infrastructure tooling.
• Investigate and resolve integration or production issues during the engagement.

Product Delivery and Handoff

• Partner with the product manager to clarify requirements, prioritize the scope, and translate product needs into pragmatic technical solutions.
• Identify technical risks, unknowns, and external integration dependencies early.
• Deliver incrementally so product and engineering teams can test and provide feedback.
• Collaborate with frontend engineers on API contracts and real-time update behavior.
• Write automated unit and integration tests for all delivered functionality.
• Document the architecture, APIs, webhook behavior, deployment process, operational procedures, known limitations, and recommended next steps.
• Provide clear local development and testing instructions.
• Conduct a technical handoff with the internal engineering team before the engagement ends.

Expected Outcomes

• A production-ready Go service structure.
• Secure webhook ingestion for the initial external data provider.
• Reliable validation and persistence of vehicle-location events.
• A PostgreSQL schema supporting current and historical location data.
• The APIs required for the frontend's real-time vehicle map.
• An agreed real-time update mechanism using WebSockets, Server-Sent Events, polling, or another suitable approach.
• Deployment to the appropriate AWS environment.
• Automated tests, observability, and operational documentation.
• Strong professional experience building production backend services in Go.
• Experience designing and delivering REST APIs and third-party webhook integrations.
• Strong PostgreSQL and relational data-modelling skills.
• Experience deploying and operating applications in AWS.
• Understanding of concurrent, asynchronous, and event-driven processing.
• Experience implementing idempotency, retries, and failure handling.
• Strong automated testing and debugging skills.
• Familiarity with CI/CD and modern software-delivery practices.
• Ability to work independently, take ownership, and deliver effectively.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience collaborating with product and frontend teams.

Nice to Have

• Experience with real-time location, fleet, transportation, or telemetry systems.
• Experience with geospatial