Backend Engineer (Python)

We are looking for an Intermediate Backend Engineer responsible for developing and maintaining backend features and services for MDPI Pulse (Scholar Newsletter) and related email-marketing campaigns. This role focuses on building and maintaining APIs, supporting campaign personalization, developing email rendering components and ensuring the reliability and quality of owned services through testing and CI/CD.

You will work closely with the Data Engineer assigned to the project, as well as the Belgrade email-marketing operations team and other teams such as Product, QA, UX and DevOps, with a mutual goal to help scale Pulse and targeted email campaigns across more institutions and countries.

Working primarily with Python , you will contribute to improving content engagement and enabling more targeted and relevant email communication.

Core Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end development of backend features, services and email-rendering components for MDPI Pulse and related marketing campaigns within a defined scope, ensuring quality delivery and documentation.
• Design and implement API contracts for Pulse and campaign services, producing documented and versioned interfaces.
• Design technical solutions for scoped backend problems, producing documented design decisions.
• Optimize database queries and indexing strategies for owned components, improving backend performance metrics and achieving measurable efficiency gains.
• Write integration tests and maintain comprehensive test coverage for owned components.
• Perform code reviews, providing constructive feedback to improve team code quality.

Additional Responsibilities

• Own and maintain CI/CD pipeline configurations for owned backend services.
• Apply observability principles to owned services, contributing to service health monitoring and alerting.
• Support and mentor junior engineers occasionally, sharing knowledge within the team and contributing to documentation.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering or a related field.
• 2–5 years of experience in backend/server-side software development using Python.
• Familiarity with email templating and rendering (HTML email).
• Experience with REST API development, relational databases and SQL, including database design, ORM frameworks, migrations and basic query optimization.
• Experience with automated testing, including unit and integration tests.
• Good knowledge of Git and CI/CD practices, with an understanding of service monitoring and observability.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• A collaborative mindset and willingness to share knowledge and support other team members.

About MDPI Headquartered in Switzerland, MDPI is a fully Open Access publisher with a portfolio of more than 500 journals across all scientific disciplines. To date, MDPI has published the works of over 4.5 million researchers, collaborating with an extensive network of academic institutions and scientific societies worldwide. Above all, MDPI is committed to ensuring that high-quality research is freely accessible to readers across the globe.

At MDPI, technology is not just a support function - it’s a core driver of our innovation, performance and customer experience. We are proud to develop most of our software in-house and host our systems on-premises, further enriching our already diverse technology landscape. Our commitment to building on open-source stacks empowers our teams to work with flexible, modern and community-driven tools. From cutting-edge submission systems to advanced digital services, our IT environment is a dynamic playground where creativity meets complexity. With a strong focus on continuously growing our technology capabilities, MDPI offers a unique opportunity to work at the forefront of digital transformation in publishing. Join us and be part of a team where your ideas matter, your skills are valued and your passion for technology can truly thrive.

Initiatives At MDPI, we develop and maintain various platforms in order to better serve the scientific community. Please find here-below a list of our main platforms:

https://www.mdpi.com/

https://sciprofiles.com/

https://sciforum.net/

https://www.scilit.net/

https://www.preprints.org/

https://encyclopedia.pub/

https://www.mdpi.com/books/

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