Staff DevOps Engineer

Our Company At Teradata, we believe that people thrive when empowered with better information. Teradata Autonomous Knowledge Platform activates enterprise intelligence by unifying data, knowledge and business context to achieve tangible outcomes. With Teradata, organizations can provide agents with full context for impact when it matters. Our solution lets businesses connect and scale on premises, in the cloud, or through a hybrid approach. Teradata delivers real business value with AI.

We are looking for a seasoned API Team Lead with deep Python expertise to lead our backend API engineering practice. In this role, you will guide a team of Python developers in designing, building, and maintaining scalable, secure, and high-performance APIs that power enterprise applications. You will set technical direction, drive best practices in API design and software development patterns, and work cross-functionally to deliver reliable backend services aligned with business objectives.

What You'll Do

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of Python developers, code reviews.
• Architect, design, and oversee the development of scalable, secure, and high-performance RESTful and GraphQL APIs using Python frameworks such as FastAPI, Django REST Framework, or Flask.
• Define and enforce API design standards, coding conventions, software development patterns, and documentation practices across the team.
• Drive sprint planning, backlog grooming, and technical delivery commitments in close collaboration with product and engineering stakeholders.
• Lead the design of microservices and service-oriented architectures, ensuring loose coupling, high cohesion, and independent deployability.
• Oversee integration of APIs with relational (RDBMS) and NoSQL databases, ensuring efficient data modeling, query optimization, and data integrity.
• Champion API security practices including authentication, authorization, input validation, rate limiting, and OWASP compliance.
• Collaborate with frontend and full stack teams to define and maintain clear, versioned API contracts and developer-friendly documentation.
• Drive adoption of CI/CD pipelines, automated testing strategies, and DevOps practices within the Python API development workflow.
• Evaluate and introduce tools, libraries, and frameworks that improve team productivity, API performance, and code maintainability.

Who You'll Work With

• Python API Developers — to provide technical guidance, unblock challenges, and ensure consistent delivery of high-quality backend services.
• Frontend / UI Engineers — to define API contracts, coordinate integration points, and support seamless end-to-end feature delivery.
• DevOps / Platform Teams — to align on CI/CD pipelines, containerized API deployments, and infrastructure-as-code practices.
• Security & Architecture Teams — to enforce API security standards, token-based authentication patterns, and enterprise compliance requirements.
• QA / Automation Engineers — to define API testability requirements and support automated contract, integration, and load testing.
• Product & Program Managers — to translate business requirements into API roadmaps, effort estimates, and sprint deliverables.
• Executive & Technical Leadership — to communicate engineering progress, surface technical risks, and present architectural decisions.

What Makes You a Qualified Candidate

• 7+ years of professional backend development experience, with at least 3 years in a technical lead or API architect role.
• Deep, hands-on expertise in Python and widely used API frameworks such as FastAPI, Django REST Framework, or Flask.
• Strong command of API design principles — RESTful design, GraphQL, versioning strategies, pagination, and error handling standards.
• Proven experience applying software development patterns such as MVC, Repository Pattern, Service Layer, CQRS, Dependency Injection, and Event-Driven architecture.
• Hands-on experience with RDBMS platforms such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, or SQL Server — including schema design, ORM usage (SQLAlchemy, Django ORM), and query optimization.
• Hands-on experience with NoSQL databases such as MongoDB, Redis, Cassandra, or Elasticsearch — including data modeling for non-relational use cases.
• Solid knowledge of API security standards — OAuth2, JWT, API key management, RBAC, ABAC, and Azure AD / SSO integration.
• Experience with asynchronous programming in Python (asyncio, Celery, message queues) for building non-blocking, high-throughput services.
• Proven track record of mentoring Python developers and driving technical direction across cross-functional engineering teams.
• Familiarity with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), CI/CD tooling, and Agile delivery using Jira, Confluence, or Azure DevOps.

What You'll Bring

• Technical Leadership — Confidence to set API architecture direction, make pragmatic design decisions, and champion engineering excellence across the Python team.
• API Craft — A deep appreciation for clean, well-documented, and developer-friendly API design that balances performance, security, and usability.
• Mentorship Passion — A genuine commitment to developing Python engineers through coaching, pair programming, constructive code reviews, and knowledge sharing.
• Pattern-Driven Thinking — A disciplined approach to applying the right software design patterns to ensure maintainable, scalable, and testable backend services.
• Communication Skills — Ability to translate complex backend and API concepts clearly for frontend engineers, product managers, and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ownership & Accountability — A strong sense of responsibility for team velocity, API reliability, and the overall quality of backend services in production.
• Collaborative Spirit — An inclusive mindset that fosters strong working relationships across frontend, DevOps, QA, and product disciplines.
• Continuous Improvement — A drive to stay current with the Python ecosystem, API tooling trends, and evolving backend engineering best practices.

Why We Think You’ll Love Teradata We prioritize a people-first culture because we know our people are at the very heart of our success. We embrace a flexible work model because we trust our people to make decisions about how, when, and where they work. We focus on well-being because we care about our people and their ability to thrive both personally and professionally. We are an anti-racist company because our dedication to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is more than a statement. It is a deep commitment to doing the work to foster an equitable environment that celebrates people for all of who they are.

Teradata invites all identities and backgrounds in the workplace. We work with deliberation and intent to ensure we are cultivating collaboration and inclusivity across our global organization. ​ We are proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, color, ancestry, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related conditions), national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, medical condition, genetic information, gender identity or expression, military and veteran status, or any other legally protected status.