Senior Backend Engineer

About the Role

Vantage is hiring a Senior Backend Engineer. In this role you'll focus on building features and integrations with partner systems while acting as a backend subject matter expert and mentor for our engineering team. Expect heavy use of external APIs to pull data, as well as designing and delivering APIs that both receive data from and push data to external sources. You'll work with large datasets, perform hands-on coding, and keep our services reliable and fast.

In this role you'll be called on to support multiple product teams to uphold sound architecture, high code quality, and on-time delivery. You'll be a trusted go-to reviewer for SQL and Django ORM changes, set clear standards for database and service performance, and guide design and trade-off decisions that keep the platform scalable.

This posting is for an existing vacancy (backfill).

Minimum Requirements

• 6+ years of professional experience with a strong record in software development, testing, software design, and architecture.

• Advanced SQL expertise beyond an ORM user. Comfortable reading DB queries, designing indexes, tuning complex joins, and refactoring queries for reliability and speed.

• Strong Python and Django experience building production services and APIs.

• Experience as a gatekeeper for database performance in code reviews and in debugging sessions.

• Experience with MySQL and/or Postgres.

• Proven ability to troubleshoot and debug production code using logs, metrics, and traces.

• Experience addressing performance and optimization problems with a demonstrated ability to both diagnose and prevent issues.

• Experience with cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, or GCP.

• Track record of effective mentoring and knowledge sharing.

• Experience with B2B API integrations.

• Bonus: Experience with Celery, RabbitMQ, and OTEL. A degree in Computer Science or a related field is a plus.

Role Responsibilities

• Serve as one of the owners for application and database performance. Review pull requests with an eye for query cost, indexing, and data access patterns, and drive improvements across the codebase.

• Own external API integrations and data exchange. Build and maintain reliable partner connectors, including authentication, rate limiting, and retries. Design and evolve internal and partner-facing APIs.

• Design and ship backend features and services in Python and Django with predictable latency and high reliability.

• Diagnose production issues, lead debugging sessions, and improve observability using logs, metrics, and traces.

• Proactively identify performance risks, create plans to eliminate them, and coach the team on best practices to prevent regressions.

• Maintain strong automated test coverage and clear documentation that support safe changes and fast delivery.

• Mentor engineers through pairing, design reviews, and actionable feedback that raises the standard of the team.

• Contribute to architectural discussions and solutioning to ensure scalable and effective product decisions.

About Vantage
Vantage is the first unified platform purpose-built for retail media orchestration, empowering enterprise retailers to seamlessly activate onsite, offsite, and in-store advertising. With a global presence in North America and Asia-Pacific, Vantage enables retailers to launch and grow their media networks through scalable technology and automated workflows, and is trusted by leading retailers like The Home Depot to power their retail media programs.

For a closer look at what we do, our culture, and our benefits, check out our about us and careers pages.

Remote-First, Based in Toronto
Vantage is proudly headquartered in Toronto, but we're a remote-first team spread across North America (and beyond). Our flexible work philosophy means team members can thrive from wherever they do their best work—whether that's from a home office, a local café, or while adding stamps to their passport. With a remote-friendly setup, home office support, and annual company retreats, we stay connected, collaborative, and energized—no matter the time zone.

Vantage's Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Vantage Analytics is fueled by the diversity of our talented employees. We are an equal opportunity employer and embrace ALL individuals and what makes them unique. We believe our employees should be happy and healthy, with peace of mind and a sense of fulfillment. We encourage all individuals to apply for positions that fit their passions.

We promote equality and strive to provide all current and prospective employees with support and opportunities. Reasonable accommodations are available to job applicants on request and throughout the application process.

How Vantage Uses AI in the Recruitment Process

Vantage makes use of several AI-enabled tools that aid us in the hiring process. These tools exclusively take the form of AI meeting notetakers, and the AI assistant in our Applicant Tracking System, Ashby. They allow us to record, organize and summarize the various details and data points we collect during the hiring process, without losing the context in which they were originally provided. Neither the AI meeting notetakers nor Ashby's AI assistant make decisions about your candidate status.

All hiring decisions at Vantage are made by a team of collaborative, hard-working, human beings. We might use AI to speed up your process and to help keep it organized, but ultimately who we invite to work at Vantage is a decision we only trust ourselves to make.

What's Next?
We thank all applicants in advance for their interest in this position, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

As part of the final stages of our hiring process, all candidates will be required to successfully complete a criminal background check.