Lead Python Engineer - Contract

Overview:

Medium to long‐term engagement with a leading consulting firm on one or more modules for a major financial services client. The focus is on setting and enforcing engineering standards across multiple Python/Django applications, while remaining highly hands‐on.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead the design and development of backend services and REST APIs using Python and Django, with sufficient front‐end capability to operate as a full‐stack engineer.
• Own engineering best practice: repository structure, branching strategy, pull requests, code reviews, and automated testing (unit and integration tests).
• Manage and mentor a small offshore development team (including Cairo‐based engineers), reviewing code quality, giving clear feedback, and driving a consistent coding style across modules.
• Identify opportunities for shared modules and reusable components, standardising how applications are built and ensuring code is extensible but simple to work with.
• Collaborate with onshore technical leads and client stakeholders to plan work across one or multiple pods, balancing speed of delivery with maintainability.
• Work within a containerised environment (Kubernetes as a strong "should have") and a client‐provided framework for deploying applications.

Essential experience:

• Extensive commercial experience with Python and Django, including building production‐grade RESTful APIs.
• Proven track record as a lead / principal / tech‐lead engineer, owning technical decisions, code quality and delivery for a team.
• Solid full‐stack experience: comfortable across backend and front‐end integration (e.g. templating or modern JavaScript frameworks).
• Strong Git workflow discipline (branching, PRs, reviews) and a focus on automated testing and clean, maintainable code.
• Experience working with or leading offshore/remote teams in a collaborative, delivery‐focused environment.

Nice to have:

• Kubernetes and container orchestration experience for Python/Django applications.
• Background in consulting or financial services environments.

Engagement details:

• Contract length: 6–12 months, starting early January.
• Day rate: fully negotiable, no fixed floor or ceiling; dependent on experience and value.