This description is a summary of our understanding of the job description. Click on 'Apply' button to find out more. Role Description At Ontrac Solutions, we partner with elite engineering organizations to build systems that operate at planetary scale. Our client, a founding search company, is evolving the foundation of its core search platform — and we are looking for a Principal Python Engineer who does not just use Python… but understands it at its core execution model. This is not a feature role. This is not application engineering. This is infrastructure that shapes user experience at massive scale. The Mandate - Design and optimize the Python systems that power: - Global indexing pipelines - Real-time search services - Ranking and relevance models - High-QPS distributed APIs - ML-integrated search architecture You will operate where performance, scale, and precision intersect. The Environment You'll Influence - You'll work alongside teams leveraging: - Apache Lucene - Elasticsearch - Apache Solr - Apache Kafka - Hadoop - TensorFlow - PyTorch This is distributed systems engineering at scale. Latency matters. Throughput matters. Architecture matters. Qualifications - 10+ years of Python engineering in production - Understands CPython internals and performance trade-offs - Optimized systems around GIL, async I/O, multiprocessing - Built high-throughput services serving millions of users - Architected distributed systems end-to-end - Debugged performance issues at memory and execution level - Operated at Staff or Principal level with architectural ownership Requirements - Architect low-latency Python services supporting core search - Optimize indexing and ranking pipelines - Improve query response times at scale - Design concurrency strategies for performance-critical systems - Influence system-level architectural decisions - Mentor senior engineers and elevate technical standards - Bridge ML-driven ranking systems with production-grade infrastructure The Impact Your work will: - Directly influence millions of search queries - Reduce latency across global systems - Increase relevance accuracy - Improve infrastructure resiliency - Shape the evolution of Yahoo's search architecture This is high-visibility, high-impact engineering. What Makes This Opportunity Different Through Ontrac Solutions, you're not just stepping into a contract role. You're joining a performance-driven engineering ecosystem. We operate with: - Enterprise precision - Architectural rigor - Clear executive alignment - Outcome-driven delivery We partner with organizations where technical excellence is not optional — it's foundational. Ideal Background - Built large-scale search platforms - Worked on marketplace or ad-tech systems - Led distributed systems architecture - Contributed to open-source Python libraries - Operated in environments where uptime > 99.9% is mandatory - Experience in relevance engineering, information retrieval theory, or ML-driven search pipelines is highly valued. Why This Role Is Elite This is not CRUD engineering. This is not startup experimentation. This is not maintenance work. This is: - Distributed systems at scale - Performance-critical Python engineering - Search infrastructure modernization - Architecture with real global impact

• Design, develop, and maintain secure, high-performance backend services using Kotlin and Spring Boot within a microservices architecture. • Build and enhance modern, responsive user interfaces using React and TypeScript, ensuring accessibility and maintainability. • Develop and maintain RESTful APIs that meet enterprise standards for scalability, reliability, and security. • Deploy, manage, and monitor containerized applications using Amazon ECS (Elastic Container Service). • Leverage core AWS services to design resilient, fault-tolerant cloud infrastructure aligned with enterprise architecture standards. • Design, implement, and optimize relational database solutions using PostgreSQL and/or MySQL, including complex query development and performance tuning. • Follow structured Git-based workflows using GitHub, including feature branching, pull request reviews, and controlled release processes. • Ensure adherence to secure coding standards, compliance requirements, and enterprise governance frameworks. • Identify and resolve system performance issues across application, database, and infrastructure layers. • Participate in architectural reviews and contribute to long-term platform modernization initiatives. • Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders including product, security, DevOps, and enterprise architecture teams.

• Design, develop, and maintain secure, high-performance backend services using Kotlin and Spring Boot within a microservices architecture. • Build and enhance modern, responsive user interfaces using React and TypeScript, ensuring accessibility and maintainability. • Develop and maintain RESTful APIs that meet enterprise standards for scalability, reliability, and security. • Deploy, manage, and monitor containerized applications using Amazon ECS (Elastic Container Service). • Leverage core AWS services to design resilient, fault-tolerant cloud infrastructure aligned with enterprise architecture standards. • Design, implement, and optimize relational database solutions using PostgreSQL and/or MySQL, including complex query development and performance tuning. • Follow structured Git-based workflows using GitHub, including feature branching, pull request reviews, and controlled release processes. • Ensure adherence to secure coding standards, compliance requirements, and enterprise governance frameworks. • Identify and resolve system performance issues across application, database, and infrastructure layers. • Participate in architectural reviews and contribute to long-term platform modernization initiatives. • Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders including product, security, DevOps, and enterprise architecture teams.

• You will be responsible for building, implementing and supporting Microsoft solutions. • You will grow to be a "go-to" person for advanced application development tasks involving front end, mid-tier and backend development, SQL Server, web apps, function apps, and other Microsoft capabilities. • Architect and develop solutions using SSIS, SQL Server, stored procedures and APIs. • Requirements gathering, research to develop insightful conclusions and generate solutions to address user needs. • Field requests from stakeholders, clarifying requirements, and responding with data that meets the end-users need. • Perform advanced data analytics to make recommendations on improvements. • Assist in documentation of current processes and development of documentation for new processes along with other methods of knowledge sharing. • Utilize Power BI or other BI Platform technologies to creatively display complex data in a manner that can be digested by a wide audience. • Migrate data/pipeline creation to get data from database/file system to data warehouse. • Check in code to Github and deploying builds locally for testing. Understand branching. • Ensure data accuracy, performance, usability, and functionality requirements of BI platform. • Participate in the full software development life cycle, including solution design, development, code review, source code control, testing, deployment. • Design and develop Reports and ETL process to/from Data Warehouse using SQL Stored Procedures.