Developer

Job Title: Software Developer - API & Web Application Focus Location: St Louis, MO - 63164 Duration: 12 months (with possible extension) Pay Range: $60/hr - $64/hr Role Overview: • We are seeking a skilled and motivated Software Developer with a strong background in API development, web application delivery, and secure, scalable backend services. The ideal candidate has at least 6 years of professional experience, with a deep focus on Python development using the FastAPI framework, and is well versed with CI/CD leveraging ADO and/or GitHub. • You will play a key role in designing, building, and deploying robust APIs and web applications, collaborating closely with cross-functional teams to ensure security, performance, and maintainability. • Proficient in Agentic and GENAI concepts Required Qualifications: • Languages & Frameworks: Strong proficiency in Python and backend development with FastAPI (or similar frameworks like Flask), development experience with Node.js • API Skills: Demonstrated ability to design and deliver high-performance, secure RESTful APIs. • DevOps and IaC Implementation: Implement DevOps practices and Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) for API development and deployment. Automate build and release pipelines (CI/CD) using tools such as GitHub Actions, manage infrastructure with Terraform/CloudFormation, and ensure smooth deployment of API services across environments. • Security: Knowledge of application security practices, including Azure Entra authentication/authorization, strong knowledge of API security standards and protocols (OAuth 2.0, JWT, SSL/TLS, etc.), and experience implementing governance around API access, authorization, and data protection. • DevOps Familiarity: Comfortable with containerization concepts (Docker) and basic infrastructure scripting (Terraform, Bash, or similar) is a plus. Preferred Qualifications: • Experience with front-end/backend integration workflows • Familiarity with Node.js for building lightweight services or frontend-backend orchestration • Exposure to AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service) and microservice deployment strategies • Exposure to cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP) • Familiarity with API documentation tools (Swagger/OpenAPI) • Familiarity with MuleSoft Anypoint Platform is a plus- designing APIs, building integrations/flows, and managing the full API lifecycle (development, testing, deployment, and management) • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field Generative AI (GenAI) — core concepts • Foundation models (FMs): Large pre-trained models (LLMs, multimodal) that generalize across tasks. • Prompting & instructions: How inputs steer outputs; includes system vs user intent, constraints, and tone. • Context window: The model’s short-term “working memory” limit for text/images in a single run. • Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG): Pulling relevant knowledge from external sources (docs/search/vector DB) to ground answers. • Embeddings & vector search: Turning content into vectors to enable semantic retrieval and similarity matching. • Fine-tuning vs adapters (e.g., LoRA): Updating model behavior with task data; tradeoff between control, cost, and maintenance. • Tool/function calling: Letting the model invoke calculators, APIs, databases, workflows, and other systems. • Structured outputs: JSON/schema-constrained outputs for reliability and system integration. • Evaluation (evals): Measuring quality with tests (accuracy, faithfulness, toxicity, latency, cost). • Hallucinations: Confident-sounding incorrect outputs; mitigated via RAG, constraints, verification, and UX patterns. • Safety & governance: Policy controls, red-teaming, data handling, and auditability. • Agentic AI — core concepts • Agent: A model that can plan, act, and iterate toward a goal (not just answer once). • Autonomy spectrum: From “suggest-only” to “execute with approvals” to “fully automated” (rare in enterprise). • Planning & decomposition: Breaking goals into steps/subtasks; selecting strategies and sequencing actions. • Tool use & action execution: Calling tools/APIs to change state (create tickets, deploy, update records). • Memory: Persisted preferences/knowledge (user, task, org) vs ephemeral conversation context. • State & workspace: Tracking intermediate artifacts (tasks, assumptions, files, run logs). • Reflection/verification loops: Self-checking, critique, or second-pass validation to reduce errors. • Multi-agent patterns: Specialized agents (e.g., researcher, coder, reviewer) coordinating with handoffs. • Human-in-the-loop (HITL): Approval gates, review queues, and escalation when confidence is low. • Guardrails: Policy checks, allowlists/denylists for tools, spend limits, and sensitive-data filters. • Observability: Traces, tool-call logs, failure modes, and metrics (success rate, MTTR, cost per task). Key Responsibilities: • API Development: Design, develop, test, and deploy scalable RESTful APIs using Python and the FastAPI framework. • Web Application Delivery: Collaborate with frontend teams to build and integrate APIs with web applications. • CI/CD Ownership: Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps to ensure rapid and reliable delivery of code to production. • Secure Development: Implement security best practices across web applications and APIs, including OAuth2, JWT, and secure coding standards. • Code Quality & Testing: Write clean, modular code with strong emphasis on unit testing, integration testing, and code reviews. • Documentation & Collaboration: Create and maintain technical documentation. Collaborate closely with architects and business teams • Continuous Improvement: Stay up-to-date with industry trends, frameworks, and best practices to drive continuous improvement in development and deployment practices. Benefits: The Company offers the following benefits for this position, subject to applicable eligibility requirements: medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, 401(k) retirement plan, life insurance, long-term disability insurance, short-term disability insurance, paid parking/public transportation, (paid time , paid sick and safe time , hours of paid vacation time, weeks of paid parental leave, paid holidays annually - AS Applicable