Senior Python Engineer

Company Description

Althera Code is a full-cycle software development company that helps startups and established businesses create scalable digital products. We specialize in fast and effective product development, from the initial concept to the final launch, utilizing strong engineering and AI-powered development practices. Our services include product development, startup development, project discovery, and prototyping. We cater to various industries such as healthcare, fintech, SaaS, and renewable energy, ensuring that the products we launch meet the highest standards of speed, quality, and compliance.

Role Description

The system is currently built on a modular microservices architecture using Python (3.11), FastAPI, Flask, SQLAlchemy, and PostgreSQL, deployed via Docker and Kubernetes on AWS. The NLP stack includes LangChain and Weaviate for RAG pipelines.

The project involves a full database overhaul, NLP/RAG optimization, backend refactoring, and system hardening. You will work alongside a small internal team and report directly to the CTO.

Key Responsibilities:

Database Overhaul:

• Refactor and optimize the existing PostgreSQL schema for scalability and
• performance.
• Address incomplete data migration from Salesforce and improve data model
• consistency.
• Resolve issues with outdated dependencies and inconsistent versioning.

NLP/RAG Pipeline Optimization:

• Completely Refactor LangChain-based pipelines to improve speed and reduce LLM call costs. All the processing is sequential but needs to be parallelized.
• The other critical aspect is to be runtime deciding which model to call (toward the capabilities needed and the price)
• Optimize vector search and retrieval using Weaviate.
• Integrating additional external knowledge into the existing RAG pipelines, thus providing better context and data for the existing model calls.
• Improve modularity and maintainability of the NLP codebase (currently using Poetry, pre-commit, Ruff).

Backend Refactoring:

• Rebuild monolithic components (e.g., savor-ina-develop) into modular microservices.
• Align backend services with the new database and NLP architecture.
• Eliminate old/unused code and improve code quality and documentation across repositories.

Testing/Hardening:

• Improve test coverage, especially for NLP and end-to-end workflows.
• Implement structured testing practices and CI/CD pipelines with comprehensive test stages.
• Harden the system for production use, including security, observability, and performance.

Required Skills&Experience:

Backend&Full-Stack Development:

• 5+ years of experience with Python, FastAPI, Flask, and SQLAlchemy.
• Experience with microservices architecture and containerized deployments (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with infrastructure as code (Terraform) and CI/CD pipelines.

Database Expertise:

• Deep experience with PostgreSQL: schema design, query optimization, and data migration.
• Ability to refactor legacy schemas and improve data integrity and performance.

NLP&RAG Systems:

• Hands-on experience with LangChain and vector databases (Weaviate).
• Understanding of embedding models, LLM orchestration, and cost/performance trade-offs.

DevOps&Observability:

• Experience with AWS services, including Secrets Manager and CloudFront.
• Familiarity with message queues (SQS, RabbitMQ), caching strategies, and CDN usage.
• Ability to implement centralized monitoring and error tracking (current system
• relies on Slack).

Security&Quality:

• Knowledge of secure coding practices, secrets management, and vulnerability

management.

• Experience improving code quality, documentation, and test coverage across

multiple repositories.

Soft Skills:

• Self-starter with strong problem-solving skills and ability to work independently.
• Excellent communication and collaboration in remote, fast-paced environments.

Nice to Have:

• Familiarity with pre-commit hooks, Ruff, and Poetry for Python project management.
• Prior experience in re-architecting systems for high-scale user bases.