Senior Python Backend Developer

About the Company

Ascend (formerly FlyFlat) is a membership-based travel concierge service that delivers 24/7 end-to-end journey management for frequent travelers and corporate teams. The company combines white-glove service with proprietary technology to help members save on business and first-class flights.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of features using Django and FastAPI
• Architect and implement scalable web applications
• Establish technical standards for the Python codebase, including standards for AI-assisted contributions
• Optimize cloud infrastructure using Railway and AWS
• Build and maintain AI tooling, prompts, and skills for the engineering team
• Help define company-wide AI policies, guardrails, and enablement
• Mentor developers and conduct thorough code reviews
• Collaborate with product managers and designers
• Implement testing and evaluation strategies for AI-involved workflows

Requirements

• 5+ years of Python web development experience
• Strong proficiency with Django and FastAPI frameworks
• Expert knowledge of web development best practices
• Experience with PostgreSQL and ORM frameworks
• Solid understanding of front-end technologies
• Advanced Git skills and collaborative workflows
• Experience with Agile methodologies and CI/CD
• Demonstrable experience using AI coding assistants (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code, Copilot) in production
• Excellent problem-solving and communication skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with AWS services and/or Railway
• Knowledge of cloud architecture and infrastructure
• Experience with microservices and containerization
• API design and scalability expertise
• Experience designing reusable AI artifacts like prompts, skills, or agents
• Experience setting up organizational AI guardrails and evaluation frameworks