Senior Developer Applications - API

Role Summary

The Senior Developer, Applications - API designs and builds business applications and support functions based on identified business requirements and best practices. The role leads the implementation of strategic business objectives with emphasis on application architecture and applies advanced analysis to architect, design, demonstrate, and position. This position will plan, coordinate, architect, and develop activities related to the integration of software programs, applications, and third-party solutions to meet organizational needs.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement end-to-end API integrations, including authentication, error handling, rate limiting, and retries.
• Build and maintain scalable, secure, and well-documented RESTful and GraphQL APIs for internal and external consumption.
• Evaluate and integrate with third-party APIs from partners, vendors, and platforms (e.g., Stripe, Salesforce, Shopify, AWS, Twilio).
• Adhere to secure coding practices and ensure all integrations adhere to security and compliance standards (e.g., OWASP Top 10, data encryption, access control).
• Conduct regular code audits and security reviews of API implementations, both internal and third-party.
• Design authentication and authorization flows using best practices such as OAuth 2.0, API tokens, and JWT with expiration/refresh strategies.
• Develop reusable integration patterns and middleware services to streamline future API work.
• Ensure integration reliability with automated testing, monitoring, logging, and alerting.
• Collaborate with DevOps teams to manage API gateway configurations, reverse proxies, and load balancing (e.g., AWS API Gateway, NGINX, Kong).
• Secure API endpoints using industry-standard practices (e.g., OAuth2, OpenID Connect, HMAC, API key management).
• Optimize API performance and scalability using caching (e.g., Redis, CDN), pagination, and asynchronous processing where appropriate.
• Work with large datasets in transit and build resilient data synchronization mechanisms.
• Maintain backward compatibility and version control for public-facing APIs.
• Perform code reviews and enforce best practices around integration architecture and error handling.
• Create and maintain comprehensive documentation on all integrations, development, and changes.
• Participate in incident response and postmortems related to API outages or third-party failures.
• Create, edit and adhere to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), process improvements, and standardization of templates.
• Perform ad-hoc and cross-functional projects assigned to support business needs and provide developmental opportunities.

Qualifications

• Required: Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or a related field with 5+ years of backend development experience focusing on API architecture and integration.
• Required: Experience with API schema management tools like Swagger/OpenAPI, Postman, or Stoplight.
• Required: Experience with API Gateway platforms (e.g., AWS API Gateway, Kong, Apigee, NGINX).
• Required: Experience with TLS, HTTPS, certificate pinning, and secure transmission of sensitive data.
• Preferred: Experience using static and dynamic analysis tools for security testing (e.g., Snyk, SonarQube, Burp Suite, OWASP ZAP).

Skills

• Proficiency in Node.js, Python (Django/Flask/FastAPI), Java (Spring Boot), or C# (.NET Core).
• Deep understanding of REST, GraphQL, Webhooks, WebSockets, and gRPC.
• Knowledge of HTTP/HTTPS protocols, status codes, CORS, content negotiation, and idempotency.
• Proficiency with OAuth 2.0, JWT, API keys, and secure token exchange mechanisms.
• Familiarity with message brokers and event-driven architectures (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ, SNS/SQS).
• Git workflows (GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket) including branching strategies and CI/CD.
• Familiarity with serverless integration models (AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, GCP Cloud Functions).
• Proficiency with data transformation tools (e.g., JSONPath, JQ, XML/XSLT).
• Understanding of OWASP API Security Top 10 and mitigating common vulnerabilities.
• Familiarity with IAM principles and tools (e.g., RBAC, ABAC, AWS IAM).
• Knowledge of API rate limiting, throttling, IP whitelisting, and protective measures.
• Understanding of middleware platforms or iPaaS tools (e.g., MuleSoft, Workato, Dell Boomi).
• Exposure to monitoring and tracing tools (e.g., Datadog, New Relic, Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry).
• Working knowledge of Docker and container orchestration (Kubernetes or ECS/EKS).

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or a related field with 5+ years of backend development experience focusing on API architecture and integration.

Additional Requirements

• This position works in El Segundo, CA.
• Regular Monday–Friday schedule within standard business hours; flexibility available with manager approval.
• Mobility to work in a standard office setting and to use standard office equipment.
• Lift and carry materials weighing up to 20 pounds.