Senior Python Developer Job Description and Role Profile

An experienced Senior Python Developer is required to design, develop and maintain scalable backend systems and services. This role is suitable for candidates with strong Python expertise, sound software engineering principles and experience leading technical workstreams and mentoring other developers.

Senior Python Developer Job Profile

The Senior Python Developer leads the design and delivery of backend components within a software engineering team. The role focuses on developing reliable, maintainable code, shaping technical architecture, and ensuring solutions meet functional and non-functional requirements.

The post holder will collaborate with product managers, engineers and stakeholders to translate requirements into technical designs, drive implementation, and support ongoing operation of services. The role requires a mix of hands-on development, technical guidance and contribution to engineering practices.

Senior Python Developer Job Description

The Senior Python Developer is responsible for owning significant areas of the codebase, delivering features from specification through to production and ensuring high standards of code quality. The role involves writing clear, well-tested Python code, implementing and maintaining APIs and services, and optimising performance and reliability.

Working in an iterative environment, the Senior Python Developer will participate in planning, estimation and design reviews, provide technical leadership during development sprints and conduct thorough code reviews. The role also includes troubleshooting production issues, contributing to release processes and ensuring appropriate operational readiness and observability for deployed systems.

In addition to technical delivery, the Senior Python Developer is expected to mentor junior colleagues, promote best practice in testing and documentation and contribute to continual improvement of team processes and architecture decisions.

Senior Python Developer: Duties and Responsibilities

• Design, implement and maintain backend services and APIs using Python with an emphasis on readability and maintainability.
• Translate functional requirements into technical designs and estimates.
• Write unit, integration and automated tests to ensure code quality and prevent regressions.
• Perform code reviews and provide constructive feedback to peers.
• Optimise application performance, including profiling and refactoring where necessary.
• Collaborate with product and QA teams to drive feature delivery and acceptance criteria.
• Troubleshoot and resolve production incidents and support root cause analysis.
• Contribute to architecture discussions and influence technical direction.
• Document system behaviour, APIs and operational runbooks to support handover and maintenance.
• Ensure security best practice is applied in code and system design.
• Support release activities and deployment readiness checks.
• Mentor and coach junior developers, fostering knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.
• Participate in sprint planning, backlog refinement and estimation exercises.
• Advocate and implement testing, observability and monitoring practices to maintain system health.

Senior Python Developer: Requirements and Qualifications

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• Proven experience of at least five years working with Python in production software projects.
• Strong understanding of software design principles and architecture patterns.
• Experience building and consuming RESTful APIs and designing data models.
• Solid knowledge of relational and non-relational database concepts and querying.
• Practical experience with writing automated tests and applying test-driven approaches.
• Familiarity with deployment and release processes and working in continuous delivery environments.
• Experience diagnosing performance issues and applying optimisation techniques.
• Awareness of security principles relevant to application development.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Strong communication skills and ability to work collaboratively in cross-functional teams.
• Demonstrated experience mentoring and guiding less experienced developers.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and deliver against deadlines in an iterative development environment.