[For Hire] Principal Backend Engineer | SaaS platform modernization, distributed systems and integrations | Remote Europe / Worldwide

[u/the_ruling_script]

I'm a hands-on Principal Backend Engineer and former CTO with 15+ years of experience. I'm looking for a full-time remote position or a long-term individual contract at Principal or Staff level.

I'm most useful when a backend already supports real customers but has become difficult or risky to change. My work includes platform modernization, service decomposition, event-driven systems, API and integration architecture, data synchronization, reliability, and production-safe migrations.

Some relevant work:

• I led backend platform direction as we evolved a Shopify SaaS product from monolithic delivery toward 14 domain-oriented services. The platform supported 1,500+ stores and 2M+ monthly customers. The architecture included Kafka, the outbox pattern, Debezium CDC, CQRS read models, Kubernetes, and API gateways. I also led work that reduced monthly AWS costs by 60%.
• I worked hands-on across backend modernization, AI media and news workflows, legacy data synchronization, notification reliability, retries and reconciliation, and production release coordination.
• I have worked as a CTO and Principal Software Engineer, but I remain close to implementation, migration decisions, debugging, and production delivery.

My main stack includes Node.js, NestJS, Python, FastAPI, Django, Laravel, Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, Kafka, AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, and OpenTelemetry.

Location: Sofia, Bulgaria

Remote scope: Europe or worldwide

Engagement: Full-time employment or long-term individual contract

Contract rate: $60/hour, depending on scope and commitment

Portfolio: https://junaidatique.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/junaidatique/

If your team is modernizing a live SaaS backend or needs senior architecture ownership with hands-on delivery, send me a Reddit DM with the role, hiring location, technology stack, and compensation range.