Senior Software Engineer | Python

Were the worlds leading data insights and consulting company; we shape the brands of tomorrow by better understanding people everywhere.

Kantars Profiles division is home to the worlds largest audience network.

With access to 170m people in over 100 global markets we offer unrivalled global reach with local relevancy. Validated by industry leading anti-fraud technology Kantars Profiles Audience Network delivers the most meaningful data with consistency accuracy and accountability all at speed and scale.

Job Details

Were the worlds leading data insights and consulting company; we shape the brands of tomorrow by better understanding people everywhere.

About the job

We are looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to join our growing engineering this role you will work on both internal platforms and clientfacing services building scalable secure and highperformance backend systems that operate on a global scale!

You will primarily work with Python FastAPI and modern cloudnative architectures designing and developing APIs that sit in front of AIpowered and datadriven products.

A key part of the role will involve migrating data science and machinelearning workloads into robust maintainable and engineeringcompliant services and infrastructure.

You will collaborate closely with data scientists product managers and other engineers to translate analytical and AI capabilities into reliable backend services. As a senior engineer you will help shape technical direction influence architectural decisions and ensure that systems meet high standards for reliability performance and maintainability.

Job Goals

Backend Development

• Take technical ownership of one or more backend services from design through to production and ongoing operation.

• Drive design and architecture decisions for backend services balancing shortterm delivery with longterm maintainability.

• Review and improve existing codebases identifying opportunities for refactoring simplification and performance improvements.

• Set and promote best practices for Python service structure dependency management and API design.

Data & Persistence

• Ensure data consistency reliability and scalability across services.

• Design database schemas and write efficient queries aligned with application requirements.

AI & Platform Integrations

• Build backend support for AIpowered features such as text analysis classification summarisation or automation.

• Design scalable and observable integrations with external APIs and internal analytics systems.

• Collaborate with data science and product teams to operationalise advanced analytical and AIdriven use cases.

Leadership & Team Contribution

• Mentor and support other engineers through code reviews pairing and technical guidance.

• Lead by example in writing clear maintainable and welltested code.

• Contribute to hiring activities such as technical interviews and onboarding of new engineers.

• Help shape team processes ways of working and technical standards.

Collaboration & Communication

• Contribute to technical design discussions and architecture decisions.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills for presenting findings to stakeholders.

Ideal Skills & Capabilities

Backend & Python Skills

• Deep understanding of Python internals performance characteristics and common pitfalls in production systems.

• Strong experience with async Python (e.g. asyncio async FastAPI patterns) and knowing when not to use it.

• Experience structuring large Python codebases with clear boundaries shared libraries and versioning strategies.

• Proven ability to design testable maintainable Python services with a strong emphasis on automated testing and code quality.

• Experience evolving Python APIs and services without breaking downstream consumers.

• Practical experience managing Python projects with Poetry including dependency resolution and packaging.

Platform Modernisation & Migration

• Lead and contribute to the migration of Python services from AWS Lambda to Kubernetesdeployed applications.

• Evaluate existing Lambdabased workloads and redesign them for longrunning containerised services.

• Identify and address challenges related to configuration scaling observability and cost when moving to Kubernetes.

• Work closely with platform and DevOps teams to define deployment patterns health checks and runtime standards for Python services in Kubernetes.

Databases & Infrastructure

• Experience working with PostgreSQL or other relational databases.

• Understanding of database migrations indexing strategies and query optimisation.

• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps tooling (e.g. GitHub Actions Docker Kubernetes).

Soft Skills

• Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail.

• A proactive mindset to identify and address potential issues or opportunities.

NicetoHave Skills

• Contribute to backend services written in NodeJS and TypeScript supporting shared platforms and internal tooling.

• Confidently read debug and extend existing TypeScript codebases where required.

• Knowledge of eventdriven architectures and message queues (e.g. Kafka RabbitMQ).

• Exposure to cloud platforms such as AWS Azure or GCP.

• Understanding of observability tools for logging metrics and tracing.

Whats in it for you

On top of all your normal benefits like holiday meal cards and life assurance we also offer:

• Five days of Life Leave per year; for those days when life justgets in the way.

• Birthday leave one extra day of holiday taken on the nearest workday to your birthday

• Two days a year to give back and volunteer with an organisation of your choice.

• Enhanced primary and secondary carer leave for however you choose to grow your family.

• The chance to hit the beach on your lunch break (yes we have somewhere you can store your surfboard!)

Please be aware the majority of our roles are hybrid working three days a week in our office.

Were not able to offer visa sponsorship or help with relocation support for this role. Please make sure youve got the right to work in the country where this role is located before applying.

What part of Kantar might I be joining

Youll be joining our Profiles division home to specialists in survey design sampling and data science. With the worlds largest audience network (over 170 million people) were trusted by many of the worlds leading brands to provide amazing insights from real people.

Some key facts:

• Our team is made up of 600 people globally.

• We are present in 27 countries.

• Profiles currently holds a 10% share in the $3b panel industry but we have ambition a robust 3-year business plan and the financial backing of our private equity owners (Bain Capital) to grow to be the #1 player in this sector.

• We provide an ideal environment for professional growth offering:

  • A start-up atmosphere in which you can make a big impact and get credit for it.

  • The chance to learn all aspects of the business and influence the decision-making process.

  • The opportunity to network and learn from highly experienced senior members of our teams from across the business globally.

Why join Kantar

We shape the brands of tomorrow by better understanding people everywhere. By understanding people we can understand what drives their decisions actions and aspirations on a global scale. And if we combine the expertise of our people with the latest AI technology we can really help brands discover some amazing insights.

And because we know people we like to make sure our own people are being looked after as well. Equality of opportunity for everyone is our highest priority and we support our colleagues to work in a way works for them. We encourage applications from all backgrounds and sections of society. Even if you feel like youre not an exact match wed love to receive your application and talk to you about this job or others at Kantar.

Privacy and Legal Statement

At Kantar the diversity of our employees provides a richer environment for our employees and broader depth and breadth of thinking for our clients. Kantar is committed to inclusion and diversity; therefore we welcome applications from all sections of society and do not discriminate based on age race religion gender pregnancy sexual orientation gender identity disability marital status or any other legally protected characteristics.

PRIVACY DISCLOSURE: Please note that by applying to this opportunity you consent to the personal data you provide to us to be processed and retained by The Kantar Group Limited (Kantar). Your details will be kept on our Internal ATS (Applicant Tracking System) for as long as is necessary for the purposes of recruitment which may include your details being shared with the hiring manager.

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Why join Kantar

We shape the brands of tomorrow by better understanding people everywhere. By understanding people we can understand what drives their decisions actions and aspirations on a global scale. And by amplifying our in-depth expertise of human understanding alongside ground-breaking technology we can help brands find concrete insights that will help them succeed in our fast-paced ever shifting world.

And because we know people we like to make sure our own people are being looked after as well. Equality of opportunity for everyone is our highest priority and we support our colleagues to work in a way that supports their health and wellbeing. While we encourage teams to spend part of their working week in the office we understand no one size fits all; our approach is flexible to ensure everybody feels included accepted and that we can win together. Were dedicated to creating an inclusive culture and value the diversity of our people clients suppliers and communities and we encourage applications from all backgrounds and sections of society. Even if you feel like youre not an exact match wed love to receive your application and talk to you about this job or others at Kantar.