Available across Europe & UK — full-time or B2B

Francisco Filipe.

Senior Backend Engineer building distributed systems and high-scale data platforms in Python.

10+ years programming, 5+ years scaling production crawling and data pipelines from 100K to 100M+ requests. I take systems from architecture to production — and keep them running.

10+
Years programming
5+
Years remote backend
100M+
Requests scaled to
1000×
Throughput growth
// 01 — about

Backend engineer who owns systems end-to-end.

I'm a Python backend engineer with 10+ years of programming experience and 5+ years building production-grade backend platforms professionally — all in fully remote environments. My core stack is Python, Celery, Redis, PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch, Docker, and Linux.

At Little Forest, I led the re-architecture of a legacy Java crawling platform into a Python-based distributed system, scaling it from 100,000 to over 100 million requests. I designed high-performance data pipelines, implemented distributed task processing, optimized PostgreSQL at scale, and containerized core services with Docker. I manage Linux production infrastructure end-to-end and build RESTful APIs supporting both internal services and third-party integrations.

Beyond development, I'm responsible for production reliability, infrastructure maintenance, monitoring, and operational troubleshooting across distributed services. I enjoy technically challenging work involving scalability, automation, and high-volume data processing — and I'm currently open to new remote opportunities across Europe and the UK, full-time or B2B.

// 02 — services

What I can build for you.

Available for full-time roles or B2B contracts — long-term partnerships are preferred. I help teams ship reliable backend systems and recover from scaling pain.

⚙️

Backend Architecture

Design and build production-grade Python services. Re-architect legacy systems into clean, maintainable, container-friendly codebases.

🌐

Distributed Systems

Scale crawling, ingestion, and data pipelines using Celery, Redis, and message queues. Battle-tested patterns from 100M+ request workloads.

🔌

APIs & Integrations

RESTful APIs that internal teams and third parties actually want to use — properly documented, versioned, and instrumented.

🗄️

Data & Databases

PostgreSQL and ElasticSearch design, query tuning, and schema evolution at scale. Index audits, slow-query triage, capacity planning.

🐳

DevOps & Infrastructure

Linux production ops, Docker, CI/CD, monitoring, and operational troubleshooting. End-to-end ownership from deployment pipeline to 2 a.m. pager rotations.

🤖

AI-Assisted Delivery

Advanced day-to-day use of Claude Code for design, implementation, and review — shipping faster without sacrificing engineering rigour.

// 03 — stack

Tools I work with daily.

// core backend

Python Celery Redis Flask REST APIs

// data & storage

PostgreSQL ElasticSearch Schema design Query tuning

// devops & infra

Docker Linux Shell Git / GitHub CI/CD

// reliability

Monitoring Troubleshooting Automation High availability

// adjacent

JavaScript Node.js PDF processing Web crawling

// productivity

Claude Code Code review Async collab
// 04 — experience

Where I've shipped.

Feb 2021 — Present · Little Forest (Remote, UK)

Backend Engineer — Python & Distributed Systems

  • Led re-architecture of a legacy Java crawling platform into a Python-based, Dockerized distributed system
  • Scaled crawling infrastructure from ~100K page crawls to 100M+ requests
  • Built high-performance data pipelines processing millions of web records daily
  • Extended the platform to support PDF ingestion and structured data extraction
  • Built and optimized RESTful APIs for internal services and third-party integrations
  • Implemented distributed task processing with Celery + Redis for throughput and fault tolerance
  • Designed, optimized, and maintained PostgreSQL / ElasticSearch databases at scale
  • Managed Linux production infrastructure end-to-end
  • Conducted code reviews and contributed to engineering standards across cross-functional teams
Feb 2018 — Jul 2020 · UTAD Solutions Consulting · Vila Real, PT

External Vice President

  • Led external partnerships and cross-team coordination within a university consulting organization during B.Sc. studies
Jan 2015 — Dec 2017 · J.A.J. Informática Lda · Caldas da Rainha, PT

IT Systems Administrator

  • Automated backup processes with PowerShell — improved reliability, reduced manual workload
  • Managed Windows Server environments — uptime, security, and performance
  • Deployed and configured Microsoft Exchange supporting email infrastructure and user management
// 05 — education

Background.

Sep 2020 — Jul 2022

MSc Computer Engineering

University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro
Thesis: Development and maintenance of digital platforms, both front-end and back-end, at Little Forest UK. Publication: "Why Web Accessibility Is Important for Your Institution" — ScienceDirect, 2023.
Sep 2017 — Jul 2020

BS Information Technology

University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro
Sep 2016 — Jul 2017

BS Information Technology

Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon
// 06 — contact

Let's build something solid.

Looking for a backend engineer who can take a system from architecture to production and own it through the rough edges? I'd love to hear about what you're working on — full-time or B2B.