Core Developer, Full Stack

Position Summary

The Core Full Stack Developer is a capable, execution-focused practitioner who builds and maintains web applications that power RS21's analytics, AI, and data-driven product and professional services work. This role spans the full development stack - React-based frontends, Python/FastAPI backends, and the integrations that connect them to data platforms and AI-enabled services.

At the Core level, this person operates with clear direction from a Technical Lead but takes genuine ownership of assigned features and components. They write clean, maintainable code, participate actively in sprint ceremonies, and build enough understanding of the broader system to flag issues before they surface in production. 

This role is a key contributor on product and delivery teams. The Core Full Stack Developer is the person who reliably ships what's on their plate, communicates when blockers arise, and actively develops their skills across the stack. They care about code quality, take feedback well, and are building the communication habits that will enable them to engage directly with project stakeholders over time.

Key Responsibilities

Frontend Development (React)

• Build, maintain, and improve React-based user interfaces for RS21 product and client delivery work.
• Implement responsive, accessible UI components using established design systems and patterns.
• Connect frontend components to backend APIs and data services, handling loading states, errors, and edge cases cleanly.
• Write maintainable, well-structured component code that can be understood and extended by other contributors.
• Participate in UI/UX reviews and incorporate design feedback into working implementations.

Backend Development (Python/FastAPI)

• Build and maintain RESTful APIs using Python and FastAPI, following REST best practices for routing, request validation, and response serialization.
• Use SQLAlchemy as the ORM for database access, writing well-structured models, relationships, and queries against PostgreSQL.
• Manage database schema evolution using Alembic for code-first migrations, ensuring changes are versioned, reviewable, and reversible.
• Write unit and integration tests to validate API behavior and prevent regressions.
• Follow established patterns for authentication (including Azure Entra ID integration), authorization, and API versioning.

Full Stack Integration & API Development

• Connect frontend and backend components to data pipelines, third-party services, and AI/LLM-enabled features.
• Implement data flows that span the stack, from user interaction through API to persistence and back.
• Support integration of LLM and AI features into application interfaces, including prompt management, streaming responses, and result display.
• Maintain clear API contracts and documentation to support cross-team dependencies.
• Identify and resolve integration issues across layers, escalating to the Technical Lead when root causes require architectural input.

Cloud & Infrastructure Awareness (Azure)

• Work within Azure cloud environments to deploy and support application components, including Azure Blob Storage for object storage and Azure Web PubSub for real-time messaging.
• Follow infrastructure-as-code practices using established Pulumi or Terraform patterns maintained by the platform team.
• Understand the deployment pipeline — including Azure DevOps (ADO) and GitHub Actions workflows — well enough to diagnose environment-specific issues and support releases.
• Adhere to security and identity patterns defined by the platform team, including Azure Entra ID for authentication and access control.

Technical Delivery Contribution

• Take ownership of assigned tickets within the sprint, delivering working code that meets acceptance criteria.
• Decompose assigned features into implementable sub-tasks and provide estimates with support from the Technical Lead.
• Understand how your tickets connect to the larger delivery arc, and surface blockers or dependencies proactively in standup and in Jira.
• Participate in code reviews - both receiving feedback constructively and reviewing peers’ work with care.
• Contribute to sprint retrospectives with concrete observations about what’s working and what isn’t.

Client & Stakeholder Engagement

• Develop the communication habits needed to represent your work clearly in internal and, over time, client-facing settings.
• Participate in sprint demos and delivery ceremonies, explaining your work in clear, non-jargon terms when appropriate.
• Support documentation of features and integration patterns to facilitate client handoff and team transparency.

Collaboration & Communication

• Work closely with Technical Leads, data engineers, and ML/AI team members to build cohesive, end-to-end features.
• Ask clarifying questions early and often to avoid wasted effort; surface ambiguity before it becomes blocked work.
• Contribute to internal knowledge-sharing - write runbooks, document decisions, and share what you learn.
• Participate in RS21’s engineering culture: code reviews, internal tech talks, and cross-team collaboration.

Core Competencies

The following competencies define what operating at the Core level looks like for this role

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in computer science, software engineering, or a related field.
• 2+ years of professional software development experience building full stack web applications.
• Proficiency in React and modern JavaScript/TypeScript, including component architecture, hooks, and state management.
• Hands-on experience building RESTful APIs in Python using FastAPI as the primary web application framework.
• Experience with SQLAlchemy as an ORM and Alembic for code-first database migrations against a PostgreSQL backend.
• Proficiency with Git-based workflows, including branching strategies, pull requests, and peer code review.
• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills with the ability to reason through integration issues across the full stack.
• Ability to track and communicate work using Jira or equivalent project management tooling.

Preferred

• Experience with TypeScript in a production React codebase.
• Familiarity with containerization using Docker and deployment to Azure App Service, ACI, or AKS.
• Exposure to LLM or AI-adjacent application development, including prompt management or streaming API integration.
• Working familiarity with Azure services — particularly Blob Storage, Web PubSub, and Entra ID for authentication.
• Experience with testing frameworks such as pytest, Jest, or React Testing Library.
• Background in consulting, professional services, or multi-project delivery environments.
• Exposure to infrastructure-as-code tooling such as Pulumi or Terraform.
• Experience with CI/CD tooling, particularly Azure DevOps (ADO) pipelines or GitHub Actions.
• Exposure to vector databases, embedding patterns, or RAG application architecture.