Senior AI / Backend Engineer for Proprietary Ecommerce Content Platform

Senior AI / Backend Engineer for Proprietary Ecommerce Content Platform Project Overview We are developing a proprietary AI-powered content and ecommerce intelligence platform for a specialty apparel business. The system will help automate product selection, content planning, short-form video workflows, publishing, analytics, and ongoing performance optimization. We are looking for an experienced AI / Backend Engineer who can help architect and build the MVP, with the potential for ongoing development. This is not a basic social-media scheduling project. The platform will include proprietary business logic, backend services, AI integrations, third-party APIs, workflow automation, and analytics. Detailed business logic and confidential system requirements will be shared only with qualified candidates after initial screening. Core Responsibilities The selected developer will help design and implement: * Backend application architecture * Ecommerce product data pipelines * AI / LLM integrations * Workflow automation * Short-form video processing integrations * Social publishing integrations * Ecommerce and analytics integrations * Performance tracking * Queue management * Retry and failure handling * Database architecture * Secure API integrations * Production deployment * Technical documentation Preferred Technical Experience Strong experience with several of the following is preferred: * Python * FastAPI or similar backend frameworks * PostgreSQL / Supabase * OpenAI or other LLM APIs * n8n * Shopify APIs and webhooks * Meta Graph API * TikTok APIs * YouTube APIs * REST APIs * OAuth * background jobs and queues * cloud deployment * analytics pipelines * automated video APIs * FFmpeg Experience with ecommerce technology, recommendation systems, marketing technology, content automation, or AI-driven platforms is a strong plus. Initial MVP The first phase will focus on creating a reliable technical foundation capable of: * ingesting ecommerce product data * applying proprietary business rules * generating structured AI-assisted content instructions * triggering automated content-production workflows * managing content queues * distributing approved content * collecting performance data * providing basic reporting and system monitoring Specific decisioning logic, scoring methodologies, optimization rules, and business intelligence will remain confidential and will be disclosed only as needed. Ideal Candidate We are looking for someone who can think beyond basic workflow automation. You should be comfortable with: * backend system design * APIs * databases * asynchronous processing * queues * rate limits * retries * logging * production monitoring * AI integrations * scalability * security * technical documentation You should also be able to explain architectural tradeoffs and design systems that are maintainable and not unnecessarily dependent on any single vendor. Project Structure We prefer milestone-based development. Expected initial phases may include: 1. Technical architecture and system design 2. Backend MVP 3. AI and workflow integrations 4. Content-production integrations 5. Publishing integrations 6. Analytics and reporting 7. Production hardening Additional proprietary functionality may be added after successful completion of the MVP. Confidentiality & Intellectual Property This project involves confidential business logic and proprietary development. Qualified candidates may be asked to sign an NDA before receiving detailed technical specifications. All custom source code, workflows, database schemas, prompts, configurations, documentation, and other project-specific work product created under the engagement must be assigned to the client under the final contractor agreement. Third-party libraries, APIs, services, and open-source dependencies must be clearly identified and documented. Application Questions Please answer the following: 1. What is the most similar AI, ecommerce, or automation platform you have built? 2. What parts of a system like this would you build in Python versus n8n? 3. How would you architect a scalable backend for AI-driven content automation? 4. What experience do you have with Shopify and social publishing APIs? 5. Have you worked with automated video-processing or video-generation APIs? 6. How do you typically handle background jobs, API failures, rate limits, and retries? 7. How do you prevent vendor lock-in when using third-party APIs? 8. What would you recommend including in the first MVP? 9. Please provide relevant GitHub repositories, case studies, architecture examples, or portfolio projects. Please begin your proposal with: ECOMMERCE AI PLATFORM This confirms that you have reviewed the project requirements. Detailed requirements will be provided to shortlisted candidates.