This is a senior individual contributor role (no people management).

About Focuz

Focuz is a well-funded, early-stage startup on a mission to redefine video intelligence. We are building a next-generation platform that transforms raw video streams from any camera into structured, actionable insights. Moving beyond simple object detection, we are creating a system that understands context, behavior, and patterns, enabling businesses and consumers to make smarter decisions. We are a small, agile team of builders and innovators, and we're looking for foundational members to help us shape the future of video technology.

About the Role

This isn't just another backend role; this is an opportunity to build the core engine of our entire platform. As a Principal Python Engineer, you will be one of our foundational engineering hires. You will tackle the complex challenges related to core distributed systems that power video & AI. In addition to that, you will own core backend services that ingest and process continuous streams of data (video + metadata), run AI/ML pipelines in production, and expose a clean API surface to customers

You will be responsible for designing and building the software that reliably ingests, transports, and controls video feeds from thousands of cameras in diverse environments. You will work on everything from the lightweight agent running on-site—complete with its own local database—to the cloud-based control plane that orchestrates it all. If you are a pragmatic problem-solver who loves building robust systems from the ground up, this role is for you.

What You'll Do

• Design and build our core Python-based service using FastAPI + async
• Own data models and queries for PostgreSQL (cloud) and SQLite (edge).
• Design and operate reliable, observable production services (metrics, logs, alerts).
• Integrate AI/ML models into production: design and run inference services, handle performance, scaling, and monitoring.
• Work with LLMs / vision models to power natural-language queries and analytics on top of video and events.
• Design and maintain streaming / event-driven pipelines for live video and metadata (backpressure, retries, idempotency).
• Take end-to-end ownership of services: from design to deployment, on-call, and continuous improvement.
• Manage video streams from many cameras and locations (RTSP / WebRTC / gateways) as part of the platform (previous experience/knowledge of video protocols isn't required)
• Write clean, maintainable, and well-tested code, and contribute to a culture of quality.
• Create and maintain technical documentation as part of the codebase (documentation-as-code).
• Collaborate closely with the founders, product leads, and other engineers to define and deliver on our product roadmap.

Requirements:

• 6-8+ years of professional experience building backend systems in production with Python.
• Strong proficiency with modern Python frameworks like FastAPI or Flask, with a deep understanding of asynchronous (async/await) programming.
• Solid experience with relational databases and SQL. You should be comfortable working with both large-scale databases like PostgreSQL and embedded databases like SQLite.
• Hands-on experience with Docker and building containerized applications from scratch.
• Comfortable working in a Linux environment and using command-line tools.
• Proven experience owning production services end-to-end (design, deployment, monitoring, incident handling).
• Experience with distributed systems / streaming / event-driven architectures (WebSockets, queues, workers, etc.).
• Comfort working independently as a senior IC and making architectural decisions without constant supervision.
• A pragmatic and product-oriented mindset: You can navigate ambiguity, take ownership of problems, and are driven to find the simplest, most effective solutions.
• You think in systems: you ask clarifying questions, consider failure modes and scaling, and don’t just code the first idea.
• You’re comfortable with ambiguity and like turning vague problem statements into clear designs.
• Excellent communication skills and a collaborative spirit.

Nice to Have (not mandatory):

• Experience with video streaming technologies (WebRTC, RTSP, HLS) is an advantage.
• Familiarity with media servers (like go2rtc) or video processing libraries (FFmpeg).
• Practical experience with MQTT or other IoT messaging protocols.
• Experience with data processing pipelines (ETL, data transformation)
• Experience with ML/LLM in production (serving models, calling external LLM APIs, GPUs, batching).
• Experience with Kubernetes, Terraform, AWS/GCP as a plus (not hard requirement).
• An "AI-positive" mindset and an interest in leveraging AI tools to enhance productivity.

Our Tech Stack:

• Python, FastAPI, Asyncio
• Databases: PostgreSQL (Cloud), SQLite (Edge)
• Infrastructure: Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, AWS/GCP
• Video & IoT (not mandatory): WebRTC, RTSP, go2rtc, MQTT, ONVIF

What success looks like:

• Take ownership of at least one core service (e.g. ingestion, AI/ML pipeline, or query API) in production.
• Ship at least one meaningful improvement: reliability, performance, or a new feature end-to-end.
• Collaborate with the team to design or improve part of our video/AI pipeline (design doc + implementation).

What We Offer:

• A competitive salary
• A fully remote and flexible work environment.
• A foundational role with a massive impact on the product and company culture.
• The opportunity to work on a challenging and fascinating technical problem with a talented team.
• A modern tech stack and a commitment to using the best tools for the job.

If you don’t have video streaming related experience but enjoy learning new domains and working close to real-world hardware - we'd be happy to hear from you

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