This is a remote position.
About the Role - We are looking for a senior Rails engineer who has spent years building backends that talk to physical devices, not just browsers. - You will own backend architecture across multiple client projects, set technical direction on IoT integrations, and act as the escalation point when device-to-cloud pipelines break. Key Responsibilities - Own end-to-end architecture for Rails applications and APIs serving connected device fleets - Design and lead IoT communication layers using MQTT, WebSockets, CoAP, or HTTP-based protocols - Architect high-volume telemetry ingestion, queuing, and real-time processing pipelines - Make build-vs-buy calls on IoT platforms, message brokers, and data stores, and defend them to clients - Design schemas and scaling strategy for time-series and event-heavy workloads - Integrate cloud IoT services such as AWS IoT Core or Azure IoT Hub, including device provisioning, certificates, and OTA update flows - Lead code reviews, define engineering standards, and mentor mid-level and senior developers - Run technical discovery with clients and firmware or hardware teams, and translate that into scoped delivery plans - Diagnose production issues that cut across device, network, and application layers Required Skills - 8+ years of professional software engineering, with at least 6 years hands-on in Ruby on Rails - Proven track record of shipping and scaling IoT integrations in production - Deep experience with MQTT or equivalent device messaging protocols at scale - Strong API design skills, including versioning, contracts, and long-term maintainability - PostgreSQL or MySQL at scale, with real query and index optimization experience - Redis, Sidekiq, and distributed background job architecture - Solid testing discipline with RSpec or Minitest - Docker, CI/CD, and production deployment ownership - Experience leading a team or owning delivery on multiple concurrent projects Good to Have - Time-series databases such as InfluxDB or TimescaleDB - Kafka, RabbitMQ, or similar event streaming platforms - Exposure to edge gateways, embedded systems, or firmware collaboration - Working knowledge of Python, Go, or Node.js for device-side tooling - Infrastructure as code and cloud cost optimization on AWS or Azure - Prior agency or consulting experience with client-facing technical ownership