Node.js Architect

Chicago 6 days agoContractor External
Negotiable
Design & build domain-driven, event-aware microservices in Node.js/TypeScript (Express/Fastify/NestJS) with clean, testable code.Architect greenfield systems: service boundaries, data models, REST APIs, event streams, CI/CD, observability, and runtime topology.Set API standards: versioning, OpenAPI/Swagger, pagination, error contracts, resiliency patterns (timeouts, retries, circuit breakers).Own production readiness: SLOs, dashboards, alerting, runbooks; lead incident triage/bridge calls and drive blameless RCAs.Collaborate across teams (web, mobile, data, security, ops) to unblock work, sequence dependencies, and land integrated releases.Communicate proactively with leadership: crisp status, risk/mitigation, dependencies, and measurable outcomes.Raise the bar: code reviews, engineering best practices, mentoring, pair programming, tech talks, and documentation.Think two steps ahead: anticipate edge cases, scaling, operability, and cost; recommend pragmatic sequencing and trade-offs. Tech Stack You’ll Work WithLanguages/Frameworks: Node.js, TypeScript, Express/Fastify/NestJSAPIs: REST, OpenAPI/Swagger, OAuth2/OIDC, JWTData: PostgreSQL/MySQL, NoSQL (MongoDB/DynamoDB), Redis cacheMessaging/Streaming: Kafka/RabbitMQ (sagas, outbox, idempotency)Cloud & Platform: One major cloud (AWS/Azure/Google Cloud Platform), Docker, Kubernetes, API Gateway/Ingress, IaC (Terraform/CloudFormation)CI/CD & Observability: GitHub Actions/Jenkins, ELK/Dynatrace, feature flags, OpenTelemetry, Datadog/New Relic/Prometheus, log aggregation What You’ll Bring8+ years backend engineering (or equivalent impact), 3+ years technical leadership on product teams.Expert-level Node.js/TypeScript with proven delivery of domain-driven microservices at scale.Strong grasp of DDD (entities/aggregates/bounded contexts), event-driven architectures, and microservice patterns (saga, outbox, circuit breaker).Designed secure, resilient public APIs used by web/mobile clients; deep understanding of authN/authZ (OAuth2/OIDC), secrets, and TLS.Production experience with Kubernetes and cloud-native deployment, CI/CD, and observability (metrics, traces, logs, SLOs).Demonstrated success leading triage/incident response and driving RCAs to lasting improvements.Outstanding communication able to simplify complex trade-offs, tell a delivery story, and keep partners aligned.Bias for action: you go the extra mile, anticipate the next two steps, and ship high-quality