Is the Senior Backend Engineer (Agentic AI) role on-site?

Yes — this role is on-site at the client's Hartford, CT location, five days per week. The client's culture and delivery cadence are calibrated around in-person collaboration for this position. Relocation support may be available for the right candidate; the recruiter will confirm during your calibration call.

Is this a contract or full-time role?

This is a contract opportunity on ApTask's payroll. If selected, you will be employed by ApTask and will receive a W-2 for the duration of your assignment. During your engagement, you will be eligible for subsidized benefits, including medical, dental, vision insurance, a 401(k) plan, commuter benefits, and state-mandated paid sick leave. Your pay cycle (weekly or biweekly, as applicable) will be confirmed at the time of your offer. You'll also have a dedicated ApTask recruiter as your single point of contact throughout your assignment, providing ongoing support from onboarding through completion. Many of our contract opportunities are extended or converted to permanent positions based on business needs and performance. Your recruiter can share the client's historical extension and conversion trends during the interview process. Benefits, assignment duration, extension, conversion opportunities, and eligibility are subject to client requirements, business needs, and applicable plan terms.

What is the compensation range for this role?

The advertised range for this Senior Backend Engineer (Agentic AI) role is $60–$65 per hour. Where you land within the band depends on validated experience, the specific stack calibration match, and — for contract engagements — the bill-rate the client has locked in for this requisition. The recruiter will discuss the exact number during your calibration call.

How quickly does the interview process move?

If your profile is a fit for this role, you can expect the recruiter's first call within one business day. From there, interview cadence depends on the client's hiring-manager and panel availability. Total time from submission to signed offer varies by client — pre-verified profiles and calibrated submissions cut the noise, but the pace of interviews is driven by the client, not us.

What technical skills does the Senior Backend Engineer (Agentic AI) role require?

The client is targeting depth in Backend, AI. Adjacent experience is welcome — we routinely place candidates whose exact stack match is 60-70% when the underlying pattern (distributed systems, regulated-data handling, or comparable) is strong. Bring the full stack breadth to your calibration call; the recruiter will map it onto the client's evaluation scorecard.

OnsitecontractorReq 26-03003Posted Today

Senior Backend Engineer (Agentic AI)

Contract role in Hartford, CT. Onsite engagement, matched and submitted by an ApTask vertical recruiter.

Location: Hartford, CT · Onsite
Compensation: $60–$65/hr

Talk to a recruiter

Your résumé routes to the vertical recruiter who owns this requisition. Identity-verified profile, never resold or syndicated.

Stack

Backend
AI

About the role

Job Title: Senior Backend Engineer (Agentic AI)
Location: Hartford, CT (3 days Onsite)
Duration: Longterm
About the Role:

We're looking for engineers who can design and build production systems that combine strong software fundamentals with hands-on exposure to modern AI/ML tooling specifically agentic AI workflows and Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers.
You don't need to come from a pure AI/ML background; what matters is strong core engineering skills, sound architectural judgment, and the ability to pick up (or already know) how to integrate AI agents into real systems.
This is a single posting covering both Senior and Lead levels candidates with 4–7 years of experience are encouraged to apply.

Must-Have Skills:

Python strong, production-grade proficiency (primary language).
Databases solid relational/SQL fundamentals; schema design, query optimization, data modelling.
Cloud platform strong hands-on experience with at least one of: Google Cloud Platform (GCP) (preferred), or AWS (acceptable alternative).
4+ years of professional software engineering experience.

Design & Architecture Thinking Required:

Strong grounding in modular design clear separation of concerns, well-bounded components/services, low coupling / high cohesion.
Ability to design systems that scale horizontally statelessness where it matters, partitioning/sharding strategy, load distribution, avoiding single points of contention.
Working fluency in core design patterns and principles (e.g., SOLID, domain-driven boundaries, event-driven/async patterns, idempotency, caching strategies, API versioning) and knowing when to apply vs. avoid them.
Comfortable reasoning about tradeoffs: consistency vs. availability, latency vs. throughput, build vs. buy, synchronous vs. async workflows.
For Lead specifically: expected to drive these principles set direction in design reviews, push back on designs that won't scale, and mentor others toward this way of thinking rather than just applying it.

API & Real-Time Integration Best Practices :

Strong grasp of RESTful API design resource modeling, versioning, pagination, idempotency for retries, proper status codes/error contracts.
Practical experience with WebSocket-based real-time communication connection lifecycle management, reconnection/backoff strategy, heartbeat/keep-alive handling, and graceful degradation when a socket drops.
Understands tradeoffs between REST, WebSockets, and event-driven/streaming integration patterns, and picks the right one for the use case Follows security best practices for integrations authentication/authorization (OAuth2, token scoping), input validation, rate limiting, and safe handling of external payloads.
Designs integrations for observability and resilience structured logging, timeouts, circuit breakers, and clear failure modes rather than silent drops.

What We're Really Screening For:

Strong in Python + SQL/databases as a baseline Solid architectural instincts modular, scalable design, not just "make it work".
Proven in one major cloud (GCP strongly preferred, AWS acceptable).
Comfortable or curious about Java (bonus, not blocker) Solid API/WebSocket integration practices reliability, security, and observability by default.
Open to learning / already exposed to agentic AI + MCP server patterns Ideally has touched healthcare/health-tech systems before, but this is a plus, not a gate.

About technology at ApTask

What this vertical looks like inside ApTask.

Technology roles at ApTask cover the software, cloud, data, security, and platform-engineering functions that power Fortune 500 digital operations. Our recruiters specialise in high-signal technical calibration — every candidate is validated against the specific stack, framework versions, and deployment context the client runs, not a keyword match. Our largest engagements sit inside AWS, Azure, GCP, Snowflake, Databricks, and modern data-mesh estates. Because we route through Fieldglass, Beeline, Workday VNDLY, and Coupa VMS, technology contractors placed through ApTask carry MBE diversity spend against the client's supplier program while remaining W-2 with full benefits under our payroll.

How it works

What happens after you apply.

1. Verified profile
Submit your résumé and complete the ApTask identity + skills verification. We check right-to-work, background, and technical calibration once — never resell or re-verify — so future roles surface faster.
2. Recruiter calibration call
Within one business day, the recruiter who owns this requisition reviews your profile against the client's specific stack, arrangement, and start-date requirements. You'll hear back either way — no ghosting.
3. Client interview
If your profile is a fit, we present you to the hiring team. Most clients run 2-3 interview stages: hiring-manager screen, technical panel, and final. We prep you with the exact scorecard criteria before each round.
4. Offer + onboarding
On acceptance, you onboard W-2 with ApTask (contract) or direct-hire with the client (per role type). Benefits, payroll, and timesheets run through us. Your recruiter stays your point of contact for the length of the engagement.

Frequently asked

Questions candidates ask about this role.

Is the Senior Backend Engineer (Agentic AI) role on-site?: Yes — this role is on-site at the client's Hartford, CT location, five days per week. The client's culture and delivery cadence are calibrated around in-person collaboration for this position. Relocation support may be available for the right candidate; the recruiter will confirm during your calibration call.
Is this a contract or full-time role?: This is a contract opportunity on ApTask's payroll. If selected, you will be employed by ApTask and will receive a W-2 for the duration of your assignment. During your engagement, you will be eligible for subsidized benefits, including medical, dental, vision insurance, a 401(k) plan, commuter benefits, and state-mandated paid sick leave. Your pay cycle (weekly or biweekly, as applicable) will be confirmed at the time of your offer. You'll also have a dedicated ApTask recruiter as your single point of contact throughout your assignment, providing ongoing support from onboarding through completion. Many of our contract opportunities are extended or converted to permanent positions based on business needs and performance. Your recruiter can share the client's historical extension and conversion trends during the interview process. Benefits, assignment duration, extension, conversion opportunities, and eligibility are subject to client requirements, business needs, and applicable plan terms.
What is the compensation range for this role?: The advertised range for this Senior Backend Engineer (Agentic AI) role is $60–$65 per hour. Where you land within the band depends on validated experience, the specific stack calibration match, and — for contract engagements — the bill-rate the client has locked in for this requisition. The recruiter will discuss the exact number during your calibration call.
How quickly does the interview process move?

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Your résumé routes to the recruiter who owns this requisition. Identity-verified once, matched against every future ApTask role that fits your stack.

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Senior Backend Engineer (Agentic AI)

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What this vertical looks like inside ApTask.

What happens after you apply.

1. Verified profile

2. Recruiter calibration call

3. Client interview

4. Offer + onboarding

Questions candidates ask about this role.

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What this vertical looks like inside ApTask.

What happens after you apply.

1. Verified profile

2. Recruiter calibration call

3. Client interview

4. Offer + onboarding

Questions candidates ask about this role.

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