Designing, building, and maintaining the API platform that supports YPO's member ecosystem, chapter operations, and agentic AI platform is the core purpose of this role. This position owns the technical implementation of APIs at the heart of the digital experience, working closely with Product, Data Architecture, IT, and Security to deliver scalable, secure, and well-governed API solutions. The role requires strong backend engineering expertise, a high standard for API quality, and the ability to translate complex integration requirements into maintainable, production-grade systems within an event-driven, domain-aligned, serverless-first architecture.
Responsibilities
Design and implement production-grade RESTful and GraphQL APIs deployed via AWS API Gateway that are stable, semantic, and decoupled from vendor-specific backend schemas
Ensure all APIs conform to YPO's canonical ontology and global member graph; no endpoint may directly expose Salesforce object structures, and APIs must map to govern entity definitions maintained in the enterprise data dictionary
Design APIs to operate within an event-driven architecture leveraging CDC, pub/sub messaging (Kafka and AWS EventBridge), and idempotent patterns
Apply Domain-Driven Design (DDD) principles bounded contexts, ubiquitous language, and domain events to ensure API boundaries reflect business domains, not implementation details
Adopt a serverless-first approach using AWS Lambda, Step Functions, and EventBridge where appropriate, selecting stateful services only when serverless patterns are genuinely insufficient
Write clean, well-tested, and well-documented code across the Members, Chapters, and Agentic Ecosystem API domains
Define and enforce data models, versioning standards, authentication flows (Auth0 / Okta / OAuth 2.0), and integration patterns from first principles
Apply performance-aware design intentional pagination, caching strategies, query constraints, and rate-limiting so APIs scale safely under real-world load
Reinforce member trust through privacy-first architecture, consent enforcement, and transparent data usage with every API decision
Ensure every API response includes provenance and explanation metadata, so agent reasoning is always surfaceable to the member
Implement the API governance layer that controls how YPO's AI agents (Peer Discovery, Event Discovery) interact with member data on OpenAI + custom RAG and Google Gemini
Support structured retrieval, citation-ready provenance fields, consent-aware filtering, and deterministic fallback for all agent-facing APIs
Build and maintain kill-switch-capable API boundaries that prevent agents from ever consuming raw member data outside approved contracts
Instrument agent API integrations with feedback loop mechanisms; hallucination rates, task success rates, and cost-per-outcome metrics must be observable and attributable to specific API behaviors
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Collaborate with data science and ML teams to translate agentic data flow requirements into governed, tested API contracts
Own the full API lifecycle: development, testing, documentation, versioning, deprecation, and migration planning
Establish and maintain engineering standards for API versioning, backward compatibility, and breaking-change policy
Build and maintain sandbox environments, integration test suites, and automated contract tests for every endpoint in the portfolio
Work with Engineering leads to ensuring reliable CI/CD pipelines, deployment automation, observability via Datadog, alerting, and uptime SLAs
Deploy all infrastructure changes via Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or AWS CDK); manual console changes in production are not permitted
Design and enforce IAM boundary design using least-privilege principles, permission boundaries, and Service Control Policies (SCPs) ensuring API-layer identities and Lambda execution roles cannot exceed governed data access boundaries
Operate within and contribute to YPO's multi-account AWS strategy (AWS Organizations, Control Tower) understanding how workload isolation, environment separation, and cross-account roles affect API deployment patterns and security boundaries
Define and maintain all cloud infrastructure as code using Terraform or AWS CDK
Produce and maintain clear API documentation, for example queries, and troubleshooting guides so internal teams can self serve without escalation
Support technical onboarding for new product teams and integration partners, ensuring APIs are discoverable, stable, and easy to consume
Identify and address developer friction proactively; issues must never surface only via member complaints or downstream team escalations
Act as a technical resource for Engineering peers consuming the Members, Chapters, and Agentic APIs
Work closely with Data Architecture to ensure APIs maintain stable semantic meaning over evolving backend schemas; frontend experience must be decoupled from vendor-specific fields
Partner with IT and Security to enforce role-based access, chapter-scoped data boundaries, and member consent policy (Auth0 / Okta, OneTrust, GDPR, CCPA)
Collaborate with Product teams and the Sr. Product Manager, Technical to translate requirements and API specifications into production implementations
Evaluate and integrate third-party technologies (Elasticsearch, Kafka / AWS EventBridge, Search Orchestration Service) that enhance YPO's member ecosystem
Requirements
Ability to work collaboratively in a multi-cultural organization with international members, helping them achieve excellence in voluntary roles for YPO initiatives
Excellent interpersonal skills, including strong diplomacy skills with the ability to build meaningful relationships with all levels of associates, members and vendors
Adaptable, insightful, empathetic and reliable
Great sense of humor and humility
Resourceful and able to work independently with initiative and common sense
Effective time management, organization and prioritization skills with the ability to focus on varied projects simultaneously
Possesses a distinct global mindset, sensitive to local and international customs and protocols
Demonstrate empathy through active listening and asking the right questions to find the source of an issue
Able to identify problems, research alternatives, provide solutions and/or resolve issues in a timely manner
Anticipates member/internal client needs and delivers with clarity
Analytical thinker with ability influence and guide processes with appropriate approach and execution
Natural curiosity and desire to learn more; proficiency and interest in applying new technologies and tools
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including proof reading, with a meticulous attention to detail
Adjust communication style appropriately to the audience
Professional presence, appearance, and stature to interact easily with YPO members, C-level executives and peers at all levels within the organization
Strong ability to translate complex security risks into clear business decisions
Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively across product, engineering, and global teams
Analytical thinker with strong architectural judgment and risk-based decision making
High degree of discretion and integrity in handling confidential information
Ability to operate independently in fast-moving, ambiguous environments
5+ years of hands-on experience in security engineering, with at least 3 years focused on cloud infrastructure security (AWS, Azure, and/or GCP)
Schedule: flexible and/or extended hours as needed to accommodate members and team members in multiple time zones
Travel: approximately 5-10% per year, domestically and internationally, without restrictions
About the Company
YPO is an Equal Opportunity Employer that takes pride in supporting a diverse workforce and demonstrates this through its policies and practices. Compensation at YPO is one part of a broader Total Rewards philosophy built to attract, motivate, and retain talented people in every country and function where they operate.
Established in 1974 to aggregate the procurement spend of our owning local authorities, we continue to help drive efficiency savings through our bulk buying power for product supplies and centralised contract services.
Today we offer an extensive range of thousands of products and public sector frameworks, covering everything from office supplies and furniture to energy and HR solutions.
