Backend Developer Intern

• Location: Remote / Hybrid (MD/DC Region preferred; NYC Area considered)

• Duration: 3 Months

• Time Commitment: 10–15 hours/week

• Weekly Cadence: Mandatory weekly 1-on-1 sync (virtual or in-person)

• Mentorship & Guidance: Founder & President

• Compensation: Unpaid

At Houstory, we are on a mission to eliminate "The Zero Data Decision" across the rental market by bringing transparency, empowerment, and data-backed clarity to housing. Our platform indexes municipal building violations, litigation, and tenant complaint history to give renters clear, objective apartment scores before they sign a lease.

As a Backend Developer Intern, you will play a crucial role in powering our data engine and cloud infrastructure. Working directly with leadership under structured mentorship, you will gain hands-on experience building scalable microservices, integrating municipal datasets, managing NoSQL databases, and deploying secure APIs on Google Cloud Platform.

• Weekly 1-on-1 Call: You will participate in a mandatory weekly 1-on-1 meeting with the Founder & President to review deliverables, align on weekly priorities, and receive structured feedback.

• Feedback Loops: Continuous touchpoints and co-stewardship throughout the week ensure you receive ongoing support and mentorship to meet your professional growth goals.

Through structured mentorship, code reviews, and weekly technical check-ins, you will develop actionable skill sets in:

• Production Backend Architecture: Designing, building, and maintaining RESTful APIs and backend microservices that handle real-world municipal data.

• Cloud Infrastructure & DevOps: Hands-on experience with serverless deployments, API security, continuous integration (CI/CD), and cloud architecture on Google Cloud Platform.

• Modern Developer Workflows: Working with Git/GitHub version control, writing technical documentation, conducting QA testing, and leveraging AI coding assistants (Gemini, Copilot, Claude Code) to accelerate development.

• Assist in developing and maintaining server-side logic and APIs using Python 3 (Django) and TypeScript / JavaScript.

• Help structure, query, and optimize NoSQL databases in Firestore to support fast, accurate apartment data lookups.

• Support data ingestion pipelines that compile municipal building records, complaint histories, and violation scores.

• Support serverless deployment processes using Google Cloud Run and manage cloud hosting environments.

• Help implement baseline security practices for API endpoints, database rules, and cloud infrastructure.

• Document deployment workflows, system architecture, and create setup/onboarding guides for future developers.

• Participate in GitHub-based source control workflows, including pull requests, code reviews, and branch management.

• Support Continuous Integration (CI) practices and provide QA testing for newly developed backend features.

• Utilize AI code assistance tools (Gemini, Copilot, Claude Code) to optimize code, debug issues, and draft test cases.

• Weekly Commitment: Ability to commit 10–15 hours per week.

• Mandatory Sync: Availability to attend a weekly 1-on-1 meeting (virtual or in-person) with executive leadership.

• Education: Current enrollment or recent completion of a degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Data Science, or a related technical field.

• Location: Based in or deeply familiar with the DMV region (DC/Maryland/Virginia) or the NYC metro area.

• Languages & Frameworks: Python 3 (Django or Flask), TypeScript / JavaScript

• Cloud Services: Google Cloud Platform (specifically Cloud Run and Firestore)

• Version Control: GitHub / Git

• Concepts: REST APIs, NoSQL databases, baseline web security, and serverless hosting

• AI Tools (Plus): Familiarity with AI coding tools such as Gemini, GitHub Copilot, or Claude Code