Backend Engineer / DevOps - Backstage Plugin Integration & Configuration

Summary We are looking for a Backend Engineer with DevOps experience to help integrate, configure, and stabilize plugins in our existing Backstage developer portal. Backstage is already deployed on AWS EKS via GitOps (ArgoCD). The focus of this engagement is hands-on plugin integration, testing, and bug fixing — getting the catalog, CI/CD visibility, Kubernetes plugin, observability, and other core integrations working reliably end-to-end. You will work closely with our platform engineers who manage the underlying EKS, Vault, ArgoCD, and GitOps infrastructure. Responsibilities Integrate and configure Backstage backend and frontend plugins (Kubernetes, TechDocs, Scaffolder, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, ArgoCD, Crossplane, OpenTelemetry) Wire the Software Catalog to GitHub and GitLab for catalog-info.yaml ingestion and entity discovery Set up and test GitHub Actions and GitLab CI pipeline visibility within Backstage Configure the ArgoCD plugin to surface application sync status and deployment state within Backstage entities Integrate Crossplane to expose managed infrastructure resources through the Backstage catalog Set up OpenTelemetry instrumentation for the Backstage backend to enable tracing and observability Configure SSO authentication integration for Backstage Debug and resolve plugin integration issues, configuration errors, and backend compatibility problems Test plugin behavior end-to-end across catalog entities, pipelines, Kubernetes resources, and infrastructure Help define catalog-info.yaml structure for services, APIs, teams, and infrastructure resources Requirements Hands-on experience deploying and configuring Backstage plugins in a real (non-local) environment Familiarity with the Backstage plugin architecture — both legacy and New Backend System (createBackendPlugin) Experience integrating GitHub and/or GitLab with Backstage (catalog ingestion, Actions/CI visibility) Experience with the ArgoCD Backstage plugin or similar GitOps visibility integrations Comfortable working in Kubernetes environments (EKS preferred) Able to read and work within GitOps-managed codebases (ArgoCD, Helm, Kustomize) Strong debugging and troubleshooting skills across Node.js backend services Nice to Have Experience with the Backstage Kubernetes plugin and multi-cluster configuration Experience integrating Crossplane resources into the Backstage catalog Familiarity with OpenTelemetry SDK setup for Node.js/TypeScript services Familiarity with TechDocs (MkDocs pipeline, S3 backend) Experience with SSO/OIDC provider integrations in Backstage Knowledge of HashiCorp Vault or AWS Secrets Manager for secrets wiring Experience with the Backstage Scaffolder and software templates Project Scope Backstage is already running on EKS — no greenfield setup needed Focus is plugin integration, testing, and bug fixing Key integrations: GitHub/GitLab catalog & CI, ArgoCD, Crossplane, OpenTelemetry Deliverables are working, tested plugin integrations with documented configuration