Backend Software Engineer - Python/Postgres [Remote / Global]

About Our Engineering & Data Group

We are a quirky, talented, and humble group of about thirty people with diverse backgrounds, ranging from journalism to academia to international industry. We’re represented across the gender spectrum, with 36% of our Engineering and Data Group identifying as women and/or nonbinary. Several of us are parents, with more expecting.

Our group builds software to collect, analyze, and report data about coffee farmers’ conditions and practices. This large-scale data-collection effort requires many moving parts to work together, and we use technology to support that effort at every step of the process — from identifying coffee farms in satellite imagery, to coordinating survey edits across country teams, to detecting data anomalies in real-time that can be investigated while teams are still in the field. A core part of our work is in data aggregation and report generation, with insights ultimately being shared with roasters and other stakeholders on how to assist in improving the social, economic, and environmental conditions of smallholder farmers.

Our backend systems use Python and PostgreSQL/PostGIS, running in containerized services on AWS. We use GitHub and CI/CD, and Terraform for newer services.

What You’ll Be Doing

This role is part of our EUDR engineering team. Your work will focus on the backend systems that ingest customer-submitted farm lists, validate and transform those inputs, and run them against our deforestation detection model and geospatial datasets.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Backend feature development and maintenance. Implement improvements to our EUDR backend services, refine geospatial workflows, and strengthen data checks and error handling.
• Investigative problem-solving. When something doesn’t look right to our Support team, you will help trace through data, assumptions, and system behavior to understand what happened and how to fix it.
• Working with ambiguous or evolving requirements. EUDR is a regulated space where guidance changes, and internal requests are sometimes incomplete. You’ll help clarify what’s needed and translate it into practical engineering work.
• Adapting the system to regulatory updates. As the EU releases new FAQs or adjustments, you will help interpret their implications and adapt parts of the system to remain consistent and compliant.
• General backend engineering. Python + PostgreSQL/PostGIS development, improving observability, contributing to CI/CD pipelines, and helping make the system more resilient over time.

Although the role is primarily development-focused, you will also be responsible for applying and maintaining Terraform-based changes in AWS for the services you work on.

Qualifications

• Strong ability to present and explain complex ideas clearly to non-technical colleagues.
• Demonstrated ability to apply design patterns for creating modular and efficient software, with the ability to teach others how to solve architectural problems.