Backend Software Engineer – Python/Postgres

Do you want to work for a mission-driven non-profit, writing software that will contribute to helping the livelihoods of millions of coffee farmers around the world? Enveritas is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and Y Combinator-backed startup looking to hire for our Engineering & Data Group. We are looking for a backend software engineer with a focus on python and PostgreSQL to join our EUDR engineering team on a remote/global, full-time basis. You can learn more about this job and our group at https://www.enveritas.org/jobs/backend-software-eng/

We’re a small team and every hire makes a large impact, so we’re careful and thorough when it comes to hiring, but we are actively considering candidates and moving them through the process as quickly as we can.

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.

• Extensive experience with Python, including developing applications and complex data processing tasks. Familiarity with Django or Flask.

• Advanced experience with PostgreSQL, including query optimization, joins, stored procedures, and performance tuning.

• Practical experience with Linux, Bash scripting, Docker containers, and AWS services (EC2, RDS, CloudFront).

• A minimum of seven years of full-time professional experience as a backend software engineer.

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or equivalent training in the principles of software engineering.

Research shows that people of different backgrounds read job postings differently. If you don’t think you meet all of the qualifications but do think you’d be a great match for us, please consider applying and sharing more in your application answers. We’d love to talk with you to see what skills you can bring to our team.

Who you are

Our team is fully distributed, so you should be comfortable with remote work. This role is a full-time individual contributor role. While you can be located anywhere that our EOR (Deel) supports, our core hours are 10am to 2pm Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, with team members choosing either an early start or later stop as suits them.

Occasional travel opportunities may be available as part of this role, providing the chance to connect with colleagues across our global teams and visit the regions where Enveritas operates.

You should be inspired by our mission to improve the lives of smallholder coffee farmers, and have an interest in sustainability. You should have a deep empathy for users of our tools and understand the importance of supporting the work of other teams. Because operational and business needs can be ambiguous and change on a short time-scale, you should have a love for environments with uncertainty, and enjoy not only solving problems, but discovering and demystifying them.

We are a small team! You should be comfortable working both independently and as a thoughtful collaborator, sensitive to the legibility and maintainability of your code when in the hands of your teammates.…

Source: Jobspresso (https://jobspresso.co/job/backend-software-engineer-python-postgres/)