Senior Backend / Data Engineer

Overview

Join us in leading the change!

Electric Power Engineers, Inc. (EPE) is seeking a Senior Backend / Data Engineer to be part of a dynamic and highly technical team. In this role, you will work alongside senior developers and engineers to architect, build, maintain, and deploy the backend systems and data pipelines that power our cloud-based software products for the energy industry.

This role is ideal for someone with strong backend and data engineering expertise who thrives in product development environments. You will work with large-scale and frequently updating datasets, spatial (GIS) information, modern orchestration and data transformation technologies, and cloud-native services—all while ensuring the highest standards of data quality, consistency, and reliability.

Responsibilities

How you can make an impact:

• Design, develop, and maintain backend services and production-grade data pipelines that support cloud-based software products in the energy sector.
• Architect and optimize workflows for large, frequently updating datasets, ensuring data reliability, lineage, consistency, and long-term maintainability.
• Build and operate data engineering components using tools such as:
  • Dagster running in Kubernetes (AKS)
  • AWS Glue Interactive Sessions (Spark)
  • Glue Catalog, Athena, and DBT
• Incorporate spatial data processing and GIS workflows into data pipelines, enabling high-quality spatial analysis across product capabilities.
• Implement best practices for pipeline observability, automated data validation, schema enforcement, and exception handling.
• Collaborate closely with software engineering, data science, product, and platform teams to deliver backend and data features aligned with product objectives.
• Engage with external stakeholders and internal partner teams to define data handling standards, schema evolution processes, and change management workflows.
• Contribute to code reviews, maintain coding standards, and participate in design discussions that improve backend and data platform architecture.
• Support the full product development lifecycle, from concept and prototyping to deployment and production operations.
• Continuously learn and adopt new technologies, patterns, and best practices relevant to modern backend and data engineering.

Qualifications

Bring your passion, here's what’s needed:

• Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Minimum 5+ years of experience in backend development, data engineering, or cloud-based SaaS product development.
• Proficiency in Python for backend and data workflow development; familiarity with Typescript is a plus.
• Hands-on experience building and maintaining data pipelines and ETL/ELT workflows with large or complex datasets.
• Experience with modern data engineering and cloud technologies, especially:
  • Dagster, Kubernetes (AKS)
  • AWS Glue (Spark), Glue Catalog, Athena
  • DBT, Parquet, SQL, PostgreSQL (RDS)
• Strong understanding of software development principles, distributed systems, algorithms, and data structures.
• Familiarity with containerization and cloud-native patterns (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, version control (Git), automated testing, and production deployment workflows.
• Proven ability to mentor and support junior engineers.
• Demonstrated ability to partner across teams and work with external stakeholders on data standards, schema management, and change control processes.
• Experience working with geospatial data, GIS concepts, or spatial analysis workflows.
• Ability to assess existing codebases, propose improvements, and contribute production-ready backend and data pipeline code.

Preferred Education and Experience

• Knowledge of AWS-based cloud solutions.
• Familiarity with ArcGIS and geospatial data formats.
• Experience with power system datasets, energy industry data, or transmission interconnection workflows is a strong plus.
• Exposure to analytics or engineering software for the energy sector.

Lead the change!  

Be a part of an innovative team shaping the grid of the future through advanced energy intelligence.  For more than half a century, Electric Power Engineers (EPE) has partnered with power and energy clients across the globe, providing consulting expertise and energy intelligence software solutions for complex engineering and grid modeling challenges. As leaders in the renewables space, we are focused on building a modern, secure, and resilient grid.   Join us in making an impact on the communities we serve and the environment in which we live. Together we can transform the future of energy.

How we support you:

• Comprehensive Health & Life Insurance: 100% premium coverage for employees, with partial coverage available for eligible dependents.
• Opportunity to work on cutting-edge automation solutions for the power industry.
• Collaborate with a team of experts in software engineering, renewable energy, and grid technologies.
• Flexible hybrid work environment with opportunities for professional growth and innovation.
• EPE is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity in its workforce.

Location: This position is open to Panama 

Travel:  Occasional travel may be needed (10% or less)

EPE is an equal opportunity/AA/Disability/Veteran employer. The EEO is the Law poster, and its supplement are available using the following links: EEOC is the Law Poster

Third-Party Recruiting Notification

EPE does not accept unsolicited resumes from third-party recruiters. Any unsolicited third-party resumes forwarded by recruiters to EPE via our career page or to any of our managers or employees will be considered public information, may be treated as a direct application from the person identified in the resume, and will not be eligible for placement fee payment to the agency. EPE will not pay a fee to a third-party recruiter or agency without a previously signed third-party agreement and has not coordinated their recruiting activity with the appropriate member of the Talent Acquisition team. 

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