About this Backend Engineer - Commodities role at Kpler
About the Role
As a Software Engineer on the founding Connected Supply Chain team, you will build and run the core services extending Kpler’s real-time trade intelligence platform beyond marine coverage into North American inland supply chains. Operating on a high-autonomy "you build it, you run it" model, you will carry sensor telemetry from field hardware to paying customers through streaming ingestion pipelines, robust APIs, and user-facing features. By uniting crude pipeline remote sensors, rail, and waterway data with existing maritime tracking, your work will directly deliver a single connected view from production basin to export terminal.
Key Responsibilities
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Build and maintain scalable ingestion and processing pipelines for sensor, rail, and waterway data using Python, Kafka, and Airflow.
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Develop backend services using FastAPI and contribute to customer-facing web applications using TypeScript and Vue.
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Implement data validation, system monitoring, and alerting to ensure noisy time-series data from field hardware remains accurate and complete.
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Operate owned services end-to-end, taking charge of deployments, observability, and participation in the team's on-call rotation.
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Collaborate closely with data science and sensor operations teams to transform raw telemetry into high-value, usable datasets for early customer adoption.
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Drive continuous platform health by participating in technical design discussions, improving CI/CD workflows, and delivering tested, well-documented code.
Experience & Background
What you'll need (Must-haves)
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2 to 4 years of professional software engineering experience building and supporting production software.
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Strong proficiency with Python and relational databases (SQL / Postgres).
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Proven experience deploying, debugging, and operating backend services in cloud environments (AWS preferred).
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Hands-on exposure to message queues, streaming platforms (e.g., Kafka), and RESTful API development.
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Strong problem-solving skills with a high degree of agency to move from ambiguous requirements to working code.
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Experience with FastAPI, Airflow, TypeScript, Vue, or Elasticsearch.
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Prior exposure to time-series, IoT, remote sensor, or geospatial datasets.
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Domain interest in energy, commodities, or logistics supply chains.
