Senior Backend & Data Engineer
1 day ago
Barcelona
Job Highlight Senior Backend & Data Engineer will be based in Barcelona, Spain, as part of the DI Barcelona Tech Centre, where product innovation and development are driven forward. The Senior Backend & Data Engineer will architect and develop the backend systems for several of Giga's digital products (including tools for connectivity mapping, measurement, and monitoring) ensuring that they are scalable, secure, and performant. Role Purpose Under the supervision of the Mapping/Data Product Lead, the Senior Backend & Data Engineer will be responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining the backend architecture of Giga's digital products and tools, including data platforms, web applications, and measurement tools. The Senior Backend & Data Engineer will collaborate with multidisciplinary teams of front‑end developers, designers, data scientists, and researchers to build scalable, secure, and high-performance backend systems using Django, ensuring technical excellence and alignment with user needs and organizational goals. Functions / Key Results Expected Design and develop backend systems for Giga's digital tools, including the Giga Meter (connectivity measurement app), Giga Maps (school connectivity web platform), and monitoring dashboards using Django and Django REST Framework. Architect scalable backend solutions by defining system design, data models, API structures, and integration patterns that support Giga's connectivity and data products. Build and maintain RESTful APIs to enable seamless communication between front‑end applications, mobile apps, and third‑party services. Design and optimize database schemas using PostgreSQL (or relevant database), ensuring data integrity, performance, and scalability for large‑scale connectivity data. Collaborate with vendors and technology partners to integrate external APIs, define technical requirements, and ensure quality deliverables. Work closely with front‑end developers, designers, and data scientists to translate user stories into technical implementations and deliver features in agile sprints. Implement authentication, authorization, and security best practices to protect user data and ensure compliance with security standards. Define and monitor backend performance metrics, including API response times, system uptime, and database query performance. Write comprehensive tests (unit, integration, and end‑to‑end) and maintain documentation to ensure code quality and system reliability. Support CI/CD pipelines and deployment processes, ensuring smooth releases and continuous improvement of Giga's backend infrastructure. Build and maintain data pipelines using Celery and Celery Beat to automate data ingestion, transformation, and loading (ETL) processes for school connectivity data across multiple countries and sources. Deploy, configure, and manage Apache Superset as Giga's business intelligence platform, enabling data visualization, reporting, and analytics for internal teams, government partners, and stakeholders. Design and implement data transformation workflows to process connectivity measurements, school registry data, and geospatial information into structured analytics‑ready formats. Extend Celery‑based data pipelines for scheduled data refreshes, data quality validation, and integration with external APIs and data sources. Collaborate with data scientists and analysts to operationalize analytical models, automate reporting workflows, and ensure data availability for decision‑making. Monitor and optimize data pipeline performance, ensuring reliability, data freshness, and handling failures gracefully with proper logging and alerting. Monitoring and Progress Controls Backend architecture documentation and technical roadmaps for Giga's digital tools (Meter, Maps, Dashboards) developed, maintained, and aligned with overall system design. RESTful APIs and backend services built using Django/Django REST Framework to support product features and integrations. Technical documentation including API specifications, database schemas, and system architecture diagrams maintained and shared with relevant teams. Backend performance metrics defined and monitored, including API response times, system uptime, database query performance, and error rates. Technical integration with vendors and partners effectively managed, ensuring timely delivery and quality outputs. Comprehensive test coverage (unit, integration, end‑to‑end) maintained to ensure code quality and system reliability. Continuous improvement process established through code reviews, refactoring, technical debt management, and performance optimization based on monitoring data. Apache Superset deployed and managed with dashboards, reports, and data visualizations configured for stakeholders (governments, partners, internal teams). Data transformation workflows implemented to process school connectivity data, measurements, and geospatial datasets into analytics‑ready structures. Data engineering documentation including pipeline architecture, ETL processes, data flow diagrams, Superset configuration, and data dictionary maintained and accessible. Education Requirements An Advanced University Degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Analytics or a related field is required. A first University Degree in a relevant field, combined with 2 additional years of professional experience, may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree. Requirements Experience Requirements Required Minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in backend software development or software engineering. Hands‑on experience designing and implementing RESTful APIs and microservices architectures. Demonstrated experience developing and maintaining production‑level systems using Python, including applying sound software architecture principles and working with relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL/ MySQL) preferably for normalised schema design, query optimisation, performance tuning, and database migrations. Desired Strong experience in building scalable web applications and backend systems using Django and Python, with expertise in API design (REST/gRPC), framework architecture, and highly reliable automation ecosystems. Proven experience in designing reliable, data‑driven systems and pipelines for large‑scale testing, validation, and release workflows in distributed environments. Extensive experience working in Agile/SAFe environments, collaborating with cross‑functional teams including product managers, developers, and DevOps engineers to deliver robust and scalable solutions. #J-18808-Ljbffr