Back-End Software Engineer (Contractor)

at  Dimensional Fund Advisors

Notes to applicants:

• This position is eligible for full-time remote work in Texas, or North Carolina, or, in the alternative, to work in accordance with Dimensional’s office- first hybrid approach which involves working in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and the choice to work in the office or remotely, depending on what is best for your work day, on Mondays and Fridays.
• Resumes and portfolios (when applicable) are required as part of your application. When applying from a mobile device or tablet, you may not be able to attach a resume. If you cannot include an attachment at the time of your application, you will receive a follow up email asking you to attach your resume from a computer.
• Here at Dimensional, we strive to be an inclusive workplace for all. Even if you do not match every qualification listed, if you are interested in who we are, what we do, and why we do it, we suggest and encourage you to apply.
• If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, such accommodation is available upon request.

Job Description:
Dimensional’s goal is to improve our client’s lives by improving the way that they invest. To achieve that goal the engineering team emphasizes collaboration, learning, and innovation to focus on and solve the firm’s most important business problems.
Within the DFA engineering team, the hiring department for this position is Data Distribution. Data Distribution is responsible for managing Dimensional’s enterprise investment data warehouse which supports Research, Portfolio management, Trading, and Analytic functions. As a member of the Data Distribution team, you will have the opportunity to understand our client’s needs, collaborate on the design of solutions, and work with emerging data engineering tools and best practices.
In this role, you will design, develop, document, and test multiple application services focusing on building scalable data platform and services. You will also expand and optimize our data and data pipeline architecture. As a successful candidate, you demonstrate strong technical and analytical ability across multiple tech stacks as well as are detail oriented and passionate about building data applications. Also, you enjoy optimizing data systems and building them from the ground up.

Responsibilities

• Build and deliver investment data technology solutions in support of Research, Portfolio Management, Trading, Analytics and Reporting functions.
• Formulate, design, develop, test, and deliver data technology solutions with a balanced focus on speed and quality.
• Collaborate with business analysts, product owners, and project managers to develop user stories, estimates, and work plans.
• Work with minimal supervision and advise business clients and IT management of technology capabilities and recommend strategies to maximize the benefits of new technologies.
• Identify, design, and implement changes to data pipelines at various stages including data ingestion, data validation, and quality control, data integration, storage, management, and data delivery.
• Write unit/integration tests, contribute to engineering wiki, and write detailed documentation
• Build high-performance and scalable data-transfer toolsets which reliably transfer datasets between endpoints within established SLA’s.
• Focus on data consistency, refresh rates and caching requirements while keeping the data current across a variety of interfaces.
• Build and enhance CI/CD pipelines and develop supportable solutions. Participate in code and design reviews.
• Provide technical troubleshooting and support for production systems.

Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in engineering, math, computer science, or a related field. Master’s degree is preferred.
• 4 to 5 years of programming experience in Python (open source) or equivalent. Ability to work on multiple programming languages and platform is highly preferred.
• Proficiency in building RESTful APIs and web services.
• 4 to 5 years of SQL experience (No-SQL experience is a plus)
• Familiarity with SOLID principles and Domain driven design
• Experience in high performance and high availability data applications and must have a keen eye for performance optimization and tuning.
• Experience with automated acceptance testing and ability to write unit-tested, maintainable code.
• Good understanding of cyber security risks and demonstrated ability to design and build highly secure applications.
• Experience working in a dynamic and interactive team environment to build world-class software implementations.
• Knowledge of best practices and IT operations in an always-up, always-available service.
• Experience working with Agile Scrum and waterfall methodologies with a software development and integration focus.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills with a keen sense of customer service

Preferred Qualifications

• Financial services industry knowledge or experience a plus
• Experience with the following:
• Kafka
• Airflow
• PostrgeSQL
• Ansible
• Elastic Stack
• RabbitMQ
• Redis
• Docker
• Knowledge of Okta, OAuth2, PlainID.

Dimensional offers a variety of programs to help take care of you, your family, and your career, including comprehensive benefits, educational initiatives, and special celebrations of our history, culture, and growth.
It is the policy of the Company to provide equal opportunity for all employees and applicants. The Company recruits, hires, trains, promotes, compensates, and administers all personnel actions without regard to actual or perceived race, color, religion, religious practice, creed, sex, sex stereotyping, pregnancy (which includes pregnancy, childbirth, and medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding), caregiver status, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender identity, national origin, age, mental or physical disability, ancestry, medical condition, marital status, familial status, domestic partnership status, military or veteran status or service, unemployment status, citizenship status or alienage, sexual orientation, status as a victim of domestic violence, status as a victim of stalking, status as a victim of sex offenses, genetic information, political activities or recreational activities, arrest or conviction record, salary history, natural hairstyle or any other status protected by applicable law except as otherwise required or permitted by law or regulation applicable to the Company or its affiliates

• Build and deliver investment data technology solutions in support of Research, Portfolio Management, Trading, Analytics and Reporting functions.
• Formulate, design, develop, test, and deliver data technology solutions with a balanced focus on speed and quality.
• Collaborate with business analysts, product owners, and project managers to develop user stories, estimates, and work plans.
• Work with minimal supervision and advise business clients and IT management of technology capabilities and recommend strategies to maximize the benefits of new technologies.
• Identify, design, and implement changes to data pipelines at various stages including data ingestion, data validation, and quality control, data integration, storage, management, and data delivery.
• Write unit/integration tests, contribute to engineering wiki, and write detailed documentation
• Build high-performance and scalable data-transfer toolsets which reliably transfer datasets between endpoints within established SLA’s.
• Focus on data consistency, refresh rates and caching requirements while keeping the data current across a variety of interfaces.
• Build and enhance CI/CD pipelines and develop supportable solutions. Participate in code and design reviews.
• Provide technical troubleshooting and support for production systems