Contract Backend Engineer

Meet Flagship:

Flagship is building an innovative Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) software that empowers DTC retail brands to maximize growth efficiency. Our platform seamlessly integrates with their first-party data to provide tailored insights based on advanced data analytics to drive cross-functional strategic decision-making.

At Flagship, we have built a multidisciplinary team of machine learning experts and industry professionals from the tech, commerce, and retail sectors. This has allowed us to build software that actually serves the needs of retail planning teams and executives and enables data-driven collaboration across departments. Our mission is to break businesses free from the limitations of outdated, siloed metrics and instead, focus on high-impact growth indicators that contribute to a positive net business outcome.

Join us in revolutionizing the way that retailers interact with their data to make more accurate, granular decisions informed by both their business expertise and machine learning algorithms.

We are looking for a Contract Backend Engineer who will support the development, maintenance, and continued improvement of our Inventory SaaS application supporting retail brands that generate $20-200mm in revenue. The ideal candidate is a creative problem solver who can weave multiple data streams into a unified view, track data changes across multiple systems, and normalize disparate data for consumption by other teams. You must be able to thrive in navigating fast-paced environments with significant ambiguity and rapidly changing conditions.

NOTE: This is a contract position. We are looking for someone available on a short-term or project basis, with potential for extension depending on needs.

Applicants must also be authorized to work in the United States. Sponsorship for work visas is not available for this position.

Key Responsibilities:

• ERP Integration Leadership:

  • Lead the design and implementation of integrations between our platform and third-party ERP systems (e.g., NetSuite, iSync, ApparelMagic, Blue Cherry).

  • Build robust, scalable pipelines to ingest and normalize ERP data, ensuring accuracy and consistency.

  • Collaborate with internal stakeholders and technical teams to map business requirements to ERP data structures.

  • Develop and maintain internal APIs and data models to support ERP integration use cases.

  • Troubleshoot and resolve data discrepancies or sync issues between systems, focusing on reliability and clarity.

  • Contribute to the development of reusable tools and frameworks for future ERP integrations.

• Data Pipeline and ETL Management:

  • Maintain robust data pipelines that collect data from multiple sources and feed into our Data Science and Software Engineering teams.

  • Observe and debug data as it passes through layers of our internal infrastructure.

  • Enhance and improve existing ETL pipelines and the data warehouse by following the Robustness Principle (being lenient in what we accept and strict in what we provide).

  • Parse, transform, and ingest large CSV and JSONL documents.

  • Validate and ensure the integrity of our data through automated tests.

• Data-Driven Solutions:

  • Engage in creative ideation with internal stakeholders on using data to answer questions and provide solutions that help meet immediate and long-term goals.

Prerequisites:

• Strong Python 3 proficiency: Experience building API integrations between internal Python applications and third-party resources.

• Database expertise:

  • Multiple years of experience with SQLAlchemy or another popular Object Relational Mapper (ORM) library, preferably in Python.

  • Familiarity with programmatic database migration tools like Alembic.

  • Experience with large-scale relational databases such as PostgreSQL or MySQL.

  • An understanding of various database technologies and their effective application.

• Cloud/Containerization comfort: Ability to work in cloud/containerized environments with on-demand utilization.

• Orchestration and Data Pipelining: Experience with orchestration tools and data pipeline management.

You should enjoy researching, problem-solving, and providing clarity when presented with ambiguous opportunities and multiple potential solutions. You will be a strong collaborator, fostering solid team dynamics and effective cross-functional relationships.

Optional but not required:

• Key Technologies: Go, Docker, TypeScript, Snowflake, Cron, Database migration tools, especially Alembic

• Infrastructure & Cloud: Setting up and maintaining project infrastructure with Terraform, Experience with AWS services (or equivalents in Azure/GCP) including S3, Lambda, EC2, ECR and ECS, API and NAT Gateways, Schedulers and other triggers

• Domain Knowledge: Familiarity with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERPs) and/or Shopify, Familiarity with inventory management or related fields

• Other: Mentorship Experience

Our values:

• Creativity. We’re a product company. We are here to create.

• Curiosity. The only way to know that we’re doing the right thing is to explore.

• Community. We are one team, together to work toward a common goal.

• Adaptability. At a startup the only thing that is constant is change.

What we offer:

• Accelerated hands-on learning and a commitment to professional growth as we build and grow both the software and our teams

• An incredible amount of trust and freedom in your ability to deliver as well as the support of a software engineering team that’s invested in your success

• An opportunity to be an important part of a fast growing software application company