{"schemaVersion":"jobsearcher.job.v1","id":"7ec47e46a9465bc60fa1187c","url":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/7ec47e46a9465bc60fa1187c","canonicalUrl":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/7ec47e46a9465bc60fa1187c","title":"Python Engineer, Financial Data Platform & Integrations","description":"About Cardiff\nCardiff lends to small businesses. Since 2004 we've funded more than $12 billion across the country, to businesses in logistics, healthcare, construction, professional services, and plenty in between. We're building our own underwriting technology, and we still answer the phone; our customers need capital fast, and they want a straight answer from a person who can actually help.\n\nLocation: Remote (U.S. preferred), with East Coast hours overlap\nEmployment Type: Contractor (ongoing), with a path to full-time employment\nDepartment: Engineering\nAbout Cardiff\nCardiff lends to small businesses. Since 2004 we've funded more than $12 billion across the country, to businesses in logistics, healthcare, construction, professional services, and plenty in between. We're building our own underwriting technology, and we still answer the phone; our customers need capital fast, and they want a straight answer from a person who can actually help.\nWhy This Role Matters\nCardiff's underwriting decisions are only as good as the data behind them. This role owns that layer: the integrations that pull credit and bank transaction data from providers like Experian and Plaid, and the Python services that deliver it to the systems driving risk decisions. We're pushing funding turnaround from 24 business hours toward minutes, and that only works if the data underneath is fast, reliable, and compliant. As we expand ML-based decisioning and LLM-based workflows, this layer sets the pace for everything built on top of it.\nThe Role\nThis is a Python backend engineering role focused on financial data integration. You'll build and maintain the FastAPI services that deliver financial and credit data to Cardiff's internal systems, along with the provider integrations and AWS pipelines that feed them. You'll work as an individual contributor on Cardiff's technology team, alongside the Lead AI Architect and engineers covering full-stack, UI, and operations, with access to our AI platform from day one and real ownership over how you get the work done. The role starts as an ongoing contract with a clear path to full-time; we begin with a contract so both sides can evaluate fit through real work, and your scope will grow as you show you can carry more.\nWhat Success Looks Like\nIn your first 90 days, you will:\n\nShip at least one production integration with a financial or credit data provider (Experian, Plaid, or a bank transaction source) end to end\nImplement automated validation and quality checks across the pipelines you own, so failures surface before they reach downstream consumers\nShip or materially extend a FastAPI service that exposes provider data internally, with tests and documentation another engineer can pick up cold\nDeliver a documented data model and schema mapping for at least one provider domain, built alongside our domain experts and analysts\nDemonstrate one LLM-assisted extraction workflow on unstructured input (bank statements, credit memos), with output validation in place\n\nBy the end of your first year:\n\nThe financial data layer is Cardiff's system of record: accurate, current, and complete enough that underwriting, risk, and operations decide on it with confidence\nAdding or replacing a data provider is a well-worn path rather than a project; the business can move on partnerships without waiting on engineering\nCompliance is a property of how the systems are built, not a scramble ahead of each review\nWhat You'll Do\nDesign, build, and run the FastAPI services that expose financial and credit data to internal consumers: API design, auth, versioning, pagination, and clear error handling\nOwn the integration layer with external providers (Experian, Plaid, bank transaction sources): retries, backoff, rate limiting, credential handling, and graceful degradation when a provider slows down or goes dark\nBuild the pipelines that land provider data in Cardiff's systems, including Snowflake, using serverless ETL on AWS (Glue, Athena, Step Functions, S3 data lakes), supporting both batch and near-real-time ingestion\nDo the data modeling and schema mapping that keeps disparate provider formats semantically consistent, working with our domain experts and analysts\nBuild integrations that meet Cardiff's security, privacy, and regulatory obligations, with Legal, Compliance, and Security owning final interpretation and sign-off\nApply LLM APIs for extraction and classification of unstructured documents where it earns its keep, with model outputs validated before they enter the pipeline\nMake AI tooling part of how you build, and read what it produces before it ships\nMaintain the unit tests, integration tests, and documentation for every component you own\nWhat We're Looking For\n5+ years of Python backend engineering on data-intensive systems, with the emphasis on recent, demonstrable work\nProduction backend services built and operated in a modern Python framework (FastAPI preferred; Flask or Django fine), including API design, auth, testing, and async programming\nReliable third-party API integration (retries, idempotency, rate limits, partial failures, observability), ideally against financial APIs from credit bureaus, banks, or payment processors\nSubstantial hands-on Snowflake experience in production: loading, modeling, and large-scale querying\nAWS data services for pipeline orchestration (Glue, Athena, S3, Step Functions, Lambda), including data lake layouts and partitioning that keep querying cost-efficient\nStrong data modeling, schema alignment, and transformation instincts\nA working grasp of API authentication, encryption, and the compliance requirements that come with regulated financial data\nProficiency in SQL and Pandas\n\nNice to have:\n\nCredit decisioning, loan underwriting, or financial risk data experience\nLLM APIs (Claude, OpenAI, or equivalent) applied to extraction, classification, or summarization, plus the applied-LLM toolkit: prompt design, evals, output validation, RAG and embeddings\nAI-assisted development tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Devin) as a primary mode of building\nCI/CD pipelines\nWho Does Well Here\nYou ship: a working v1 today beats a polished v1 next month. You sweat data correctness, because bad data that looks fine is the most expensive failure in a lending business. You treat AI tooling as a force multiplier, and you know when to trust the output and when to override it. You work independently and communicate proactively; when something is blocked, you say so the same day.\nThis Role May Not Be a Fit If You\nPrefer structured corporate environments with clear lanes\nWant detailed direction before you start\nWould rather maintain systems than build them\nBenefits\nMedical, dental, and vision coverage\n401(k) plan\nFlexible PTO and observed holidays\nRemote-first, with support for your home-office setup\nHow to Apply\nAfter submitting your resume, email AI-Eng@cardiff.co with:\n\nA 2–3 minute video introducing yourself and walking us through your work\nA link to your GitHub\nA production project you've shipped, with a link we can see or try\n\nCardiff, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.","company":"Cardiff","rawCompany":"cardiff","city":"Remote","state":"OR","isRemote":false,"isActive":false,"createdAt":"2026-08-05T15:43:53.088Z","occupations":[{"code":"15-1252.00","title":"Software Developers","slug":"software-developers"},{"code":"15-1299.08","title":"Computer Systems Engineers/Architects","slug":"computer-systems-engineers-architects"},{"code":"15-1243.01","title":"Data Warehousing Specialists","slug":"data-warehousing-specialists"}],"industries":[{"code":"541511","title":"Custom Computer Programming Services","slug":"custom-computer-programming-services"},{"code":"522299","title":"International, Secondary Market, and All Other Nondepository Credit Intermediation","slug":"international-secondary-market-and-all-other-nondepository-credit-intermediation"},{"code":"522291","title":"Consumer Lending","slug":"consumer-lending"}],"jobPosting":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"JobPosting","title":"Python Engineer, Financial Data Platform & Integrations","description":"About Cardiff\nCardiff lends to small businesses. Since 2004 we've funded more than $12 billion across the country, to businesses in logistics, healthcare, construction, professional services, and plenty in between. We're building our own underwriting technology, and we still answer the phone; our customers need capital fast, and they want a straight answer from a person who can actually help.\n\nLocation: Remote (U.S. preferred), with East Coast hours overlap\nEmployment Type: Contractor (ongoing), with a path to full-time employment\nDepartment: Engineering\nAbout Cardiff\nCardiff lends to small businesses. Since 2004 we've funded more than $12 billion across the country, to businesses in logistics, healthcare, construction, professional services, and plenty in between. We're building our own underwriting technology, and we still answer the phone; our customers need capital fast, and they want a straight answer from a person who can actually help.\nWhy This Role Matters\nCardiff's underwriting decisions are only as good as the data behind them. This role owns that layer: the integrations that pull credit and bank transaction data from providers like Experian and Plaid, and the Python services that deliver it to the systems driving risk decisions. We're pushing funding turnaround from 24 business hours toward minutes, and that only works if the data underneath is fast, reliable, and compliant. As we expand ML-based decisioning and LLM-based workflows, this layer sets the pace for everything built on top of it.\nThe Role\nThis is a Python backend engineering role focused on financial data integration. You'll build and maintain the FastAPI services that deliver financial and credit data to Cardiff's internal systems, along with the provider integrations and AWS pipelines that feed them. You'll work as an individual contributor on Cardiff's technology team, alongside the Lead AI Architect and engineers covering full-stack, UI, and operations, with access to our AI platform from day one and real ownership over how you get the work done. The role starts as an ongoing contract with a clear path to full-time; we begin with a contract so both sides can evaluate fit through real work, and your scope will grow as you show you can carry more.\nWhat Success Looks Like\nIn your first 90 days, you will:\n\nShip at least one production integration with a financial or credit data provider (Experian, Plaid, or a bank transaction source) end to end\nImplement automated validation and quality checks across the pipelines you own, so failures surface before they reach downstream consumers\nShip or materially extend a FastAPI service that exposes provider data internally, with tests and documentation another engineer can pick up cold\nDeliver a documented data model and schema mapping for at least one provider domain, built alongside our domain experts and analysts\nDemonstrate one LLM-assisted extraction workflow on unstructured input (bank statements, credit memos), with output validation in place\n\nBy the end of your first year:\n\nThe financial data layer is Cardiff's system of record: accurate, current, and complete enough that underwriting, risk, and operations decide on it with confidence\nAdding or replacing a data provider is a well-worn path rather than a project; the business can move on partnerships without waiting on engineering\nCompliance is a property of how the systems are built, not a scramble ahead of each review\nWhat You'll Do\nDesign, build, and run the FastAPI services that expose financial and credit data to internal consumers: API design, auth, versioning, pagination, and clear error handling\nOwn the integration layer with external providers (Experian, Plaid, bank transaction sources): retries, backoff, rate limiting, credential handling, and graceful degradation when a provider slows down or goes dark\nBuild the pipelines that land provider data in Cardiff's systems, including Snowflake, using serverless ETL on AWS (Glue, Athena, Step Functions, S3 data lakes), supporting both batch and near-real-time ingestion\nDo the data modeling and schema mapping that keeps disparate provider formats semantically consistent, working with our domain experts and analysts\nBuild integrations that meet Cardiff's security, privacy, and regulatory obligations, with Legal, Compliance, and Security owning final interpretation and sign-off\nApply LLM APIs for extraction and classification of unstructured documents where it earns its keep, with model outputs validated before they enter the pipeline\nMake AI tooling part of how you build, and read what it produces before it ships\nMaintain the unit tests, integration tests, and documentation for every component you own\nWhat We're Looking For\n5+ years of Python backend engineering on data-intensive systems, with the emphasis on recent, demonstrable work\nProduction backend services built and operated in a modern Python framework (FastAPI preferred; Flask or Django fine), including API design, auth, testing, and async programming\nReliable third-party API integration (retries, idempotency, rate limits, partial failures, observability), ideally against financial APIs from credit bureaus, banks, or payment processors\nSubstantial hands-on Snowflake experience in production: loading, modeling, and large-scale querying\nAWS data services for pipeline orchestration (Glue, Athena, S3, Step Functions, Lambda), including data lake layouts and partitioning that keep querying cost-efficient\nStrong data modeling, schema alignment, and transformation instincts\nA working grasp of API authentication, encryption, and the compliance requirements that come with regulated financial data\nProficiency in SQL and Pandas\n\nNice to have:\n\nCredit decisioning, loan underwriting, or financial risk data experience\nLLM APIs (Claude, OpenAI, or equivalent) applied to extraction, classification, or summarization, plus the applied-LLM toolkit: prompt design, evals, output validation, RAG and embeddings\nAI-assisted development tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Devin) as a primary mode of building\nCI/CD pipelines\nWho Does Well Here\nYou ship: a working v1 today beats a polished v1 next month. You sweat data correctness, because bad data that looks fine is the most expensive failure in a lending business. You treat AI tooling as a force multiplier, and you know when to trust the output and when to override it. You work independently and communicate proactively; when something is blocked, you say so the same day.\nThis Role May Not Be a Fit If You\nPrefer structured corporate environments with clear lanes\nWant detailed direction before you start\nWould rather maintain systems than build them\nBenefits\nMedical, dental, and vision coverage\n401(k) plan\nFlexible PTO and observed holidays\nRemote-first, with support for your home-office setup\nHow to Apply\nAfter submitting your resume, email AI-Eng@cardiff.co with:\n\nA 2–3 minute video introducing yourself and walking us through your work\nA link to your GitHub\nA production project you've shipped, with a link we can see or try\n\nCardiff, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.","datePosted":"2026-08-05T15:43:53.088Z","dateModified":"2026-08-05T15:43:53.088Z","hiringOrganization":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Cardiff","sameAs":"https://jobsearcher.com"},"jobLocation":{"@type":"Place","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","addressLocality":"Remote","addressRegion":"OR","addressCountry":"US"}},"identifier":{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"JobSearcher","value":"7ec47e46a9465bc60fa1187c"},"url":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/7ec47e46a9465bc60fa1187c"}}