Contract Senior Backend Engineer Snowflake Data Platform

Upwork ($UPWK) is the world’s work marketplace. We serve everyone from one-person startups to over 30% of the Fortune 100 with a powerful, trust-driven platform that enables companies and talent to work together in new ways that unlock their potential.  

Last year, more than $3.8 billion of work was done through Upwork by skilled professionals who are gaining more control by finding work they are passionate about and innovating their careers. 

This is an engagement through Upwork’s Hybrid Workforce Solutions (HWS) Team. Our Hybrid Workforce Solutions Team is a global group of professionals that support Upwork’s business. Our HWS team members are located all over the world.

Upwork is looking for a talented, experienced, and hardworking Senior Backend Engineer with an expert level in Python, Javascript, server-side development with SQL experience, and AWS knowledge to work on the Upwork Data Platform Backend.

The Intelligent Data Platform team is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to support the Snowflake Data Platform. This is a hands-on IC role focused on building, operating, and automating backend services that power data ingestion, orchestration, governance, cost optimization, and compliance for a platform used by hundreds of internal users.

Your Responsibilities:

• Build and operate backend services and automation for the Snowflake data platform.
• Support data ingestion pipelines (RDS/Oracle → Snowflake) and reverse ETL (Snowflake → RDS).
• Develop and maintain Airflow (AWS MWAA) workflows for ingestion, data quality, and ops automation.
• Implement tooling for data quality checks, platform governance, and SOX-related controls.
• Help monitor and optimize Snowflake performance and costs.
• Deliver production-ready solutions with minimal supervision.

Must Haves (Required Skills):

• Strong backend engineering experience in production systems.
• Proficiency in Python and SQL (JavaScript a plus).
• Hands-on experience with Snowflake or large-scale data warehouses.
• Experience with AWS and workflow orchestration (Airflow preferred).
• Strong operational mindset: monitoring, troubleshooting, and performance tuning.
• Ability to work independently in a remote, distributed team with minimum supervision and attention to detail.
• Communicate frequently and effectively in English.
• Can commit at least 3 hours a day, overlapping with the working hours of the Upwork Data Platform team - typically 8 AM - 11 AM PST.

Upwork is proudly committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce. We never discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

Additionally, to the extent permitted under applicable law, a criminal background check may be required as a condition of engagement.

We use BrightHire, an AI-enabled tool, to record interviews and summarize interview transcripts. The tool allows the interviewer to focus on the discussion and does not score or evaluate talent or make recommendations. The interview transcripts are reviewed, and decisions are only made by humans. Any individual who prefers not to have their interview recorded through BrightHire can opt out when the interview is scheduled.