Senior Python Core Engineer

## About the Role The Senior Python Core Engineer will play a critical role in shaping Chime's Python ecosystem, ensuring the company's engineering foundations are strong, secure, and efficient. As a key member of the Languages & Frameworks team within Engineering Services, this engineer will be responsible for standardizing and strengthening Chime's Python ecosystem. With Python becoming increasingly foundational to data engineering, analytics, machine learning, and emerging AI initiatives, clear ownership and stewardship over Python releases, packaging, base images, and shared libraries are crucial. The Senior Python Core Engineer will be the technical leader for Python foundations across the company, responsible for owning the lifecycle of Python versions, defining best practices, improving build and dependency workflows, and maintaining key internal Python libraries. This engineer will partner closely with platform teams, CI/CD stakeholders, and data/ML organizations to drive improvements that make Python development faster, safer, and more scalable. Chime's commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction relies heavily on the reliability and performance of its engineering systems. As such, the Senior Python Core Engineer will be instrumental in reducing security risks, eliminating duplicated effort, and making builds and runtimes more reliable and reproducible. ## What You Will Do - Own Chime's Python version standards, upgrade cadence, and compliance, reducing EOL exposure and security patch lag - Design and drive safe, repeatable Python upgrade processes across services and shared libraries, enabling teams to adopt new versions with minimal friction - Establish clear dependency management practices (e.g., version locking policies, upgrade safety, library compatibility strategies) - Partner with CI/CD stakeholders to improve build performance, reliability, and developer experience for Python projects - Maintain and develop critical internal Python libraries, including roadmap, quality, and adoption - Define and evangelize Python best practices (“the Chime way”), aligned with community standards, and support teams through documentation and enablement - Identify and drive opportunities to maximize returns from the Python + AI ecosystem, evaluating tools, practices, and vendor options that improve iteration speed and outcomes - Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure seamless integration of Python developments with other technologies and services - Develop and maintain technical documentation for Python libraries and services - Participate in code reviews and contribute to the improvement of the overall code quality

## What We Are Looking For - 5+ years of software engineering experience, with deep hands-on expertise in Python in production - Strong experience with Python build tooling, and an understanding of tradeoffs in versioning and distribution - Understanding of asynchronous and synchronous data-sharing patterns (pub/sub, RPC, caching, etc.) - Solid knowledge of containerized environments and build systems (Docker images, CI pipelines, caching, reproducible builds) - Experience building and maintaining shared libraries used by multiple teams, including API design, backwards compatibility, and release management - A security- and reliability-first mindset, especially around EOL management, patching, and build integrity - Strong cross-functional collaboration skills—able to influence without authority and align multiple teams around standards and migrations - Comfort operating with ambiguous requirements, creating clarity through docs, prototypes, and incremental rollout plans - Experience with agile development methodologies and version control systems (e.g., Git)

## Nice to Have - Experience with AI and machine learning technologies - Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and their respective services - Familiarity with container orchestration tools (Kubernetes) - Participation in open-source projects or personal coding projects

## Benefits and Perks - Competitive salary and bonus structure - Equity package - Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance - 401(k) matching program - Flexible PTO policy - Remote work stipend - Professional development opportunities - Access to cutting-edge technologies and tools - Collaboration with a talented and diverse team of engineers

- tip: Ensure your portfolio showcases your expertise in Python development, including examples of your work with Python versions, dependency management, and CI/CD pipelines.

• tip: Familiarize yourself with Chime's products and services, and be prepared to discuss how your skills and experience align with the company's goals and vision.
• tip: Highlight your experience with containerized environments, build systems, and reproducible builds, as these are critical components of the Senior Python Core Engineer role.
• tip: Demonstrate your understanding of security and reliability principles, and provide examples of how you've applied these principles in previous roles.
• tip: Prepare to discuss your approach to cross-functional collaboration, and provide examples of how you've successfully worked with teams to drive technical initiatives forward.
• tip: Be prepared to discuss your experience with agile development methodologies and version control systems, and how you've applied these in previous roles.
• tip: Research the current market salary range for Senior Python Core Engineers, and be prepared to negotiate your salary based on your experience and qualifications.