System Engineer

Role: Systems Engineer

About the Role

Cat-Topia is on a mission to build a fully connected operations ecosystem — a digital nervous system that links every part of the business, from sales and quoting to project execution, contractor management, automation, and financial intelligence. The goal is to build the Connected Operating System of Cat-Topia.

We’re seeking a senior full-stack engineer who thrives on solving complex, real-world systems challenges and someone who can bridge software, data, automation, and financial logic into one seamless, living platform.

This is not a narrow developer role. You’ll be architecting how the business runs, building the foundation for real-time visibility, automation, and scalability across every department.

Core Responsibilities

• Architect, design, and implement the Cat-Topia Systems Platform from end to end.
• Integrate and unify data across CRMs, accounting tools, logistics systems, and internal operations.
• Build modular APIs that power client, contractor, and internal dashboards.
• Design and deploy scalable database schemas for clients, contractors, jobs, assets, and financial transactions.
• Automate event-driven workflows that respond to key business triggers such as sales, payments, and project updates.
• Implement intelligent financial logic for revenue recognition, expense tracking, and forecasting.
• Develop a real-time command dashboard providing live analytics and business insights for leadership.
• Collaborate directly with the founder to refine data models, automation strategies, and system performance.
• Continuously optimize for speed, security, reliability, and scalability as the platform evolves.

Future Phase — Optimization & Evolution

• After the core Cat-Topia platform is complete, your focus evolves toward continuous improvement — refining what exists and building what’s next.
• Enhance existing systems (quoting, operations, financials, automation, waste).
• Identify and resolve inefficiencies through data-driven analysis.
• Design and build new features or subsystems as the business expands.
• Strengthen automation, data accuracy, and performance across all platforms.

What You’ll Need

• Experience: 6 years building production web applications and integrations; 3 years owning system architecture or cross-team data systems.
• Frontend: React / Next.js (real app experience), modern JS/TypeScript.
• Backend: Node.js (Express/NestJS) or Python (FastAPI/Django) with production API design.
• DB: PostgreSQL (advanced schema indexing) and familiarity with Redis or similar caching.
• Integrations & automation: Hands-on experience integrating multiple SaaS APIs (CRMs, accounting, payment gateways) and building event-driven workflows; familiarity with n8n/Zapier or custom worker queues.
• Financial systems knowledge: Practical understanding of accrual accounting and revenue recognition (how invoicing, contracts, and payments flow into financial statements).
• System design & data modeling: Demonstrable ability to design normalized/denormalized schemas for clients, jobs, assets, transactions and to map business events to data flows.
• DevOps & security basics: Docker, CI/CD (e.g., GitHub Actions), AWS or GCP fundamentals; secure credential handling and basic infra monitoring.
• Communication & product sense: Able to translate business requirements into technical designs, write clear docs, and run stakeholder reviews.
• Work mode: Comfortable with one-year full-time (contract), deliverable-driven payments, monthly sprint demos and sign-offs.

Perferred Experience

• Data & Analytics: Building real-time or streaming dashboards using WebSockets, ETL pipelines, and BI tools (Metabase, Superset, or Power BI).
• APIs & Integrations: GraphQL schema design; hands-on integration with QuickBooks, Xero, or payment gateways.
• Automation & Messaging: Experience with Twilio or similar APIs, and background job systems (Celery, BullMQ, Sidekiq).
• System Performance: Familiar with scaling, monitoring, and observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, Sentry).
• Operational Insight: Exposure to Lean operations, business waste reduction, or process automation across SaaS or logistics systems.
• Bonus: Experience building quoting or contract systems.

Contract Commitment

This position is structured as a 1-year full-time contractual engagement (40 hrs/week).

The contract includes:

• Full-time availability and focus on Cat-Topia systems development for 12 months.
• Eligibility for renewal or transition to a permanent role at the completion of the year.
• Quarterly milestone reviews to ensure mutual alignment and performance transparency.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $120,000.00/year

Benefits:

·       Hybrid schedule

·       Paid time off

·       401(k) contribution options

Schedule:

·       Monday to Friday 

·       8 hours/day 

·       40 hours/week