Senior Data & Systems Engineer (Python + SQL)

About Klassen:

Klassen is a family company built over generations—rooted in hard work, innovation, and a commitment to create value that lasts. Since 1963, we’ve grown from a single truck and a local mission into a trusted supplier and transportation partner across 40 states and provinces.

We believe great companies are built through understanding—understanding our customers, our products, and our people. That’s why we invest in craftsmanship, reliable service, and the team members who make it all happen. From soils and mulches to bedding products and agricultural materials, we transform wood residuals into dependable solutions that support the work and lives of our customers.

If you want to be part of a company where people matter, quality matters, and your work makes a difference—welcome to Klassen.

About the role

The Klassen Group is at an inflection point. We are scaling rapidly towards our goal of doubling in size every three years, we are bringing our technology infrastructure in-house. We are looking for a Founding Engineer to own our digital ecosystem.

You will not just be "closing Jira tickets." You will be the Architect and Lead Engineer responsible for taking ownership of our custom Python/Django ERP, and building the enterprise data pipelines that connect our diverse systems.

Your direct manager is based in Squamish, where we are intentionally building our next-generation technology leadership and capability. Squamish is a strategic choice—not an accident.

By anchoring our tech team here, we avoid the friction and burnout of a downtown commute while gaining something better: focus, quality of life, and room to think. Squamish offers immediate access to world-class outdoor activities—trail networks, ocean, mountains—making it possible to build a demanding, high-impact career without sacrificing health, family time, or time outside.

While this role may be based elsewhere in British Columbia or operate in a hybrid capacity, it will play a meaningful role in helping establish and scale a tech team and operating rhythm centered in Squamish.

This is a distributed operations and leadership role, requiring strong systems thinking, clear communication, and the ability to design resilient technology that works across geography, time zones, and value streams—while being part of a team that believes where you live matters.

How We Operate (The Klassen Code)

We are not a standard corporate environment. Our internal battle cry is "Create value or die." We expect our technical leaders to operate with a business-first mindset:

• Productivity (Eliminate Waste): You aren't here to build technology for technology's sake. You are here to build systems that optimize our value streams, eliminate non-value-adding activities, and increase our Return on Invested Capital (ROIC).
• We Improve (No thumb-sucking): We don't complain about broken processes; we gather data, design solutions, and fix them. We take action.
• Own Your Freedom: Freedom to act comes with the responsibility to own outcomes. We empower you to make big technical decisions, and we expect you to execute them with diligence and care.
• Share the Spoils: We align our team with long-term value creation through our "K-bucks" profit-sharing program. When the company grows, you grow.

What You Will Build (The Mission)

• Cloud Orchestration: Audit our existing local ETL scripts and migrate the execution layer to the cloud to automate daily pipelines from Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
• The Operating System: Work with our outgoing MSP to migrate the Klassen HQ codebase (Python/Django/PostgreSQL) to a Klassen-owned Supabase environment. Refactor legacy code, improve PWA performance, and build new modules.
• The "Truth Engine" (Data Engineering): Architect our enterprise Data Warehouse. Build pipelines connecting our ERP, Logistics (TMS), and Payments (Square) to ensure Finance and Ops trust the numbers.
• The "Future" (AI & Automation): Build the backend infrastructure to support AI agents (e.g., a "Predictive Pricing Calculator").

The Tech Stack:

We are pragmatic. We use stable, proven tools to solve real problems.

• Core Language: Python (Expert Level). This is the glue for both our App (Django) and our Data Pipelines.
• Web Framework: Django (Non-negotiable). Experience with REST APIs is essential.
• Database: PostgreSQL (via Supabase) & SQL Server.
• Data Warehouse / ETL: Microsoft Fabric / Azure Data Factory.
• Frontend: HTML/CSS/JavaScript (jQuery/Bootstrap). You must be willing to jump into the frontend to ship a feature.
• Integrations: Experience working with complex ERP APIs (OData, REST).

Who You Are

• The "T-Shaped" Engineer: You have deep expertise in Backend/Data (Python/SQL), but broad competence in Architecture and Frontend.
• A "Finisher": You care more about shipping a working tool to a user than debating the perfect microservices architecture.
• Business Fluent: You can sit with the CFO to understand a "Gross Margin" report, then go back to your IDE and write the SQL query to generate it.