Job Description
Location: Remote in Latam Tech Stack: Python (Django) and HTMX Contract: Full-Time
About Puzzle:
At Puzzle, we facilitate businesses with innovative technology solutions. Our team is focused on client satisfaction, leveraging technology to drive progress across industries.
About the Role
We're building AI-powered tools that help State Departments of Transportation make sense of the millions of engineering documents, construction records, and operational files they've accumulated over decades. DOTs don't have a knowledge problem — they have a retrieval and comprehension problem. The answers are buried in ProjectWise, SharePoint, shared drives, and legacy systems. We're building the intelligence layer that reads those documents, extracts what matters, and gives engineers and operators actual answers instead of file listings.
We're early-stage and currently in solutions engineering mode, working directly with state DOT partners to define needs, scope pilots, and build working solutions against real agency problems. There's no off-the-shelf product to maintain. You'll be building the thing, not keeping the lights on.
Architecturally, we're committed to the Django monolith. We use HTMX for interactive frontends, manage a monorepo with Pants to organize customer projects and shared libraries, keep the stack simple and legible, and believe that a well-structured monolith with clear boundaries beats a sprawl of microservices, especially at our stage. If that philosophy resonates with you, we'd love to connect.
What You'll Do
- Build and extend a Python/Django project powering AI-driven document intelligence products
- Design and optimize PostgreSQL schemas with performance and scalability in mind
- Use HTMX to build interactive, server-rendered applications within the Django monolith architecture
- Manage infrastructure with Terraform and deploy containerized services using Docker
- Contribute to architectural decisions — we value simplicity and clear boundaries within the monolith over distributed complexity
- Strengthen automated testing, reliability, and deployment workflows
- Work directly with state DOT engineers and operators to understand domain workflows and translate them into product capabilities during pilot engagements
- Help define technical standards and development practices as the company scales
What We're Looking For
Experience & Background
- 5+ years of professional experience developing Python/Django applications
- Experience developing or integrating AI-powered applications (LLMs, document processing, retrieval systems, or similar)
- Professional experience using HTMX to develop server-rendered applications
- Experience working in early-stage startups or similarly dynamic environments
- Comfortable taking ownership of features and systems from design to deployment
- Experience contributing across the stack (backend + frontend collaboration)
Technical Requirements
- Strong proficiency in Python and Django (v5 & v6)
- Experience with PostgreSQL (schema design, performance optimization)
- Experience with Docker and Terraform for deployment and infrastructure management
- Strong experience with frontend web development: HTML, JavaScript, and CSS
- Experience working with AI-assisted development tools (e.g., Claude Code or similar)
- Ability to clearly explain and defend technical decisions
- Strong commitment to automated testing and code quality
Nice to Have
- Experience working in a monorepo managed with Pants or a similar build system (Bazel, Buck)
- Experience in solutions engineering or client-customized software environments
- Familiarity with government or public sector technology environments
- Experience building observability into applications — logging, monitoring, tracing, or similar (this is an area we're actively looking to strengthen)
- Experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Gemini
- Alpine.js and Tailwind
Collaboration & Communication
- Clear, proactive communicator who can speak confidently about their work
- Comfortable working remotely and asynchronously while maintaining accountability
- Thrives in early-stage environments where they can help define structure and process
- Strong opinions, weakly held — able to contribute ideas while aligning with team decisions
Perks:
- Competitive Salary: Earn a salary in USD that reflects your skills and experience.
- Paid Time Off (PTO): Enjoy breaks to recharge and come back refreshed.
- Health Insurance Subsidy: Get support for your health care needs.
- Co-Working Space Subsidy: Choose a workspace that boosts your productivity.