Application Guide

How to Apply for Back End Engineer

at Vizzuality

🏢 About Vizzuality

Vizzuality is a mission-driven company that creates innovative digital tools to tackle pressing global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, and inequality. Unlike typical tech companies, they combine scientific rigor with creative technology to empower decision-makers and communities worldwide. Working here means your code directly contributes to meaningful environmental and social impact.

About This Role

As a Back End Engineer at Vizzuality, you'll build and maintain the infrastructure powering tools that visualize complex environmental and social data for actionable insights. This role involves full-stack backend development with a strong DevOps component, ensuring reliable deployment and operation of systems used by researchers, policymakers, and activists. Your work enables data-driven solutions to real-world problems like deforestation monitoring or sustainable development tracking.

💡 A Day in the Life

A typical day might involve collaborating with data scientists to optimize Python data pipelines, deploying NodeJS/TypeScript API updates using infrastructure-as-code tools, and participating in team discussions about user needs for environmental monitoring features. You'll balance coding new backend functionalities with DevOps responsibilities like improving system reliability and troubleshooting cloud infrastructure, all while contributing to tools that make complex global data accessible and actionable.

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Interview Prep

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🎯 Who Vizzuality Is Looking For

  • Has hands-on experience building production systems with NodeJS, TypeScript, and Python, ideally in data-intensive or visualization applications
  • Demonstrates a DevOps mindset through experience with infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD pipelines, cloud deployment (AWS/GCP), and monitoring tools
  • Shows genuine passion for Vizzuality's mission through previous projects, volunteer work, or clear articulation of how their skills can address climate or inequality challenges
  • Thrives in collaborative, interdisciplinary teams and can communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders like scientists or policy experts

📝 Tips for Applying to Vizzuality

1

Highlight specific projects where you used NodeJS/TypeScript/Python for data processing, APIs, or visualization backends—Vizzuality's tools are data-heavy

2

Showcase DevOps experience beyond buzzwords: describe a time you improved deployment reliability, reduced infrastructure costs, or implemented monitoring for a critical system

3

Tailor your portfolio to include work related to sustainability, data visualization, or social impact, even if it's personal projects or open-source contributions

4

Research and mention specific Vizzuality projects like Global Forest Watch or Resource Watch to show genuine interest in their work

5

Emphasize collaboration examples with diverse teams (designers, scientists, front-end developers) as this is core to their interdisciplinary approach

✉️ What to Emphasize in Your Cover Letter

["Explain why Vizzuality's mission resonates with you personally and how your technical skills align with their focus on environmental/social impact tools", 'Provide a concrete example of a backend system you built or maintained that demonstrates both your coding skills (NodeJS/TypeScript/Python) and DevOps practices', 'Describe your experience working in collaborative, mission-driven teams and how you handle feedback from non-technical stakeholders', 'Mention specific Vizzuality projects or technologies you admire and how you could contribute to similar initiatives']

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🔍 Research Before Applying

To stand out, make sure you've researched:

  • → Explore Vizzuality's project portfolio (Global Forest Watch, Resource Watch, etc.) to understand their technical stack and impact metrics
  • → Review their blog and case studies to grasp their interdisciplinary workflow between developers, scientists, and designers
  • → Investigate their tech stack mentions (often includes PostGIS, Mapbox, AWS, Docker) and open-source contributions on GitHub
  • → Understand their clients and partners (UN, World Bank, research institutions) to appreciate the real-world application of their tools
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💬 Prepare for These Interview Topics

Based on this role, you may be asked about:

1 Technical deep-dive on building scalable backend services with NodeJS/TypeScript for geospatial or time-series data processing
2 DevOps scenario: How would you design deployment and monitoring for a global environmental data platform with high availability requirements?
3 Behavioral questions about collaborating with scientists/designers on complex projects with ambiguous requirements
4 Discussion of your past work related to sustainability, data visualization, or social impact and how it prepares you for Vizzuality's projects
5 System design exercise for a tool that processes real-time satellite data to track deforestation or carbon emissions
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⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Focusing solely on technical skills without connecting them to Vizzuality's mission or demonstrating passion for impact-driven work
  • Presenting generic DevOps experience without examples tailored to data-intensive or visualization platforms
  • Overlooking the collaborative aspect—failing to highlight experience working with non-technical teams or adapting to interdisciplinary feedback

📅 Application Timeline

This position is open until filled. However, we recommend applying as soon as possible as roles at mission-driven organizations tend to fill quickly.

Typical hiring timeline:

1

Application Review

1-2 weeks

2

Initial Screening

Phone call or written assessment

3

Interviews

1-2 rounds, usually virtual

✓

Offer

Congratulations!

Ready to Apply?

Good luck with your application to Vizzuality!

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