Why this role exists

Pivotal builds truthful, auditable nature intelligence that companies can actually rely on. If data about nature is wrong, decisions are wrong, and capital flows in the wrong direction.

This role is about building and scaling the core technology that makes this data credible.

You will work on real products, used by real customers, where correctness, clarity and long-term thinking matter more than hype.

If you are motivated by hard technical problems, comfortable with ambiguity, and want to apply technology to something that genuinely matters in an early-stage company, this role will suit you.

What you will do

• Design, build and maintain full-stack systems, from databases through APIs to user-facing and offline mobile field tools.
• Build internal and client-facing interfaces for monitoring data pipelines, field work and outputs.
• Work closely with ecologists, analysts and other non-engineers, translating real-world workflows and constraints into robust software.
• Work with geospatial and annotation tools used by ecologists and domain experts.
• Design, operate and improve data layers that are reliable and easy to reason about (PostgreSQL, LakeFS, S3 data lakes, etc).
• Work on data-intensive systems ingesting tens of terabytes of new data per month, where correctness and auditability matter.
• Improve system reliability and scalability, including owning systems in production.
• Debug real incidents, communicate clearly with internal stakeholders, and ship fixes with a bias for learning and prevention. On-call is light and primarily business hours orientated.
• Take responsibility across the entire product development lifecycle, from problem framing to delivery and operation.
• Influence product shape, not just implementation. You will be expected to challenge assumptions and help validate what is worth building.
• Be accountable for outcomes, not just output.
• Make architectural trade-offs under uncertainty and be trusted to say "no" when something is the wrong solution.
• Operate with minimal oversight, lead by default in your areas of ownership, and raise the technical bar through example.
• Contribute to technical direction and ways of working. People management is possible but not required.
  

What we are looking for

• Several years of experience building production systems in Python (or similar), ideally with Flask or Django.
• Comfort working across the stack, rather than specialising.
• Genuine interest in nature, climate, or environmental outcomes. This is not a side detail.
• A pragmatic startup mindset. You care about solving the right problems first.
• Care for data quality and correctness.
• Experience writing code that other people can understand, review and maintain.
• Familiarity with Git and collaborative code review.
  
• Comfort working in a fast-moving, early-stage environment where priorities evolve and not everything is fully specified upfront.
• Clear, professional spoken and written English.
• +/- 2 hours GMT. UK or Western Europe time zones are preferred.
  

About Pivotal

Pivotal brings together ecologists and technologists to make ecosystem resilience measurable and investable. We connect biodiversity commitments to real, auditable evidence.

We are building the foundations of a new industry at the intersection of nature, data and capital. That requires technical rigour and people who care about getting things right. We are still a small team, scaling carefully and deliberately.

How we work

Our values are not slogans. We expect people to:

• Think boldly, build smart
• Communicate clearly, collaborate generously
• Own it
• Do the right thing, even when it’s hard
• Be humble and kind

What we offer

• Meaningful impact on a problem that genuinely matters.
• High trust and autonomy.
• Competitive salary and meaningful equity.
• A thoughtful, driven team that values good judgement over ego.
• Remote-first working.

Our interview process

• 15 min online assessment - A short, focused step designed to respect candidate time while helping us identify strong signal early and protect team focus as a very small company.
• 20 min call with CTO (online) - Friendly chat to tell you more about the role and Pivotal.
• 45-60 min coding assessment with team (online) - Working on sample problem you'd likely come across at Pivotal. We run it as a pair programming exercise. No trick questions and no unpaid take-home work.
• 45-60 min system design with team (online) - You help us understand how you would go about designing and building the kind of systems we have at Pivotal.
• 20 min call with CEO (online) - Friendly chat with the CEO.

You do not need to tick every box to apply. If this role resonates with you, we would like to hear from you.

We are a remote first diverse team with diverse backgrounds. We expect there will be areas of development so please still apply if you don’t meet all the criteria. We’re an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to age, ethnicity, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, family or parental status, national origin, veteran, neurodiversity, disability status or any other basis as protected by applicable law.