---
title: 'Staff Data Engineer at Robots and Pencils'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-data-engineer-robots-and-pencils-bogota-n75k7k4kkn8e'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Staff Data Engineer at Robots and Pencils

- **Company:** Robots and Pencils
- **Location:** Bogota, Colombia / Argentina
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-08-28
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/robotsandpencils/jobs/5409621008

## Job description

Robots & Pencils is an applied AI engineering firm building the next frontier of business architecture. We design and ship AI co-workers that integrate into enterprise operations and deliver measurable results for our clients. We're all in on AWS, combining deep UX capability with senior engineering talent to get AI into production fast and keep it there. We’ve earned the trust of leaders across Consumer Products and Retail, Education, Energy, Financial Services, Healthcare, and Manufacturing and more, and earned a reputation as the nimble alternative to traditional global systems integrators. Founded in 2009, with delivery centers in Canada, the United States, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, we are smaller, faster, and more senior by design. Our teams average 15+ years of experience. We move fast, sweat the details, and build things that actually ship.

Position Overview

We’re looking for a Staff Data Engineer to join a multi-disciplinary engineering team building modern, enterprise-grade data platforms. This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who can define data strategy, own platform decisions end-to-end, and contribute to technical leadership across the team.

In this role, you will design scalable data lakes, warehouses, and pipelines, define governance and quality standards, and drive data platform modernization across real, in-flight work where performance, reliability, and security are critical. You’ll mentor more junior engineers, partner with leadership on data strategy, and bring an AI-forward mindset.

## Why This Role Matters

At Robots & Pencils, we design AI systems for a human world. Our name says it all. Robots and pencils means engineering paired with creativity, because every agent we ship has to work for real people in real workflows. That balance is baked into how we operate.

Every role here contributes directly to that mission. Here, you shape how AI systems integrate into enterprise operations, how teams move at real velocity, and how products create measurable impact for clients and the people they serve. We ship production-ready AI in 30 to 45 days. That pace demands people who take ownership, lead with craft, and care deeply about what they put their name on.

What You’ll Do

Craft & Delivery

- Define data architecture and platform strategy, leading design across pipelines, warehouses, and data lakes
- Build and optimize scalable data pipelines supporting batch and real-time processing
- Define and enforce data governance, quality standards, and compliance frameworks across the platform
- Build monitoring, logging, and alerting for data pipelines and services, and contribute to CI/CD workflows for data deployment and automation
- Drive data platform modernization, optimizing for performance, cost, and scalability
- Bring an AI-forward mindset to your daily work, using tools like Claude, Cursor, and other modern AI assistants to ship higher-quality work at pace
- Design and implement data contracts and event flows in collaboration with backend, platform, and engineering teams
- Lead the design and implementation of data pipelines for production AI/ML systems, including embeddings, vector stores, RAG data preparation, feature stores, and training/inference data flows
- Integrate data services with APIs, middleware, and third-party systems to support end-to-end data consumption

Collaboration & Communication

- Partner with leadership on data strategy, translating technical depth into decisions others can act on
- Collaborate closely with engineering, analytics, AI, and product teams to align data platforms with broader goals
- Advocate for data quality, governance, and platform best practices across teams and engagements

Leadership & Influence

- Establish data engineering standards that lift the quality and consistency of work across the team
- Mentor junior and mid-level engineers, helping them grow their craft, confidence, and impact
- Make high-stakes architectural decisions with clear ownership and consideration of long-term tradeoffs

What You’ll Bring

- 7+ years of professional data engineering experience, with experience leading complex data platform initiatives
- Strong system architecture background with expertise in distributed data systems
- Expert proficiency in Python, Scala, and SQL
- Deep expertise with cloud-native data platforms and enterprise data warehousing
- Strong expertise in data pipeline orchestration and processing
- Strong experience with streaming platforms and real-time data processing (e.g., Kafka, Kinesis, Pub/Sub)
- Strong data modeling expertise and experience with data transformation
- Strong experience with data quality, governance, and compliance frameworks
- Strong experience with container orchestration and CI/CD for data systems
- Strong experience building data pipelines for production AI/ML systems, including embeddings, vector stores, RAG data preparation, feature stores, and training/inference data flows
- Demonstrated leadership and technical mentoring experience across a team or organization
- Strong stakeholder communication skills, with the ability to translate technical depth across audiences
- Demonstrable, day-to-day usage and expert knowledge of AI-forward coding tools such as Claude and Cursor
- Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to navigate highly ambiguous technical and business challenges with sound judgment
- Experience with data mesh or data fabric concepts, lakehouse architectures, or governance framework implementation is a plus

Helpful Extras and Unique Skills

You’ll Do Well Here if You Are

- A doer. You see something broken and fix it. You'd rather move on clarity than wait for certainty.
- A fast learner who knows you don't know everything. The AI landscape changes weekly. You're senior enough to know better and curious enough to keep learning anyway.
- Direct in a way that makes the work better. You give honest feedback. You'd rather have the hard conversation than blow smoke.
- Obsessed with craft. You know genius is in the details. You ship exceptional, not perfect, and you don't put your name on work you wouldn't stand behind.
- Built for ownership. You honor commitments, admit mistakes fast, and back your teammates when a decision costs something. No handoffs, no finger-pointing.
- All in. You treat clients' businesses like your own. You take the work seriously without taking yourself seriously.
- Resourceful when the budget, timeline, or team is tight. Constraints don't slow you down. They sharpen you.
- Glad to be in the room with people who care as much as you do. Our teams average fifteen-plus years of experience. We hire people who push each other to do better work.

## About Robots and Pencils

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Robots & Pencils is an Applied AI Engineering Partner that builds generative and agentic AI systems for enterprise clients, taking AI from pilot to production quickly.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Bootstrapped/Organic Growth)
- **Headquarters**: Chagrin Falls, Ohio, United States
- **Founded**: 2009
- **Founders**: Len Pagon (CEO), Nathan Carmon

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: IT Services and IT Consulting, Applied AI Engineering, Cloud-Native Development
- **Target customers**: Enterprise clients in Financial Services, Healthcare, Education, Energy, Retail & Consumer Goods, High Tech, and Transportation
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "We build smart systems for a human world" — blending the logic of machines with the creativity of humans to help organizations modernize platforms, design cloud-native applications, and unlock the real-world value of AI.

## Products & Services
- **Applied AI Engineering**: Building generative and agentic AI systems on Amazon Bedrock and Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, with memory, observability, and security built in from the start. Focused on taking AI from pilot to production quickly.
- **Cloud-Native AWS Modernization**: Re-architecting AWS environments from EC2/ECS to serverless-native infrastructure. Migrating legacy systems to cloud-native AWS, beyond lift-and-shift.
- **The Sharpening Sprint™**: A structured engagement to surface the strongest AI use cases for a client and deliver a sequenced build plan.
- **UX/UI Design & Product Strategy**: A creative team of product owners, researchers, UX designers, and visual designers who craft seamless experiences.
- **Legacy Platform Modernization**: Refactoring aging platforms and designing cloud-native applications across industries.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (privately held)
- **Key Metric**: Annual Revenue of **$21.5M** (estimated) [ca.linkedin.com](https://ca.linkedin.com/company/robots-and-pencils)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: AWS (Advanced Tier Services Partner and Inaugural AWS Pattern Partner)
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount of ~115 employees (+35.1% YoY, +39 people) [ca.linkedin.com](https://ca.linkedin.com/company/robots-and-pencils); 23,753 LinkedIn followers (+55.2% yearly growth); 77M+ users reached worldwide across launched apps; 25 patents & published works; 5 apps hit #1 in the App Store

## Competitive Advantages
- **Applied AI Engineering Focus**: Specializes exclusively in taking generative and agentic AI from pilot to live, fast — a nimble, high-velocity alternative to traditional global systems integrators.
- **AWS Pattern Partner**: One of only 11 inaugural AWS Pattern Partners selected from the AWS Partner Network, signaling deep technical partnership and trust.
- **Senior-Led Teams**: Operates through small, senior teams (15+ years average experience per team member) rather than massive consulting organizations, ensuring high-quality delivery.
- **Human-Centered Design**: Blends elite engineering talent with world-class UX design, differentiating from pure technical consultancies.
- **Proven Track Record**: 77M+ users reached worldwide, 25 patents & published works, and multiple #1 App Store launches.

## Strategic Focus
- **Agentic AI on AWS**: Building agentic systems on Amazon Bedrock and Amazon Bedrock AgentCore with memory, observability, and security built in from the start.
- **Production-Ready AI**: Focused on taking AI from pilot to production in weeks, not months, with a strong emphasis on compliance and regulatory environments (Financial Services, Healthcare).
- **Industry Expansion**: Serving Financial Services, Health Tech, Education, Energy, Retail & Consumer Goods, and High Tech — industries where AI agents create exponential value.
- **Global Delivery Network**: Operating delivery centers across the U.S., Canada, Eastern Europe, and Latin America to serve enterprise clients worldwide.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as "wicked smart, wildly curious, ready to build" — a culture that values curiosity, collaboration, and impact. The company emphasizes "always learning" and invests in personal and professional growth.
- **Work Model**: Hybrid and remote-friendly. "Whether you are co-located in one of our offices or remote first, we prioritize how teams are set up to focus in on collaboration for successful delivery." [robotsandpencils.com](https://robotsandpencils.com/careers/)
- **Benefits**: Salary continuation and protected leave for parents (birth, spouse, and adoptive); health & wellness benefits; flexible hours; paid time off (vacation, sick, personal leave, flexible holidays).
- **Engineering Culture**: Described as a team of "tech wizards creating digital magic" — frontend, backend, mobile, and full-stack developers working on cutting-edge AI and cloud-native projects. The hiring process includes a pre-screen assessment, skills assessment, and deep dive interview to evaluate culture addition, communication, and technical fit.
- **Global Team**: Delivery centers in the U.S., Canada, Ukraine, Colombia, and the Philippines, offering a diverse, international work environment.

## Sources
1. [robotsandpencils.com](https://robotsandpencils.com/)
2. [robotsandpencils.com/about](https://robotsandpencils.com/about/)
3. [robotsandpencils.com/careers](https://robotsandpencils.com/careers/)
4. [job-boards.greenhouse.io/robotsandpencils](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/robotsandpencils)
5. [ca.linkedin.com/company/robots-and-pencils](https://ca.linkedin.com/company/robots-and-pencils)

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