Python Backend Developer Intern

About the Role

• Internship Duration: 3 – 6 months
• Location: Princeton, NJ (on-site)
• Team: Autonomous Control and Operations
• Product: Energy Flexibility Platform for Siemens

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain REST API endpoints for a cloud-based energy flexibility platform using Python.
• Integrate with third-party REST APIs, including authentication, retries, and error handling.
• Write and expand automated unit and integration tests to improve code quality and coverage.
• Keep API specifications (OpenAPI) and technical documentation in sync with the implementation.
• Implement database schema changes and migrations.
• Participate in code reviews and team discussions on design and implementation.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Python fundamentals: writing functions and classes, consistent use of type hints, and exception handling.
• Experience with relational databases and SQL, including schema design and writing queries.
• Understanding of REST APIs, HTTP, and JSON, including status codes, headers and concurrency control (e.g. ETag / If-Match), and reading API specifications.
• Hands-on experience with software development best practices: version control (Git), unit testing, and technical documentation.
• Proficiency in English, both written and verbal.
• Legally authorized to work in the United States without company sponsorship.
• Experience with FastAPI (or Flask/Django), including schema validation with Pydantic and writing OpenAPI specifications is preferred.
• Experience working with linters, formatters, and static type checking in an enforced setup (e.g. pylint, black, isort, mypy, pre-commit, SonarQube) is preferred.
• Basic understanding of OAuth2 / OpenID Connect and JWT-based authentication and role-based authorization is preferred.
• Experience with PostgreSQL, SQLAlchemy, and Alembic database migrations is preferred.
• Experience with time-series databases such as InfluxDB is preferred.
• Experience with pytest (including mocking), Poetry, and API testing tools such as Postman is preferred.
• Experience with cloud platforms (e.g. AWS, Azure, GCP), especially AWS services such as RDS, Systems Manager Parameter Store, Secrets Manager, and SQS is preferred.
• Exposure to Docker, Kubernetes / Helm, and CI/CD pipelines (e.g. GitLab CI) is preferred.
• Coursework or interest in power systems and energy markets is preferred.
• Flexibility and adaptability to work in a growing, dynamic, interdisciplinary team.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or master's degree student enrolled in a Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or closely related program.