BESS Optimization Developer (Python)

Return | REMOTE | BESS Optimization Developer (Python) | Full-time

Return is hiring a developer who will build the software that powers our BESS optimization algorithms. Return's main activity is building and operating industrial-size Battery Energy Storage Systems. Our operations are located in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Spain. You will be making a measurable (country-level) impact on the transition to renewable energy. Return recently raised €300M to support its growth.

While we employ over 130 people, our teams are deliberately small. You will join the Optimizer Quant team, which builds the algorithms that decide when and how our batteries charge and discharge. Our platform automates processes in energy storage, monitoring, market optimization, sales, project management, procurement, and construction.

During the first three years of operation we laid the foundation for our platforms, and we are ready to scale up. This is why we are looking for a developer who can turn optimization algorithms into production software.

Your primary focus will be to build and maintain tools for market connections, data pipelines, forecasting and time-series workflows, and the systems that help us measure and improve performance.

We expect you to be strong in Python and comfortable with APIs and backend fundamentals, cloud, Docker, and basic DevOps. You should be able to reason about system design and architecture, and to build and operate reliable data pipelines. A working understanding of optimization, time-series and forecasting, and the statistics behind quant work will help you move fast and ask the right questions. You do not need a finance background, but you should enjoy working closely with the quants who design our algorithms.

We work AI-natively. We expect you to use AI-assisted coding to prototype quickly, and to have the judgment to validate what those tools produce rather than trust them blindly. An eye for automating repetitive workflows goes a long way here.

Our tech stack/toolset is straightforward: Python, PostgreSQL, TigerData, dbt, Dagster, Grafana, Terraform, self-hosted + cloud compute. We tend to keep meetings to a minimum in order to provide at least five hours of uninterrupted coding time per day. We practice code reviews and apply automated and manual testing. Our platforms are often deployed multiple times per day.

Return has offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Hamburg, Munich, Madrid, and Stuttgart. We are very much open to working remotely as long as you live in the EU. Our hiring process is swift but thorough: a brief call to get acquainted and discuss financials, followed by one or more technical interviews, and a paid visit to Amsterdam to meet the team.

The team includes people who have co-founded several companies and/or have experience with remote development teams since 2008. They will personally help you through most of the recruiting process (there is no recruiter involved).