Software Engineer Independent Contractor Jobs in Iowa

RFA Engineering (www.rfamec.com) supports industry-leading clients through the full software development lifecycle to build cutting-edge precision agriculture, machine guidance, vehicle automation and autonomy applications. We are seeking passionate, talented engineers to work on exciting projects using the latest tools and technologies including robotics, computer-vision, machine learning, IoT, cloud computing, and much more. Collaborate with a team of industry experts onsite at our client's world-class engineering center and contribute to developing innovative solutions that drive sustainable agriculture practices.

This is a full-time position with a full benefit package listed below that includes opportunities for professional growth, direct hire by our customers, and additional opportunities within our own organization.

Data Engineer 

As a Data Engineer, you will enable engineers, analysts, and data scientists to more effectively access, explore, and leverage enterprise data to generate insights, build models, and make data-driven decisions. This role focuses on designing scalable cloud-based data solutions, developing high-quality datasets, and creating data products that empower individual contributors to work independently with complex, high-volume data.

A key component of this role involves collaborating with embedded and digital engineering teams to define, capture, and analyze system performance, UI, and health metrics. You will help translate raw signals into actionable insights through analytics, dashboards, and monitoring tools.

Responsibilities 

• Design, build, and maintain cloud-based data pipelines and data products that support analytics, machine learning, and exploratory data analysis

• Enable self-service data access by developing well-structured, documented, and discoverable datasets for individual contributors

• Partner with embedded and digital engineering teams to define required performance, UI, and system health metrics and ensure appropriate data capture

• Perform analytics and data aggregation to translate raw signals into meaningful insights and visualizations

• Develop and maintain production-ready Python code and data workflows using SQL, PySpark, Databricks, and related technologies

• Manage and optimize storage of diverse data types, including images, raster data, parquet files, time-series data, geo-tagged data, text, and other unstructured data

• Build dashboards and interactive data applications using tools such as Tableau, Plotly Dash, or similar web-based visualization frameworks

• Develop alerting and monitoring solutions (e.g., automated email notifications) to identify system performance issues or data pipeline failures

• Collaborate in code reviews, documentation, and best-practice development to ensure maintainable and reproducible solutions

• Manage multiple projects, priorities, and milestones while maintaining a strong sense of ownership and accountability

Requirements 

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent professional experience

• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing cloud-based data solutions in production environments

• Strong proficiency in Python for data engineering and analytics applications

• Experience working with data access and processing technologies such as SQL, PySpark, Databricks, Postgres, and MongoDB

• Experience building and maintaining datasets at scale across multiple data formats and structures

• Familiarity with vehicle or embedded system data, including CAN signals

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to lead meetings, clearly document work, communicate proof-of-concepts, and collaborate across teams

Desired Attributes 

• Experience developing dashboards and visual analytics solutions using tools such as Tableau, Plotly, or similar platforms

• Familiarity with spatial data and visualization tools such as Folium or Plotly

• Experience implementing system monitoring, alerting, and health-tracking solutions

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to debug complex data and system issues

• Ability to work effectively in a self-directed environment with minimal oversight

• Proven ability to manage multiple schedules, deliverables, and stakeholders simultaneously

• Knowledge of off-highway, agricultural, construction, or industrial equipment data systems is a plus

Visa sponsorship is NOT available for this position. 

Salary Range: $80,000-$120,000/year: Commensurate with experience

About RFA Engineering 

RFA Engineering has provided product development and engineering services to industry leading customers since 1943. Our primary focus is the development of off highway equipment including agricultural, construction, mining, recreational, industrial, and special machines. Our work includes concept development, product design, documentation, problem-solving, simulation, optimization, and testing of components, systems and complete machines. Our engineering staff is located at our Engineering Center in Minneapolis, branch office in Dubuque, IA, and at numerous customer sites throughout the U.S.
Competitive Benefits 

• Health and Dental Insurance
• TelaDoc Healthiest You
• Supplemental Vision Insurance
• Company Paid Life Insurance
• Company Paid Long-Term Disability
• Short-term Disability
• Retirement Savings Account (Traditional 401k & Roth 401k)
• Flexible Spending Plan Dependent Care
• HSA for Medical Expenses
• Bonus Plan (Exempt Employees Only)
• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Paid Holidays
• Bereavement Leave
• Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)
• Education Assistance

Equal Opportunity and Veteran Friendly