About
Biography
Gonzalo Peña-Castellanos
AI Engineer · Building next-gen developer tools on Jupyter & Open Source
I'm a Colombian software engineer with 11+ years of professional experience and an entrepreneur working in Python, TypeScript and open source development. I currently work as a Senior AI Engineer at Backblaze, building open source AI integrations.
Previously, I worked at Datalayer building tools at the intersection of Jupyter, AI and collaborative computing; at Quansight contributing to the scientific Python ecosystem; and at Anaconda as Technical Lead for Anaconda Navigator.
My career spans from water resources engineering (MSc from IHE Delft and EuroAquae Erasmus Mundus) to becoming a core contributor on major open source projects including Spyder IDE, JupyterLab, napari and conda-forge. I've authored 400+ conda-forge recipes and led the JupyterLab internationalization effort, plus the automation efforts in the Scientific Python Translations project.
I also co-founded Trepa, a climbing gym in Bogotá, Colombia, where I've developed tools to run the business and the community by automating workflows with AI: scrapers, chatbots, automatic review & messaging systems, and data analysis.
I'm deeply committed to the Latin American Python and open source communities. I co-founded PyCon Colombia, helped organize SciPy Latam, and served on the Python Software Foundation Grants Working Group.
I've been a hobby climber since 2021 and a musician — I play keyboards, guitar and choruses with a local band.
Skills & Technologies
Languages
Frontend
Backend
AI
Data
Desktop
DevOps
Databases
Testing
Documentation
Work Experience
Senior Software Engineer / Open Source AI
· Remote
- • Implement and maintain open source AI integrations, frameworks and example applications using Python, TypeScript, Go, and Rust.
- • Build and maintain public sample applications, SDK extensions, notebooks, and reference implementations demonstrating AI and cloud storage best practices.
- • Use AI-assisted development tools, including Claude Code, to accelerate implementation while validating correctness, security, and performance.
- • Contribute to open source projects through code contributions, issue triage, reviews, and ongoing maintenance.
- • Ensure all open source assets meet high standards for testing, documentation, reproducibility, and developer usability.
- • Maintain clean, well-structured GitHub repositories intended for external adoption and community contribution.
- • Collaborate with Product and QA to ensure integrations reflect real customer AI workflows and Backblaze B2 usage patterns.
CEO / CTO
· Remote
- • Developed GymPlus, a Gym Management system with features for class scheduling, member management, mailing campaigns, payment processing, Social AI chat (Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook), Google Business automatic review replies, using FastAPI, Pydantic-AI and React.
Founder Business Associate / CEO & Software Engineer
· Bogotá, Colombia · Hybrid
- • AI-powered Google Maps review reply agent with review workflow and approval using GitHub issues.
- • Building of automation pipelines with GitHub Actions. Browser automation with Playwright.
- • Scraping geographic information for marketing campaigns targeting.
AI Engineer
· Bogotá, Colombia · Remote
- • Built VSCode Datalayer Extension providing Local and Remote Jupyter Notebooks and Rich executable Lexical editors. AI Copilot integration and MCP tools.
- • Maintaining and extending jupyter-react, improving stability and developer experience for interactive Jupyter components in React.
- • Developed the jupyter-mimetypes package, enabling richer rendering of data in Jupyter-based environments.
- • Designed and implemented Python SDK and TypeScript SDK for seamless integration with Datalayer's platform.
Senior Software Engineer I
· Remote
- • Led Spanish internationalization efforts for the Scientific Python project, coordinating sprints and automating workflows to make tools accessible to 500M+ Spanish speakers.
- • Core developer for JupyterLab, driving i18n/l10n and accessibility improvements for the next-generation web interface of Project Jupyter.
- • Contributed to the conda ecosystem as an active community member, supporting the development and maintenance of tools and specifications.
- • Enhanced napari by implementing robust configuration and settings management, improving usability for the imaging and scientific community.
- • Authored and maintained setup-miniconda, a widely used GitHub Action simplifying conda environment setup for CI/CD workflows.
- • Served on Quansight's Diversity, Ethics & Inclusion Committee.
Software Engineer · Technical Lead for Anaconda Navigator
· Bucaramanga, Colombia · Remote
- • Technical Lead for Anaconda Navigator, a cross-platform desktop application built with Qt/PyQt for managing conda environments and packages.
- • Designed and implemented backend services for anaconda.org using Flask and MongoDB, supporting package publishing and collaboration.
- • Collaborated across product and engineering teams to deliver reliable tools that streamlined package management and improved developer productivity.
Project Engineer
Sistemas Hidráulicos y Sanitarios Ltda
· Bucaramanga, Colombia · Remote
- • Hydrological and river modeling: Conducted data collection, simulation, and analysis to support hydraulic infrastructure projects and water resource management.
- • Systems & IT management: Provided technical support, administered company databases, and managed network and infrastructure operations.
- • Software & web development: Designed and implemented the company website using Django CMS, integrating technical content and client-facing features.
Intern – Fluvial Modeling
· Nantes, France
- • Designed and implemented hydraulic models using MIKE 11, MIKE 21, and MIKE FLOOD for river and floodplain simulations.
- • Evaluated a real-time flood forecasting tool (MIKE FLOOD WATCH) for the Vilaine River Catchment.
- • Developed custom Python mapping tools to automate data visualization and support model analysis.
Community & Leadership
Python Software Foundation
Grants Working Group Member
Python Colombia
Co-founder & Organizer
Django Girls Colombia
Co-organizer & Mentor
Mentor Virtual Workshop 1 (2021),Mentor Virtual Workshop 2 (2021),Co-organizer DG Pasto, Colombia (2019),Co-organizer DG Bogotá, Colombia (2018),Co-organizer DG Ibagué, Colombia (2017),Co-organizer DG Bucaramanga, Colombia (2017)
Python en Español
Coordinator
Python Bucaramanga
Founder & Former Organizer
Awards & Honors
MSc with Distinction
IHE Delft Institute for Water Education ·
Erasmus Mundus Scholarship
European Commission ·
1st Place ECAES National Exam (Civil Engineering)
Colombian Ministry of Education ·
Education
Deep Learning Specialization
Data Science
MSc Hydroinformatics & Water Management — EuroAquae (Erasmus Mundus)
Erasmus Mundus Scholarship
Recommendations
“Working with Gonzalo is like adding a high-powered engine to your development team. He immediately understands what you need, asks the right questions to refine your vision, and consistently goes beyond expectations. With deep expertise in Python, TypeScript and AI, Gonzalo not only delivers on requirements but also brings additional features and improvements you didn't even know you needed. And last but not least, Gonzalo is simply a great human being.”
CEO / Founder at Datalayer
“It has been a pleasure working with Gonzalo during our time at Quansight and collaborating with him on contributions to the PyTorch-Ignite project. What makes Gonzalo's contributions exceptional is the fact that he is not only solving the required tasks but also he is looking broader and helps improve the existing codebase. I strongly recommend Gonzalo to any team looking for a skilled, reliable, and collaborative senior engineer who consistently delivers high-quality results.”
Software Engineer - Deep Learning Frameworks
“I had the pleasure of working with Gonzalo on several software projects, including the early architecture and development of PySWMM. His attention to detail and strong technical instincts were instrumental in shaping the project's foundation. Gonzalo has what it takes to think deeply about design decisions while still moving efficiently toward implementation. Over the years, he's continued to be a trusted collaborator — always reliable, thoughtful, and a genuinely great developer. I'd highly recommend Gonzalo to any team looking for someone who brings both precision and creativity to their engineering work!”
Hydroinformatics Innovation Lead at HydroDigital, LLC
“It is with utmost pleasure that I recommend Mr. Gonzalo Peña. I came to know Mr. Peña as my student and his undergraduate final project supervisor in the Civil Engineering Department at the Industrial University of Santander, Colombia. As a student, Mr. Peña exhibited outstanding qualities. He was always very critical, eager to learn and to explore new ideas. He was always an easy person to get along with when participating in group tasks and he did not hesitate to take the lead when needed. He can also work effectively alone. Mr. Peña topped the National Board examination for Civil Engineers. I am positive that Mr. Peña will be an excellent addition to your group and research challenges.”
Research Assistant Professor at University of Illinois - UIUC
“Gonzalo has shown strong skills at river hydraulics and hydrology as well as at flood modelling (MIKEbyDHI software) and programming. Gonzalo is trustworthy and very efficient.”
COO @ D-ICE Engineering