Software Engineer 2 -Backend

About the Role

As one of the early members of a lean Engineering team (lean by design, not constraint), youll help shape the core backend foundations of a company operating at scale.

This is an environment shaped by a high-profile IPO and subsequent reset, where engineering decisions are expected to be deliberate, measurable, and economically sound. The focus is on building durable systems, not chasing output.

Youll have high ownership, low process overhead, and the opportunity to influence architecture, standards, and engineering culture from early on.

What Youll Be Responsible For

Engineering & Architecture

• Make and own backend design decisions in the face of incomplete information.
• Build systems that prioritise correctness, reliability, and long-term simplicity.
• Evaluate trade-offs across performance, cost, and speed and stand by them.

Data & APIs

• Design and evolve data models and APIs that can scale without constant rework.
• Maintain strong guarantees around data integrity, security, and access control.
• Hold yourself accountable to clear service-level expectations.

Reliability, Performance & Metrics

• Treat production as a first-class concern.
• Define, track, and improve engineering metrics (availability, latency, error rates, cost efficiency).
• Debug complex issues across systems and drive them to resolution.

Code Quality & Standards

• Write clean, readable, maintainable code that other strong engineers enjoy working with.
• Raise the bar through thoughtful code reviews and technical discussions.
• Build with testing, observability, and operability in mind from day one.

Collaboration & Execution

• Work closely with product and business stakeholders while maintaining engineering independence.
• Operate effectively in an Agile environment with minimal ceremony.
• Adapt as priorities change, without compromising system integrity.

What We Look For in Top-Tier Engineers

• 23+ years of experience building backend systems in production.
• Strong fundamentals in system design, APIs, data modeling, and concurrency.
• Fluency in one or more backend languages (Java, Python, Node.js).
• Experience working with relational and/or non-relational databases.
• Comfort working in cloud environments; infrastructure awareness is a plus.
• Bias toward ownership, clarity, and measurable outcomes.
• Engineers who are energized by ambiguity, responsibility, and impact.

Why Strong Engineers Choose This

• Lean team by choice every engineer matters.
• Post-IPO environment where engineering judgment directly affects outcomes.
• Emphasis on metrics over motion, outcomes over output.
• Space to shape systems, standards, and culture, not just ship tickets.
• A role designed for engineers who care about doing fewer things, extremely well.