Staff Engineer Backend & Architecture

Stack

Responsibilities

• ▹Evolve the backend and service architecture across teams, ensuring consistency, scalability and maintainability
• ▹Lead the technical migration of the legacy monolith to a modular, API-first service architecture, from planning to implementation
• ▹Design the event-driven architecture on Kafka and establish the streaming patterns teams build on
• ▹Make and document far-reaching architecture decisions, coordinate alignment across teams and communicate trade-offs clearly
• ▹Mentor engineers of different experience levels through pair programming, design reviews and constructive code-quality feedback
• ▹Own AWS infrastructure decisions in the service context, including deployment pipelines and cloud cost efficiency
• ▹Identify and introduce AI tools to boost developer productivity and product quality
• ▹Proactively communicate technical risks, progress and recommendations to your manager and peers

Requirements

• ▹Already working at staff-engineer level (or comparable), with technical leadership proven across teams
• ▹Expert backend engineering knowledge in a modern typed language and framework, plus deep understanding of modern architecture patterns
• ▹Experience incrementally splitting a production monolith into services
• ▹Experience designing event-driven architectures with Kafka (event and topic design, delivery semantics, schema evolution)
• ▹Solid AWS experience and knowledge of Kubernetes as a deployment target
• ▹AI-savvy: you actively and purposefully use AI tools in your daily work
• ▹Proactive and clear written and verbal communication
• ▹Fluent English (negotiation level)

Nice to have

• ▹Knowledge of PHP/Symfony and TypeScript (the team's stack)
• ▹German language skills

Soft skills

What we offer

• ▹Remote first: home office, coworking spaces across Germany or the modern headquarters in Cologne
• ▹Hardware provided, plus an ergonomics budget for home working after the probation period
• ▹Flexible working hours with core hours from 9:00 to 12:00
• ▹Workation Worldwide: up to 60 working days per year from anywhere within ±4 hours of German time
• ▹Benefits à la carte via Probonio: meal and childcare subsidies, vouchers, Urban Sports Club
• ▹32 days of paid vacation, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve off
• ▹Culture Day: a day off for something personally important to you