Lead Backend Engineer

TL;DR

Lead Backend Engineer: Leading a platform team to build and scale backend services for a travel app with an accent on architectural decisions, performance, and reliability for millions of users. Focus on driving technical direction, evolving infrastructure, and integrating AI responsibly.

Location: Hybrid, requiring 2 days in the Amsterdam office weekly.

Company

hirify.global is an Amsterdam-based team developing a travel app to plan, track, and relive trips for over 19 million users.

What you will do

• Lead the platform team, setting clear technical direction and expectations.
• Own the platform and backend roadmap, making pragmatic architecture decisions.
• Scale and evolve infrastructure to handle continued growth, with reliability and performance top of mind.
• Raise the technical bar through hands-on code reviews and architectural guidance.
• Be accountable for team health and performance, including incident response and knowledge sharing.
• Experiment with AI tooling responsibly and act as an evangelist within the team.

Requirements

• Proven experience leading and growing backend engineers.
• Track record of building and scaling systems handling thousands of requests per second.
• Strong proficiency in languages like Python, Ruby, or Go.
• Experience with cloud-based architectures, relational databases, and event-driven or messaging-based systems.
• Track record of improving developer experience, such as building pipelines and deployment workflows.
• High bar for code quality, testing, observability, and CI/CD.
• Excellent English communication skills, both written and spoken.

Culture & Benefits

• A yearly free flight or train ride to a random location.
• Hybrid working model with 2 days required in the Amsterdam office.
• Extensive home office set-up provided, including noise-canceling headphones and a standing desk.
• 30 days of vacation and two paid Culture Days.
• Option to work from another country for up to 8 weeks a year.
• Personal development budget and a pension plan.
• Delicious daily team lunches, monthly parties, and team trips.
• Travel costs to the Amsterdam office reimbursed.