Senior Software Engineer, Backend - Data Layer

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Senior Software Engineer, Backend - Data Layer based in Germany.

This is a senior backend engineering role focused on building the data infrastructure behind a large-scale enterprise process platform.

You will design and evolve storage, query, and data-processing capabilities across relational databases and Elasticsearch/OpenSearch.

Your work will directly influence how process data is stored, retained, queried, monitored, and exposed to customers.

You will own substantial engineering initiatives from solution design through delivery, working closely with Product, QA, Support, and SRE.

The environment is highly distributed and remote-first, with a strong emphasis on technical ownership, collaboration, and production excellence.

You will also contribute to challenging problems around performance, scalability, data pipelines, and reliable operation at scale.

The role offers the opportunity to shape a critical data layer while contributing to an increasingly AI-driven enterprise software platform.

Accountabilities:

• Design, build, maintain, and improve backend services responsible for storing and serving process data at enterprise scale.
• Develop solutions across relational databases and Elasticsearch/OpenSearch, balancing correctness, performance, availability, scalability, and maintainability.
• Own engineering initiatives from requirements discovery and solution design through implementation, coordination, delivery, and production rollout.
• Partner closely with Product Management and cross-functional engineering teams to translate business and customer requirements into actionable technical solutions.
• Evolve data processing, retention, storage, and exposure capabilities to meet changing customer and product requirements.
• Improve the performance and scalability of secondary storage systems as usage and data volumes grow.
• Build internal tooling and operational capabilities that make the data layer easier to understand, troubleshoot, monitor, and operate safely in production.
• Investigate production data issues, including slow queries, execution plans, indexing problems, and other performance bottlenecks, and drive them through root-cause analysis and resolution.
• Participate in L3 support and on-call rotations, collaborating with Support and Site Reliability Engineering teams to resolve production incidents.
• Use production learnings and operational insights to continuously improve the reliability, performance, and usability of the data layer.
• Provide and receive clear, constructive feedback through code reviews and technical collaboration.
• Contribute to the evolution of engineering practices and architecture within a remote-first, cross-functional environment.

Requirements:

• 7+ years of professional experience as a backend software engineer, with a strong focus on backend systems and production data stores.
• Deep hands-on experience with relational databases such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, or MSSQL.
• Strong practical experience with Elasticsearch and/or OpenSearch, including indexing, query performance, and data modeling trade-offs.
• Proven ability to investigate slow queries, analyze execution plans and index usage, and identify root causes of production data and performance issues.
• Demonstrated experience leading medium-to-large engineering initiatives lasting three months or longer, covering solution design, planning, cross-team coordination, and predictable delivery.
• Strong understanding of backend architecture, data storage, query systems, and production-scale engineering.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, particularly in a distributed and remote-first environment.
• Ability to translate product requirements into clear technical plans and actionable engineering work.
• Comfortable working independently while maintaining strong alignment with Product, Engineering, Support, and SRE stakeholders.
• Willingness and ability to use the product directly to understand customer workflows and technical requirements.
• Experience with workflow automation or process orchestration software is a plus.
• Experience working across both relational databases and Elasticsearch/OpenSearch is advantageous.
• Experience building or maintaining CI pipelines is beneficial.
• Familiarity with database migration tools such as Liquibase or Flyway and with schema evolution in live production systems is a plus.

Benefits:

• Fully remote position with flexibility to work from anywhere within the eligible EMEA region.
• Competitive, location-based compensation designed around local market conditions.
• Equity opportunities through a Virtual Stock Option Plan where applicable.
• Home office budget and support for coworking spaces.
• Flexible time off to support sustainable work and wellbeing.
• Locally tailored healthcare benefits where applicable.
• Access to global mental wellbeing support.
• Flexible lifestyle spending benefits covering areas such as fitness, family care, personal interests, experiences, and financial wellbeing.
• Retirement and pension plans, often including company contributions, depending on location.
• Life and disability insurance where applicable.
• Up to $/€/£1,000 per year for self-directed professional development, including courses, certifications, and books.
• Opportunities to connect with colleagues through annual company kickoffs, team offsites, local gatherings, and connection budgets.
• Inclusive, remote-first working environment with strong emphasis on collaboration, autonomy, and professional growth.