About the role

Lead Backend Engineer at Polarsteps, developing a travel app for 19 million users. Responsible for platform engineering leadership and scalable architecture decision-making.

Responsibilities

Lead the platform team of Senior Backend and DevOps Engineers, setting clear technical direction and expectations while staying close enough to the code to spot problems early and driving a top-notch developer experience.
Own the platform and backend roadmap in partnership with Product & Mobile, turning company-level goals into scalable technical solutions and making pragmatic architecture decisions that balance long-term platform investments with short-term wins.
Scale and evolve our infrastructure to handle continued growth (we have millions of active users), with reliability, performance, and observability top of mind.
Raise the technical bar through hands-on code reviews, architectural guidance, and clear standards.
Be accountable for team health and performance: delivery, quality, incident response, knowledge sharing, and sustainable on-call practices.
Be AI-pilled, but responsibly. You are on top of and experiment with the fast-changing landscape of AI tooling, and act as an evangelist within the team - but always understanding its current limitations and ensuring its usage is properly de-risked.

Proven experience leading and growing backend engineers, including performance management, coaching, and setting a clear technical direction.
A track record of building and scaling systems handling thousands of requests per second, with deep learnings and reflections through those experiences.
Strong proficiency in languages like Python, Ruby, or Go
Experience with cloud-based architectures, relational databases, and event-driven or messaging-based systems.
A track record of improving developer experience, such as building pipelines, deployment workflows, and the ability to clearly articulate the impact of those improvements.
A high bar for code quality, testing, observability, and CI/CD, and the willingness to uphold it.
Pragmatic problem-solving approach, balancing quick solutions with structural changes when necessary.
Excellent English communication skills, both written and spoken. You are comfortable owning the technical direction, explaining trade-offs and aligning stakeholders

A yearly free flight or train ride to a random location! Give our Teleporter a spin here.
A shiny new MacBook to work your magic on.
Hybrid working, our way. Work from home and the office, we ask everyone to be in the office 2 days a week. It’s how we stay flexible, focused, and meaningfully connected in person.
An extensive home office set-up, everything from noise-canceling headphones to a standing desk.
30 days of vacation (for adventures or sitting on the couch, it's up to you)
Two paid Culture Days for days that are important to you but not recognized by the official Dutch calendar.
The option to switch up your zoom background by working from another country for up to 8 weeks a year.
A personal development budget for that curious mind of yours!
A pension plan to help you save for those around-the-world retirement trips.
Delicious daily team lunches.
Awesome monthly parties, as well as team trips away.
A lively office in downtown Amsterdam, with travel costs reimbursed.
Free Polarsteps Travel Books to contain all your far-flung adventures.