Staff / Principal Backend Engineer

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Indonesia.

📋 Description

• Oversee the design and advancement of essential backend systems.

• Take responsibility for the architecture across various products, services, and engineering teams.

• Create scalable distributed systems that can accommodate millions of customers and handle high transaction volumes.

• Propel architectural decisions involving product, platform, infrastructure, security, and data teams.

• Lead architecture and system-design evaluations for initiatives with significant impact.

• Balance the immediate needs for delivery with long-term goals of scalability, reliability, and maintainability.

• Proactively identify engineering challenges that could develop into organizational bottlenecks.

• Enhance system reliability, performance, security, observability, and operational resilience.

• Spearhead the modernization of backend platforms, legacy systems, developer tools, and engineering processes.

• Establish robust engineering practices across microservices, event-driven architecture, API design, and domain-driven design.

• Coordinate intricate technical initiatives across various teams.

• Align technical choices with customer requirements and broader business objectives.

• Resolve architectural conflicts through data-driven approaches, collaboration, and technical expertise.

• Strengthen CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, cloud infrastructure, and automation practices.

• Elevate engineering standards through code reviews, design evaluations, technical documentation, and mentoring.

• Draft and lead technical proposals, architecture documents, RFCs, and engineering standards.

• Mentor Senior Engineers and assist them in progressing toward Staff-level roles.

• Disseminate technical knowledge through workshops, engineering presentations, documentation, and internal communities.

• Collaborate with Engineering Directors, Heads of Engineering, and Product Leadership on strategic technology investments.

⛳️ Requirements

• Extensive professional software engineering experience, including ownership of complex production systems.

• Expert-level backend development proficiency in Java, Golang, or both.

• In-depth understanding of distributed systems, microservices, event-driven architecture, API design, and domain-driven design.

• Experience in designing and managing reliable systems at scale.

• Strong familiarity with Kafka or comparable event-streaming technologies.

• Experience with Redis and relational databases such as MySQL or PostgreSQL.

• Background in Cassandra or similar NoSQL databases.

• Solid grasp of Kubernetes, Docker, and containerized infrastructure.

• Experience with cloud platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure.

• Proficient in CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, and modern software delivery methodologies.

• Strong knowledge of reliability engineering, observability, security, performance optimization, and operational resilience.

• A proven history of leading complex technical projects involving multiple teams.

• Ability to influence technical direction without depending on reporting lines or formal authority.

• Strong systems thinking and capacity to consider the broader context beyond individual features or services.

• Excellent architectural judgment and practical decision-making skills.

• High degree of ownership, accountability, and comfort in navigating ambiguity.

• Proficient in written and spoken English.

🏝️ Benefits

• High-impact ownership: influence the backend architecture supporting one of Indonesia’s top investment platforms.

• Technical leadership: remain deeply technical while guiding multiple teams and business areas.

• Meaningful scale: tackle complex distributed systems challenges involving millions of customers and financial transactions.

• Organization-wide influence: enhance engineering standards, platforms, tools, and technical culture.

• Complex challenges: engage with investment, crypto, money, platform, and shared-services products.

• Leadership opportunity: mentor senior engineers and contribute to the development of Ajaib’s future technical leaders.

• Global collaboration: work remotely with distributed engineering teams and travel to Jakarta each quarter.