Lead Backend Engineer

ABOUT TALON.ONE:   Talon.One is the most powerful incentives engine that unifies loyalty, promotions and gamification into one holistic platform. Backed by enterprise-grade security and scalability, Talon.One empowers companies to build personalized, profitable promotions and loyalty programs using any data. Today, over 250 of the world’s most-loved brands including Adidas, Sephora and Carlsberg work with Talon.One to drive deeper engagement and lasting loyalty with their customers.   ABOUT THE TEAM: Our development team consists of specialists in frontend, backend, QA, product, and visual design. We work in small cross-functional teams that give everybody insight and hands-on experience of what everyone else is doing. Each team is self-sustained, autonomous, and responsible for a specific feature or area in our platform. We believe in strong collaboration, open communication, and mentoring to allow bi-directional growth. We are working to make Talon.One an inclusive workplace because we believe it is the right thing to do and because we want to have a positive impact on the entire tech industry. We are currently looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to join our development teams. You will work closely with our product people to design the right solutions to our challenging problems while collaborating, mentoring, and supporting the other team members. For this position, we need professionals who are already based in Berlin or willing to move to Berlin.   ONCE YOU ARE HERE YOU WILL: * Be a crucial member in a small cross-functional team (a squad) * Collaborate closely with Product Manager and Tech Lead during roadmap discussions * Contribute effectively during all Scrum rituals, facilitation of process maturity increments, and engineering best practices initiatives * Provide valuable inputs during Refinement and Solution Design sessions and be able to lead feature development independently * Regularly participate in code reviews and provide constructive feedback * Consistently monitor the maintenance of quality standards and proactively recommend engineering or process  improvements * Offer technical/soft guidance to Junior engineers and participate in Mentorship Programs * Participate in cross-squad (Backend Guild) brainstorming sessions and problem-solving discussions * Propose and own technical initiatives toward performance/scale/maintenance improvements   WHAT WE NEED YOU TO BRING TO THE TABLE: * 6+ years of previous experience as a Backend Developer with focus on Golang * In-depth knowledge of REST API design, PostgreSQL, and Testing Techniques * Experience building scalable, maintainable, and performant large-scale applications * Experience designing and developing complex architectures, including monolithic and microservice architecture * Strong tendency towards implementing modern best practices like pair-programming sessions, unit and integration tests, adaptation of AI and automation, refactoring, SOLID principles, security best practices, documentation as code, regular knowledge sharing, etc. * Big-picture thinking; You collaborate with non-developers to clarify requirements and help plan projects, with an eye on the overall impact on the business & product * Proactive and constructive approach to support/mentor junior members of the team * A willingness to learn about and contribute to the whole stack is essential * A team-first attitude; As a group, we strive to leave egos at home * Empathy for your customers and your colleagues   ABOUT TECHNOLOGY:  * Kubernetes running on Google Cloud * PostgreSQL * We use Go for our API, core logic, and internal tooling * TypeScript, React, Redux, and CSS modules for our web application * Cypress for automated end-to-end testing * Other odds & ends in JavaScript and shell script   WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU: * A Research and Development Department of 90+ of engineers, product managers and product designers in Berlin * Leaders with 8+ years of experience building our promotions engine  * €1,000 annual learning budge and free German language courses to boost your skills * 30 days of annual leave, plus extra paid days for your birthday and moving day * Home office setup budget, a monthly home office allowance * Freedom to work from abroad for up to 90 days worldwide! * Mental health support with nilo.health and a discounted Urban Sports Club membership * 20% company subsidy on your pension contributions * Subsidised BVG public transport ticket and a dog-friendly Berlin office where your furry friend is welcome * Lease your ideal bike through BusinessBike

ABOUT TALON.ONE:   Talon.One is the most powerful incentives engine that unifies loyalty, promotions and gamification into one holistic platform. Backed by enterprise-grade security and scalability, Talon.One empowers companies to build personalized, profitable promotions and loyalty programs using any data. Today, over 250 of the world’s most-loved brands including Adidas, Sephora and Carlsberg work with Talon.One to drive deeper engagement and lasting loyalty with their customers.   ABOUT THE TEAM: Our development team consists of specialists in frontend, backend, QA, product, and visual design. We work in small cross-functional teams that give everybody insight and hands-on experience of what everyone else is doing. Each team is self-sustained, autonomous, and responsible for a specific feature or area in our platform. We believe in strong collaboration, open communication, and mentoring to allow bi-directional growth. We are working to make Talon.One an inclusive workplace because we believe it is the right thing to do and because we want to have a positive impact on the entire tech industry. We are currently looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to join our development teams. You will work closely with our product people to design the right solutions to our challenging problems while collaborating, mentoring, and supporting the other team members. For this position, we need professionals who are already based in Berlin or willing to move to Berlin.   ONCE YOU ARE HERE YOU WILL: * Lead and deliver features of any size — independently or by coordinating effort across the squad * Drive technical discovery and solution design in collaboration with your PM and Tech Lead * Actively share technical knowledge across the Backend Guild — through discussions, documentation, and knowledge-sharing sessions * Participate in cross-squad (Backend Guild) brainstorming sessions and problem-solving discussions * Mentor and unblock junior and mid-level engineers through pairing, code review, and deliberate feedback * Champion improvements to quality, maintainability, and engineering process within your squad and beyond * Be a crucial member in a small cross-functional team (a squad) * Contribute effectively during all Scrum rituals, facilitation of process maturity increments, and engineering best practices initiatives * Regularly participate in code reviews and provide constructive feedback * Consistently monitor the maintenance of quality standards and proactively recommend engineering or process improvements   WHAT WE NEED YOU TO BRING TO THE TABLE: * 6+ years of experience as a Backend Developer building enterprise-grade web applications — Go strongly preferred, but we're also open to strong backgrounds in other mainstream backend languages (e.g., Node.js, Java, C#, Python). * Basic working familiarity with Go — you don't need deep expertise, but you should be comfortable reading Go code and understanding its core syntax and idioms. * If your background is primarily in another stack: during interviews, you'll need to demonstrate you can pick up Go quickly and show a genuine willingness to build your career in Go — our backend stack (Go) isn't changing, so this is a hard requirement, not a nice-to-have. * Strong architectural instincts — you understand tradeoffs and can articulate them clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders * The ability to mentor others without being asked — you notice where people are stuck and act on it * A guild mindset: you contribute to backend-wide discussions, not just your squad's backlog * In-depth knowledge of REST API design, PostgreSQL, and Testing Techniques * Experience building scalable, maintainable, and performant large-scale applications * A proven track record of designing the architecture of multiple applications or complex features end-to-end * Hands-on experience owning maintenance, performance, and security concerns for production systems * Strong tendency towards implementing modern best practices like pair-programming sessions, unit and integration tests, adaptation of AI and automation, refactoring, SOLID principles, security best practices, documentation as code, regular knowledge sharing, etc. * Big-picture thinking; You collaborate with non-developers to clarify requirements and help plan projects, with an eye on the overall impact on the business & product * A willingness to learn about and contribute to the whole stack is essential * A team-first attitude; As a group, we strive to leave egos at home * Empathy for your customers and your colleagues   ABOUT TECHNOLOGY:  * Kubernetes running on Google Cloud * PostgreSQL * We use Go for our API, core logic, and internal tooling * TypeScript, React, Redux, and CSS modules for our web application * Cypress for automated end-to-end testing * Other odds & ends in JavaScript and shell script   WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU: * A Research and Development Department of 90+ of engineers, product managers and product designers in Berlin * Leaders with 8+ years of experience building our promotions engine  * €1,000 annual learning budget and free German language courses to boost your skills * 30 days of annual leave, plus extra paid days for your birthday and moving day * Home office setup budget, a monthly home office allowance * Freedom to work from abroad for up to 90 days worldwide! * Mental health support with nilo.health and a discounted Urban Sports Club membership * 20% company subsidy on your pension contributions * Subsidised BVG public transport ticket and a dog-friendly Berlin office where your furry friend is welcome * Lease your ideal bike through BusinessBike