17 - Backend Engineer (Python/Scala)

Our client is scaling fast - new features, new customers, new challenges - and their platform processes over 200 million events every day. They build an AI-powered performance product for customer support teams, blending gamification and machine learning to help teams work smarter. You'll join a small, senior engineering team building the next generation of their backend, where Python powers the AI and LLM features (70%) and Scala drives the event-streaming core (30%).

This is a hands-on role for an engineer who thrives on both experimentation and production rigour - comfortable prototyping in Python, and confident enough in Scala to ensure everything scales, performs, and holds up under load.

Key Responsibilities

Design and build RESTful APIs and streaming services powering the product and analytics layers
Develop features across Python (70%) and Scala (30%), from rapid prototypes to hardened production systems
Run data pipelines processing hundreds of millions of daily events using Kafka and Akka Streams
Optimise performance - offload CPU-bound tasks, design batching/backpressure mechanisms, and tune reliability
Implement security best practices (OWASP) to protect data and user trust
Work with LLMs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Vertex AI, Groq, DeepSeek) and help shape scalable AI service patterns
Act as a bridge between the Scala engineers and the AI/Data Science team
Collaborate with Product Managers and engineers to architect solutions that balance scalability, speed, and cost
Required Skills and Experience
3+ years of experience building backend systems with Python and Scala - strong in one, comfortable in both
Proven ability to design and optimise Python services under load - balancing I/O and CPU-bound processing
Solid hands-on experience with Kafka, event-driven systems, and streaming architectures
Familiarity with Akka Streams or other streaming frameworks
Strong fundamentals in software design: clean APIs, testing, CI/CD, observability
Experience with data stores such as MongoDB, Elasticsearch, and ClickHouse
Curiosity about AI/LLM stacks and scalable ML service design
Collaborative spirit and a growth mindset