Lead backend developer m/f/d

🔧 Tech Lead (Backend / AI Systems)

Location: Berlin (On-site, 5 days – flexibility expected longer term)

Type: Full-time | Permanent

Language: English-speaking

The Role:

We’re partnering with a high-growth, AI-led platform reshaping global industrial supply chains across infrastructure, energy, and construction materials.

Having already scaled to triple-digit-million GMV and recently secured Series B backing, the company is building an AI-native operating system that transforms fragmented, manual trade processes into automated, intelligent workflows.

As a Tech Lead, you will sit at the intersection of architecture, execution, and leadership — owning backend systems at a strategic level while guiding engineers and setting the technical direction for the team.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own the architecture and evolution of core backend systems in a distributed, event-driven environment

• Lead technical direction across projects, ensuring scalability, reliability, and long-term maintainability

• Act as the primary technical decision-maker within your domain, clearly articulating trade-offs

• Mentor and develop engineers, raising the overall quality and output of the team

• Drive best practices across system design, testing, observability, and performance

• Partner closely with product and data teams to align engineering with business outcomes

• Identify technical risks early and proactively implement solutions

• Play a key role in hiring and shaping the engineering culture

Tech Environment:

Java (Spring Boot), Python, PostgreSQL, AWS, Terraform, Event Streaming

AI / Agentic Layer:

LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.), LangGraph-style workflow orchestration, AI-assisted engineering practices

Frontend (exposure beneficial):

TypeScript, Node.js, React

Skills & Experience:

• 9+ years in backend engineering, with clear progression into technical leadership

• Strong expertise in Java (Spring Boot) and solid working knowledge of Python

• Proven experience designing and scaling distributed systems (microservices, event-driven architectures)

• Deep understanding of cloud infrastructure (AWS) and data systems (PostgreSQL)

• Experience leading teams or acting as a technical authority on complex systems

• Strong communication skills — able to align stakeholders and influence technical decisions

• Comfortable in ambiguity, with the ability to define and shape technical solutions

Nice to Have:

• Experience with agentic AI systems or workflow orchestration frameworks

• Exposure to production LLM integrations

• Familiarity with AI-assisted coding environments and modern developer tooling

What’s on Offer:

• True ownership over architecture and technical direction

• Opportunity to lead within a high-growth, AI-native business

• Complex, real-world problems at global scale

• Strong engineering culture with high autonomy and accountability

• Backed company with clear trajectory toward profitability