[Hiring] Senior/Lead Backend Engineer @Upscrolled

Role Description

We’re hiring a technical owner on the UpScrolled engineering team. UpScrolled is building a social media platform at pace, and the backend systems that power it need to be scalable, reliable, and built to last. You’ll lead the design, development, and ownership of our core platform services — combining hands-on development with technical leadership.

This is not a management-track role that has drifted away from the code. You’ll be building alongside the team, driving architectural decisions, and mentoring engineers — all at the same time. You’ve done this in a startup or high-growth environment before and you know how to hold a high engineering bar without slowing the team down.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the design, development, and deployment of scalable backend services and applications built with TypeScript and C#/.NET
• Take full ownership of major engineering initiatives — from architecture and technical design through implementation, deployment, and long-term operation
• Design and implement robust REST APIs supporting high-volume traffic and critical business workflows
• Architect and maintain cloud-native, serverless systems on AWS designed for reliability, scalability, and operational simplicity
• Mentor engineers through code reviews, design discussions, and ongoing technical guidance
• Lead cross-team technical initiatives, helping break down complex problems and coordinate delivery across engineers
• Improve engineering practices including automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, and operational reliability
• Collaborate with product, design, and infrastructure teams to deliver maintainable and scalable systems
• Identify and resolve performance, reliability, and scaling challenges across platform services
• Participate in on-call coverage; respond to incidents, troubleshoot backend services, and support issue resolution with the team

Technical Expertise

• Backend & Platform
  • Server-side JavaScript / TypeScript architecture
  • REST API design and implementation
  • High-availability backend services
  • Real-time systems and notification architectures
• Cloud & Infrastructure
  • AWS cloud services
  • Cloud-native and serverless architecture
  • Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, AWS CDK, CloudFormation)
  • CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions
• Databases
  • PostgreSQL
  • MongoDB
• Engineering Practices
  • Test-driven development
  • Deployment automation
  • Performance optimization
  • Observability and operational reliability

Nice to Have

• Experience building frontend applications with React and/or Next.js
• Experience developing cross-platform mobile applications using Flutter

What Success Looks Like

• Core platform systems are reliable, performant, and well-understood by the team
• Engineers you’ve mentored are shipping with more confidence and fewer architectural mistakes
• Technical decisions have clear rationale and are documented — no black boxes
• The engineering team is building on a foundation that scales, not one that needs to be rebuilt

What You Are

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience with strong command of JavaScript and TypeScript
• Someone with proven ownership of large technical initiatives or platform components
• A demonstrated leader who mentors engineers and guides architectural decisions — not just a senior IC
• Experienced designing and operating scalable cloud-native systems on AWS in production
• Strong experience with PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and modern data persistence patterns

What You Are Not

• Someone who has drifted fully into engineering management and no longer wants to write code
• Someone who makes architectural decisions in isolation without bringing the team along
• Someone who treats reliability and observability as post-launch concerns

Compensation

We believe in transparent compensation. Our salaries vary depending on work location. Please see our zones and ranges below.

• Netherlands, Ireland, UK, Germany:
  • Senior: 67,916€/60,429£
  • Lead: 81,499€/72,515£
• Spain, Portugal, Poland:
  • Senior: 52,426€
  • Lead: 62,911€

We hire in all European countries and many others around the globe. If your location is not listed above, please still apply, and note your location. We will share salary information during the first interview if you are selected.

We offer health insurance to all employees, along with paid time off (vacation, sick, parental, etc.) in compliance with local labor regulations in the employee’s country of residence.

Equal Opportunity

UpScrolled is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a team that reflects the diversity of the people our product serves. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, or any other protected characteristic. If you need accommodations at any stage of the hiring process, please reach out — we will work with you.

Application Process

We will accept applications for this position until April 16, 2026. Once the application period closes, we review the entire candidate pool before moving forward with interviews.

Our process typically looks like this: a 30-minute introductory call with People Operations, followed by at least two additional interviews with the team. We aim to respond to all applicants within 5 business days of the application window closing.

If you need any adjustments to our process, please let us know.

Work Authorization

Candidates must have the legal right to work in their stated location. UpScrolled does not currently offer visa sponsorship.

Location

Netherlands (Remote)

Department

Engineering

Employment Type

Full-Time

Minimum Experience

Senior Manager/Supervisor