Senior Backend Engineer (all genders) - Partner Tech
About this role
Our Access & Security team serves as the guardian of partner data, owning authentication and authorization systems for partner users and integration clients across our platforms. Our systems form the backbone of a secure ecosystem, handling everything from credential validation and token issuance to fine-grained permission management. We ensure every request is safe, reliable and performant.
As a Senior Backend Engineer on this team, you'll collaborate with exceptional engineers to design, build and operate mission-critical services that protect data from thousands of partners and millions of users of Zalando. You'll leverage technologies like OAuth2, JWT and OPA to secure our APIs, mentor junior engineers, lead code and architectural reviews, and champion best practices in security, performance, and observability.
We are looking for a strong individual with a track record of delivering highly scalable, critical-path services who are looking to further grow in their professional career by building systems that directly influence the security of millions of customers and thousands of partners of Zalando.
At Zalando, our vision is to be the leading pan-European ecosystem for fashion and lifestyle e-commerce - one that is inclusive by design. We only assess candidates based on qualifications, merit, and business needs. We welcome applications from people of all gender identities, sexual orientations, personal expressions, racial identities, ethnicities, religious beliefs, and disability statuses. We only want to know why you’re great for this role, so please avoid including your picture, age, and marital status in your CV as well.
We want to provide you with a great candidate experience. Please feel free to inform us of any accommodations you may need, so we can best support and assist you throughout the hiring process.
do.BETTER - our diversity & inclusion strategy: https://jobs.zalando.com/en/our-culture/diversity-and-inclusion
- Be a part of an agile, experienced backend engineering team to build systems for authentication and authorization with a major focus on keeping high security standards to secure our partners
- Design, build and maintain large-scale backend microservices using technologies such as Java, Kotlin, PostgreSQL and Kubernetes
- Decide on the technologies and tools to deliver and operate scalable microservice-based applications on AWS
- Ensure a state-of-the-art software development methodology
- Interact with various teams and stakeholders with different backgrounds and with a large spectrum of competencies
- Share your knowledge with your colleagues helping them to grow their technical skills
- Help us become better, provide active feedback, mentor and support the development of more junior colleagues
- 5+ years of professional experience software development experience
- Ability to design large-scale resilient distributed microservices on a cloud infrastructure (preferably Kubernetes and AWS). Knowledge of IAM systems such as Okta, Keycloak or Styra is a plus.
- Experience with JVM-based languages (Java, Kotlin, Scala), REST APIs design and event-driven architectures, scaling a large-scale Database system (SQL or no-SQL)
- Advocating for agile processes, operational excellence, and coding best practices such as clean code, readability, and test-driven development
- Collaboration with engineering teams, managers, and product stakeholders from different backgrounds.
- Basic frontend knowledge as React framework is a plus
Zalando provides a range of benefits, here’s an overview of what you can expect. Ask your Talent Acquisition Partner to learn more about what we offer.
- Employee shares program
- 40% off fashion and beauty products sold and shipped by Zalando, 30% off Lounge by Zalando, discounts from external partners
- 2 paid volunteering days a year
- Hybrid working model with up to 60% remote per week, actual practice is up to each team to best support their collaboration
- Work from abroad for up to 30 working days a year
- 27 days of vacation a year to start for full-time employees
- Relocation assistance available (subject to prior agreement)
- Family services, including counseling and support
- Health and wellbeing options (including Wellhub, formerly Gympass)
- Mental health support and coaching available
- Drive your development through our training platform and biannual peer-to-peer review
Recruiter
Laura Fernandez Bueno
Please note that all applications from this job page must be completed using the online form - we do not accept applications via e-mail. Once reviewed, our recruiters will contact applicants via an official Zalando email address (@zalando.de).
In some cases we also work with a selection of headhunters and agencies to fill specific roles. Please note that neither Zalando nor our recruiting partners will ask for any kind of payment to apply for a job or attend an interview.
If you have any questions about our recruitment process, please take a look at our FAQ page.