Senior Software Engineer - Backend & Infrastructure

Surreal; City of Melbourne; On-site; AUD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

9 Day Fortnight

Experience Leave

Doona Day

Flexibility

Equipment

Stock options

Job summary

Surreal, based in Melbourne, is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer skilled in Node.js and AWS to own backend and infrastructure ownership as the platform scales. You will lead backend feature work, shape architecture, and ensure reliability and cost efficiency.

You will collaborate with engineers, work on data and SQL tasks, and help evolve the event-driven parts of the system while maintaining hands-on coding. Melbourne-focused, with Aus-wide flexibility for applicants.

Qualifications

• Around 6+ years of software engineering experience.
• Strong Node.js and TypeScript.
• Real production experience with AWS.
• Comfortable owning infrastructure and making technical decisions about it.
• Very comfortable with data and SQL.
• Able to explain technical concepts clearly to non-technical people.
• Enjoy helping other engineers improve their skills.

Responsibilities

• Build features on our Node.js/TypeScript backend.
• Own and improve our AWS infrastructure using Terraform, ECS Fargate, Aurora PostgreSQL and Redis.
• Help make decisions around reliability, scalability and cost.
• Work with our data warehouse and write SQL.
• Improve our CI/CD setup with CircleCI.
• Contribute to big architecture calls and scale plans.
• Mentor other engineers in backend and infrastructure skills.
• Explain technical decisions to non-technical stakeholders.

Skills

Node.js

TypeScript

AWS

SQL

CI/CD

Terraform

Redis

PostgreSQL

Data modeling

System design

Tools

CircleCI

ECS Fargate

Aurora PostgreSQL

Redis

PostgreSQL

BigQuery

Job description

Surreal is on a mission to get people off their screens and back into the real world. We’re revolutionising the entertainment and hospitality industry with software that makes organising live entertainment effortless.

Our all-in-one platform is the backbone of over 200,000 gigs every year across the world. From Melbourne, to Miami, to Manchester, Surreal helps agents, venues, and entertainers manage the chaos behind the scenes so they can focus on creating unforgettable experiences.

We believe in the magic of live entertainment - the electrifying atmosphere of a packed venue, and the small, intimate gigs that bring communities together. From pub trivia nights to packed-out club sets, we power it all.

At Surreal, we turn complex operations into smooth, repeatable processes, giving hospitality operators the tools to scale their live entertainment operations stress-free. By doing this we amplify the moments that make live entertainment extraordinary.

Join us. Be part of a team that champions the unsung heroes of the industry and builds the future of live entertainment.

The gig

We’re looking for a Senior Backend Engineer who is strong in Node.js and comfortable taking real ownership of infrastructure.

A lot of the role will be backend engineering, but you’ll also take ownership of our AWS infrastructure. We need someone who can understand how it works end to end, improve it, and make good decisions about how it should evolve as the platform grows.

This isn’t a dedicated DevOps role, but infrastructure is a meaningful part of the job. We’re looking for someone with enough real experience to own that area confidently, while still being hands‑on in the backend.

You’ll also have a meaningful say in the architecture of the platform. For example, we currently use event sourcing via a small open‑source framework. It works for us today, but as our event volume grows, we’ll eventually outgrow it. Vous will play a big part in working out what comes next.

You’ll help the rest of the engineering team get better at backend and infrastructure work too. We don’t want one person to know everything about one part of the system, so we document as we go and teach each other.

We’re a small team, which means you’ll get more variety and more influence than you probably would at a larger company. You’ll own entire areas of the platform and be expected to make decisions.

If that sounds good, keep reading.

What you’ll actually do

• Build features on our Node.js / TypeScript backend
• Own and improve our AWS infrastructure using Terraform, ECS Fargate, Aurora PostgreSQL and Redis
• Help make decisions around reliability, scalability and cost
• Work with our data warehouse and write a lot of SQL
• Improve our CI/CD setup through CircleCI
• Help make the big architecture calls
• Work out where our current systems will stop scaling and what we should do about it
• Help other engineers improve their backend and infrastructure skills
• Explain technical decisions to non-technical people when needed

Must have experience

• Around 6+ years of software engineering experience
• Strong Node.js and TypeScript
• Real production experience with AWS
• Comfortable owning infrastructure and making technical decisions about it
• Very comfortable with data and SQL
• Comfortable making decisions without needing someone to tell you exactly what to do
• Willing to ask for help rather than spending hours stuck on something
• Able to explain technical things clearly to non-technical people
• You enjoy helping other engineers get better

Nice to have

• Terraform or other infrastructure-as-code experience
• Event sourcing or distributed systems experience
• GCP / BigQuery experience
• Experience working on systems as they scaleExperience working in fast‑paced startup engineering teams

Our team is predominantly based in Melbourne, so our preference is that you are too, however we are more than open to applicants across Aus.

What We Offer

• 9 Day Fortnight: Surreal has a RDO every 2 weeks. We work hard, but we also rest hard.
• Experience Leave: You get one day a quarter to go experience something novel.
• Doona Day: A day off on your birthday.
• Flexibility: We mostly work from home and meet in person only from time to time for workshops, war rooms, and team days.
• Equipment: A company laptop and all necessary gear.
• Ownership: Stock options in the company you’ll help build.

How we work

We’re a casual and honest team. We speak our minds, give real feedback, and celebrate good work. We avoid unnecessary processes, so if you’re used to big companies, our lack of red tape might feel refreshing or surprising.

You’ll get real trust and real autonomy. You’ll make mistakes; we all do, and that’s fine, as long as we learn something.