Backend Engineer - Scalable, Privacy-Focused VPN

Proton; Genf; On-site; CHF 61,000 - 98,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Health coverage

Learning & development

Employee benefits

In-person collaboration

Food & snacks

Commuting support

Flexible working

Job summary

Proton is seeking a back-end engineer to join the VPN team, building trusted, massively scalable services for millions of users seeking strong online privacy. You will collaborate with back-end engineers, client app teams, and product management to ensure reliability and performance while documenting capabilities for Proton VPN clients.

The role emphasizes PHP-based entry points, SQL data modeling, Redis caching, and security best practices, with Docker-based deployments and observability

Qualifications

• Experience with PHP-based entry-points to a back-end software stack.
• Experience building scalable solutions.
• Experience with profiling methods and tools.
• Experience leading a team initiative from discovery to production.
• Solid understanding of SQL (MySql preferred) and data modelling.
• Solid understanding of Redis or other caching technologies.
• Solid understanding of security best practices.
• Solid understanding of HTTP/REST, including both developing and consuming Web-based APIs.
• High-level understanding of cryptography concepts such as key exchange and the difference between symmetric and asymmetric encryption.
• Operational experience such as SRE or on-call, demonstrating ability to diagnose and troubleshoot complex problems for critical systems.
• Experience with Docker or similar containerization technologies.
• Experience with metrics graphing/analysis toolkits such as Grafana and OpenTelemetry.
• Experience with Python and/or Rust.
• Experience with OpenAPI specs or other API documentation frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with a group of Back-End Engineers and Architects to build resilient, massively-scalable solutions for millions of people to rely on
• Collaborate with teams of client application developers and product management to ensure that the back-end meets critical business and reliability requirements
• Document back-end capabilities and their proper use so that all Proton VPN clients can implement correctly-functioning solutions
• Debug and repair vital systems such as the systems responsible for cleaning up file revisions and returning quota to users

Skills

PHP

Scalable architecture

Profiling tools

Team leadership

SQL (MySQL)

Caching technologies (Redis)

Security best practices

HTTP/REST APIs

Cryptography concepts

SRE / on-call

Docker or containerization

Metrics/observability (Grafana/OpenTe)

Python or Rust

OpenAPI / API docs

Tools

Docker

Grafana

OpenTelemetry

OpenAPI

Job description

Proton is seeking a back-end engineer to join the VPN team, building trusted, massively scalable services for millions of users seeking strong online privacy. You will collaborate with back-end engineers, client app teams, and product management to ensure reliability and performance while documenting capabilities for Proton VPN clients.

The role emphasizes PHP-based entry points, SQL data modeling, Redis caching, and security best practices, with Docker-based deployments and observability