Senior Backend Engineer (all genders)

reCup GmbH; München; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working models

Room for development and ownership

Personal and professional culture

Job summary

reCup GmbH, located in Munich, is seeking a (senior) backend engineer to build and manage core services for their reusable-packaging network. You will design service integrations, enhance platform functionality, and collaborate with the technical lead on architecture.

The ideal candidate has significant experience in Node.js, TypeScript, and has worked with distributed systems. This hybrid role offers flexibility to work remotely while being present in the Munich office twice a week.

Qualifications

• 7–10 years of backend engineering experience with Node.js and TypeScript.
• Experience in designing distributed systems and SQL.
• Ability to own a problem end-to-end—from design to operation.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and own core platform services.
• Develop integrations between services and external systems.
• Drive international expansion and architectural decisions.

Skills

Backend engineering

Node.js

TypeScript

NestJS

SQL

Distributed systems

Problem ownership

Tools

Google Cloud Platform

PostgreSQL

MariaDB

Job description

DEINE MISSION

We're building the next-generation backend that powers Germany's largest reusable-packaging network - a circular-economy deposit-return system live across 17,000+ locations. It's a two-track hybrid modernisation (brown and greenfield), cloud-native, event-driven TypeScript platform that runs real‑world operational logistics: partners, point-of-sale, returns, billing, and fulfillment at national scale, expanding internationally.

You'll join as a (senior) engineer (all genders) with real ownership: designing, building and owning core services and working directly with our technical lead and peers on architecture. This is not a ticket‑taking role - you'll shape the system, not just implement against it.

What you’ll do:

• Design, build and own core platform services: partner management, point‑of‑sale, billing and invoicing, returns, fulfillment, and contract management
• Build event‑driven, async‑heavy integrations between services and external systems—outbox patterns, queues, retries, dead‑letter handling
• Help drive our international expansion
• Partner with the technical lead on architectural decisions, data modelling, and the incremental extraction of capabilities from our existing platform into the new one
• Set the engineering bar—testing, observability, and operational readiness baked in from day one

Our stack:

• Language: PHP (7.1) (current), TypeScript (Next direction)
• Framework: Shopware 5.3 and NestJS
• Data: MariaDB, PostgreSQL + Prisma
• Cloud: Google Cloud Platform – Cloud Run, Pub/Sub, Cloud Tasks
• AI: Claude (Code, Chat and Cowork)
• APIs: REST
• Platform: GCP
• Existing platform (you’ll learn its domain): PHP / Shopware – the current production system we’re incrementally extracting from.

WAS DU MITBRINGST

• 7–10 years of backend engineering, with deep production experience in Node.js, TypeScript and substantial hands‑on NestJS in production plus ability to work with legacy PP2 (PHP) code
• Strong system design and execution – you've designed distributed, async/queue‑heavy systems and shipped them, not just white‑boarded them
• Solid relational data modelling and SQL (MySQL, PostgreSQL ideally)
• Comfortable owning a problem end‑to‑end: design, build, test, ship, operate
• Munich‑based. This is a hybrid role: 2 days/week in our Munich office, rest remote

Working with AI coding agents (a real part of this role)

• has shipped production code with an AI coding agent
• can describe their workflow – how they spec, prompt, review, and integrate agent output
• has informed opinions on where agents fail and how they guard against it (review discipline, tests, architectural guardrails)

Nice to have

• Event‑driven/CQRS/outbox experience
• Google Cloud Platform
• Migration or legacy‑extraction experience (incrementally replacing an older system)
• Comfortable reading unfamiliar or legacy codebases

How we hire

• First Interview with People & Organisation (~25 minutes) – We want to get to know you better in a first meeting and you will get to know RECUP's culture, values and vision and understand yourself better for a mutual fit
• Meet Hiring Manager (Tech Leader) (~25 minutes) – Understand the RECUP platform from a technical perspective
• Our take‑home case (~55 minutes) is AI‑agent‑assisted by design – use your preferred agent, as you would on the job. We don't test memorized syntax; we assess engineering judgment: how you specify work, catch and correct the agent, and make architectural decisions. Expect a brief take‑home plus a live pairing and design session
• Meet the Team (Tech Lead and Engineer) + live AI coding session (extension of our take‑home test) (~55 minutes) – Experience working with your new team.
• Meet our Co‑CEO (~25 minutes) – Gain insight into our product and business

WAS WIR BIETEN

• The opportunity to make an impact at a company that combines economic growth with real, sustainable impact
• Flexible working models (flexible hours, remote work)
• Room for development and ownership: you actively shape your area
• A personal, professional culture and open feedback culture
• A dynamic, growth‑oriented environment in a scale‑up phase
• Partnerships with Wellpass, Urban Sports Club, Open Up and Future Bens

You can find all our benefits on our jobs page.

Want to help us write reusable packaging history?

Then we look forward to your application: send us a short, punchy cover letter and your CV via the application form. What matters to us are your skills, your experience and above all whether you identify with our values and company culture. Since we too are not entirely free from unconscious biases, we kindly ask you not to include a photo.

Where can we still improve?

We want to become more diverse because we believe that we can only achieve our vision through diversity, and that innovation can only emerge through diversity. We therefore welcome applications from people with international backgrounds, people of all gender identities, all age groups, people of color, and people with disabilities or chronic illness.