Senior Backend Engineer - Commercial Systems and Intelligence

SumUp; Berlin; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hack Days

VSOP program

Pension scheme

30 days sabbatical

Relocation assistance

Job summary

SumUp is seeking a backend engineer to join the Commercial Systems and Intelligence squad in Berlin. You will help automate merchant attribution, commissions, and lifecycle analytics, shaping the architecture and standards for a new team.

You will design APIs, build data pipelines, and own end-to-end delivery in a fast-paced fintech environment, collaborating with data, backend engineering, and sales operations.

Qualifications

• Strong backend engineering background in Go with API design and strong contracts.
• Experience designing APIs and distributed systems with clear versioning.
• Fluent in relational databases and data modeling.
• Experience building event-driven architectures using Kafka.
• Comfortable working in auditable, high-trust fintech-like domains.

Responsibilities

• Aggregate data across SumUp to determine acquisition drivers and actions.
• Define data models, API contracts, and rules for automation of commission workflows.
• Build the Lifecycle Event Log and centralized merchant event store.
• Create internal back Offices and APIs for sales monitoring and dispute handling.
• Document APIs, schemas, and integration patterns for other teams.
• Establish testing, observability, and incident-response practices.

Skills

Go backend

APIs design

Distributed systems

Relational databases

Mentorship

Tools

Kafka

PostgreSQL

Snowflake

Go tooling

API testing

Job description

About the team:

The Commercial Systems and Intelligence squad is a newly formed team within SumUp's Acquisition Mission under the Run & Grow tribe. We sit at the intersection of data, backend engineering, and sales operations, building the infrastructure that powers how SumUp attributes merchant acquisition, calculates commissions, and understands the full lifecycle of every merchant.

Today, these processes are largely manual. We're here to change that, automating what's opaque, and building systems that sales representatives, leadership, and analysts can actually trust. You'll join at the very beginning, helping to shape how the squad works, the architecture it builds on, and the standards it holds itself to.

What you'll do:

• Aggregating data from across the SumUp ecosystem to determine which acquisition channel or sales agent drove a merchant to take a valuable action (e.g. signing up, adopting a product)
• Establishing data models, API contracts, and rule definitions that automate existing manual commission workflows for field and tele-sales agents, partnerships and merchant referrals
• Build the Lifecycle Event Log in close collaboration with the Merchant Intelligence squad. A centralized store of curated merchant lifecycle events (signups, product usage, verification, purchases) used across attribution, recommendations, customer support and sales
• Build internal backoffices and APIs for sales representatives and leaders to monitor commission and modify commission plans, manage portfolios and resolve disputes
• Define and document API contracts, schemas, and integration patterns that other engineering teams can adopt confidently
• Establish best practices for testing, observability, and incident response within a newly formed squad
• Use AI and agentic coding tools deliberately, to scaffold services, write tests, explore unfamiliar code, and draft documentation while maintaining full accountability for what gets shipped

You’ll be great for this role if you:

• Bring a strong backend engineering background in Go, or are a typed-language generalist ready to ramp up quickly
• Have designed APIs and distributed systems with clear contracts, versioning, and integration patterns
• Are fluent in relational and analytical databases (PostgreSQL, Snowflake) and comfortable making the right choice for the right use case
• Have built Kafka-based, event-driven systems and understand event sourcing and CDC patterns
• Have experience in auditable, high-trust systems where every decision must be traceable - fintech, payments, or similar domains
• Have built services from scratch in greenfield, early‑stage squads with limited prior context, and are energized, not unsettled, by that challenge
• Have experience with testing, observability, and incident response practices and treat them as first‑class concerns, not afterthoughts
• Are resourceful and adaptable, you take end‑to‑end ownership, do more with less, and adjust quickly as priorities shift
• Can bridge technical and non‑technical audiences, translating fuzzy problems into clear engineering work and explaining trade‑offs to engineers and sales stakeholders alike
• Are pragmatic, you know when good enough ships value and when something genuinely needs to be done properly
• Have mentorship instincts, you raise the bar for the people around you, not just your own output

Why you should join SumUp:

• Opportunity to work with SumUppers globally on large‑scale fintech products used by millions of businesses worldwide, from our Berlin office. This involves an office‑first setup
• We take learning and experimentation seriously with Hack Days every second Friday, and entire global Hack Weeks
• Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion: Be part of a workplace that values and promotes diversity, fostering an inclusive environment where everyone's perspectives are respected and embraced
• A dedicated annual L&D budget of €2,000 for attending conferences and/or advancing your career through further education
• Enrolment onto our VSOP program: You will own a stake in SumUp's future success
• A corporate pension scheme where we match up to 20% of your contributions
• 30 Days Sabbatical: Enjoy the unique opportunity to take a well‑deserved break with our 30 days sabbatical benefit after completing 3 years of employment with SumUp
• Referral Bonus: Earn additional rewards by referring talented individuals to join the SumUp team
• Numerous other benefits such as Urban Sports Club subsidy, Kita placement assistance, relocation assistance, subsidised office lunches

SumUp is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer that proudly pursues and hires a diverse workforce. SumUp does not make hiring or employment decisions on the basis of race, colour, religion or religious belief, ethnic or national origin, nationality, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age or any other basis protected by applicable l