(Senior) Backend Engineer (m/w/d)

Legalhero; Berlin; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Public transport ticket

Dog-friendly office

Company pension

Team events

Free drinks & fruit

Job summary

Legalhero is seeking a Backend Engineer to take full ownership of services in our Kotlin/Java stack on AWS. You’ll design APIs, data models, SLOs, and contribute to testing, deployment, and observability with a craft-focused team.

You will collaborate with frontend, product, and AI teams, handling migrations, upgrades, and reliability, while shaping scalable infrastructure in a regulated data environment. Berlin-based, hybrid work arrangement.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in backend engineering, including 2+ years at senior level.
• Strong proficiency in Kotlin or Java — JVM idioms feel like home.
• Relational databases (MySQL or similar) and at least one public cloud in production, AWS preferred.
• Distributed systems thinking as a reflex: idempotency, retries, eventual consistency, observability.
• Business fluent English; German at B1 or a clear commitment to get there within 12 months.

Responsibilities

• Design and own scalable backend services from first commit to production — APIs, data models, versioning, SLOs, and on-call included
• Build and evolve high-performance, secure infrastructure that handles real load — not just greenfield, but messy reality
• Wire LLM-powered capabilities reliably into product flows: suggestion APIs, RAG-backed endpoints, agent tool calls — you make AI actually land in production
• Work closely with frontend, product, and AI teams — your APIs are their foundation, so you design them to last
• Make the hard tradeoffs: schema migrations, breaking changes, dependency upgrades — with judgment, not just best practices
• Raise the quality bar through automated testing (unit, integration, end-to-end) and push for architectural improvements that matter
• Lead incident investigations on your own services, write the postmortem, and elevate only once you have answers

Skills

Backend engineering

Kotlin/Java

AWS

Distributed systems

English (fluent)

German (B1 planned)

Tools

Micronaut

Kubernetes

AWS Bedrock

LiteLLM

Claude Agent SDK

MCP-based architecture

Job description

What You’ll Do

Backend engineering at Legal Hero means full ownership. You'll design and run services in our Kotlin/Java stack with Micronaut on AWS, wire LLM capabilities reliably into product flows, harden production systems, and actively shape our testing, deployment, and observability practice — together with a team that takes the craft seriously.

• Design and own scalable backend services from first commit to production — APIs, data models, versioning, SLOs, and on-call included
• Build and evolve high-performance, secure infrastructure that handles real load — not just greenfield, but messy reality
• Wire LLM-powered capabilities reliably into product flows: suggestion APIs, RAG-backed endpoints, agent tool calls — you make AI actually land in production
• Work closely with frontend, product, and AI teams — your APIs are their foundation, so you design them to last
• Make the hard tradeoffs: schema migrations, breaking changes, dependency upgrades — with judgment, not just best practices
• Raise the quality bar through automated testing (unit, integration, end-to-end) and push for architectural improvements that matter
• Lead incident investigations on your own services, write the postmortem, and elevate only once you have answers

What You’ll Do

Backend engineering at Legal Hero means full ownership. You'll design and run services in our Kotlin/Java stack with Micronaut on AWS, wire LLM capabilities reliably into product flows, harden production systems, and actively shape our testing, deployment, and observability practice — together with a team that takes the craft seriously.

• Design and own scalable backend services from first commit to production — APIs, data models, versioning, SLOs, and on-call included
• Build and evolve high-performance, secure infrastructure that handles real load — not just greenfield, but messy reality
• Wire LLM-powered capabilities reliably into product flows: suggestion APIs, RAG-backed endpoints, agent tool calls — you make AI actually land in production
• Work closely with frontend, product, and AI teams — your APIs are their foundation, so you design them to last
• Make the hard tradeoffs: schema migrations, breaking changes, dependency upgrades — with judgment, not just best practices
• Raise the quality bar through automated testing (unit, integration, end-to-end) and push for architectural improvements that matter
• Lead incident investigations on your own services, write the postmortem, and elevate only once you have answers

What You Bring

• 6+ years in backend engineering, including 2+ years at senior level
• Strong proficiency in Kotlin or Java — JVM idioms feel like home
• Relational databases (MySQL or similar) and at least one public cloud in production, AWS preferred
• Distributed systems thinking as a reflex: idempotency, retries, eventual consistency, observability
• Business fluent English; German at B1 or a clear commitment to get there within 12 months

Nice to have — and what you’ll pick up here:

• Micronaut, Kubernetes, AWS Bedrock, LiteLLM, the official Claude Agent SDK, MCP-based architecture
• Experience with regulated data environments (GDPR, BaFin,
• 203 StGB)

What We Promise

Work Environment & Flexibility

• Office-first company: Hybrid setup with 3 days in the office and 2 days working from home, offering flexibility in how you structure your work
• Modern, air-conditioned office with plenty of natural daylight
• Central location between Gleisdreieck and Potsdamer Platz with excellent public transport access
• Spacious rooftop terrace with stunning views over Berlin

Benefits

• Full coverage of a Germany-wide public transport ticket
• Dog-friendly office – we’re happy to welcome four-legged team members
• Corporate benefits platform with attractive offers and discounts across many brands
• Company pension scheme with a 20% employer contribution – we invest in your future
• Regular company and team events to strengthen collaboration and team spirit
• After-work fun: Nintendo Switch, PS5, darts, and table football
• Free drinks, fresh fruit, and muesli available at all times

Company Culture & Collaboration

• Agile and modern mindset with open communication – every voice is heard
• Meaningful areas of responsibility with a strong focus on practical, real-world legal solutions
• The opportunity to actively shape our journey and contribute from day one
• Feedback is part of our culture – we believe in continuous, shared growth

Fast Application Process

• Fast feedback
• 1. Approx. 20-minute introductory call with our HR team
• 2. Approx. 60-minute on-site interview with your hiring manager
• 3. Approx. 30-minute meeting with the management team
• A prompt offer following the interview process

About Us

Legalhero is the modern platform for legal protection insurance and lawyers. We pursue the ambitious goal of revolutionizing the claims settlement process for legal protection insurance. To this end, we integrate directly into the insurers' systems. Our partner lawyers handle cases highly efficiently and in a customer-oriented manner on our tech platform with the help of AI. Legalhero was founded in 2017 and has helped hundreds of thousands of policyholders to date. Our approximately 90 colleagues are based in Berlin, near the Gleisdreieck.

An inclusive, equal, and non-discriminatory work environment is a matter of course for us. If you have a disability or special needs and require special support during the application process, please let us know.