Senior Backend Engineer - Search & Discovery (all genders)

ABOUT YOU; Hamburg; Vor Ort; EUR 110.000 - 150.000; Vollzeit

Zusammenfassung

ABOUT YOU, based in Hamburg, is building the next-generation search for fashion discovery. You will own backend search services, focusing on query understanding, entity resolution, and semantic vector search using Node.js/TypeScript.

You will blend OpenSearch relevance with embedding similarity and behavioral re-ranking signals to deliver unified results, while streaming update pipelines from BigQuery into OpenSearch and integrating LLM features with tight latency budgets.

Qualifikationen

• 5+ years building scalable, low-latency backend APIs.
• Fluent English communication skills.
• Deep experience with Elasticsearch/OpenSearch beyond basic clients.
• Strong intuition for ranking, merging, and latency trade-offs.
• Experience bridging backend engineering with ML/model scores.

Aufgaben

• Develop search engine components in Node.js/TypeScript.
• Blend OpenSearch relevance with embedding similarity and re-ranking signals.
• Build search-index pipelines (entities, synonyms, vectors) from BigQuery to OpenSearch.
• Integrate LLMs and embedding models with latency budgets and caching.
• Guard search relevance using testing, AB experiments, and governance.
• Collaborate with tech lead, data analysts, engineers, and product managers.

Kenntnisse

Backend engineering

Node.js/TypeScript

Elasticsearch/OpenSearch

Algorithms & latency

ML integration

English communication

Tools

Elasticsearch/OpenSearch

Node.js

BigQuery

Jobbeschreibung

Company Description

ABOUT YOU is one of Europe’s fastest growing e-commerce companies. Based in Hamburg and Berlin, we operate at the intersection of fashion and technology. Our mission is to rethink online shopping and make it personal and seamless. This takes more than good ideas. It takes people who take initiative and challenge the status quo. We believe in flat hierarchies, direct communication, and pragmatic decisions. No long approval chains. Just ownership, trust, and clear responsibility. We work hard, but we also believe in enjoying the ride together - over team lunches, afterwork drinks, company events, or a quick coffee in between meetings. If this sounds like you, ABOUT YOU could be the right place to bring in your perspective.

Job Description

• Develop the search engine behind ABOUT YOU, covering query understanding, entity resolution, and semantic vector search in Node.js/TypeScript
• Blend OpenSearch relevance, embedding similarity, and behavioral re-ranking signals into unified search results
• Build search-index pipelines (entities, synonyms, k-NN product vectors) streaming data from BigQuery into OpenSearch
• Integrate LLMs and embedding models (Gemini, Vertex AI) under tight latency budgets with caching and fallback layers
• Guard search relevance using golden lists, regression suites, and continuous A/B experiments
• Shape architecture alongside our Tech Lead and collaborate closely with data analysts, engineers, and product managers

Qualifications

• You love investigating the "why" behind search outcomes and turning those findings into actionable technical improvements
• 5+ years of experience building scalable, low-latency backend APIs (Node.js/TypeScript preferred, or fast-converting from Java, Go, or Kotlin)
• Real depth in Elasticsearch/OpenSearch (mappings, custom analyzers, percolators, scoring functions) beyond just basic query clients
• Strong algorithmic intuition for ranked data (merging, deduplication, score blending, and latency trade-offs)
• You're excited to bridge backend engineering and ML by serving model scores, embeddings, or LLM features in production
• Fluent English communication skills and a pragmatic, data-curious mindset

Nice to Have

• IR/NLP fundamentals (tokenization, multilingual search, relevance evaluation frameworks)
• Vector search experience (k-NN/HNSW indices, SigLIP embeddings, recall vs. latency tuning)
• LLM engineering (prompt caching, timeout budgets, Datadog LLM Observability)
• Familiarity with BigQuery, dbt, or Dagster pipelines

Additional Information

Your perks at a glance.

A Place Where You Can Be You

We take it as our responsibility to create an environment where everyone feels welcome, exactly as they are.

Different backgrounds and perspectives make us stronger and shape our culture in ways that matter.

What we stand for internally, we stand for as a brand: acceptance, inclusion, and a fairer approach to fashion.