Senior Back-End Engineer

Allianz Partners; Madrid; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Allianz Partners is seeking a Backend Engineer within Advanced Analytics to design, build, and operate cloud-native backend services powering AI-enabled solutions at scale. You will collaborate with ML, Platform, and DevOps teams to drive secure, observable, and reusable foundations across global deployments.

The role emphasizes expert Python development with FastAPI, Docker, Kubernetes, and strong CI/CD practices, as well as deep experience with Azure services and PostgreSQL.

Qualifications

• 5+ years professional backend engineering experience; MLOps or AI platform experience is a strong plus.
• Expert-level Python; ideally FastAPI, Pydantic, SQLAlchemy (or equivalent frameworks).
• Strong engineering fundamentals: testing strategies, REST API versioning, documentation, code quality, and pragmatic system design.
• Production experience with Docker and Kubernetes.
• Strong CI/CD experience (GitHub Actions preferred; ArgoCD or similar also relevant).
• Familiarity with Azure cloud platforms and services, particularly AKS, ACR, Key Vault, Azure Monitor/Application Insights, and Azure API Management (APIM).
• Strong experience with PostgreSQL including schema design, migrations, and performance tuning fundamentals.
• Familiarity with distributed systems and event-driven architectures using Kafka.
• Strong troubleshooting skills and an operational mindset.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain backend services and REST APIs powering AI-enabled solutions.
• Deliver cloud-native microservices using Docker and Kubernetes with scalability in mind.
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines with automated tests and secure delivery practices.
• Integrate API exposure via gateway patterns including authentication, throttling and versioning.
• Establish observability standards using Azure Monitor and Application Insights.
• Diagnose and resolve issues across microservices, clusters, and pipelines.
• Embed security and resilience in containerized environments.
• Engineer for regulated environments with audit-friendly practices.
• Collaborate with ML, Platform, AI Architects, and DevOps to deliver shared foundations.

Skills

Python

FastAPI

Pydantic

SQLAlchemy

PostgreSQL

REST API design

Testing strategies

CI/CD

Docker

Kubernetes

GitHub Actions

Azure

Kafka

Observability

Troubleshooting

Tools

Azure Monitor

Application Insights

Azure API Management (APIM)

AKS

ACR

Key Vault

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Key Responsibilities

As a Backend Engineer within Advanced Analytics (DA3) in the Chief Data & AI Office area at Allianz Partners, you will join our central AI team to build reusable AI foundations and production-grade AI services on a global scale. We are looking for an engineer with strong software engineering fundamentals and hands‑on cloud and DevOps expertise to design, ship, and operate cloud‑native systems that power AI‑enabled solutions across the organization. You will work in a cross‑functional environment with ML Engineers, Platform Engineers, AI Architects, and DevOps, taking end‑to‑end ownership from design through reliable operations. In this role, you will help establish consistent engineering standards for security, observability, and delivery, and you will contribute to scalable internal platforms and shared services that accelerate teams worldwide. As a Backend Engineer, you are in charge of the following responsibilities:

• Design, build, and maintain backend services and REST APIs powering AI-enabled solutions: clean interfaces, robust domain models, and maintainable data access patterns.
• Deliver cloud-native microservices using Docker and Kubernetes, with attention to scalability, resilience, and cost.
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines with automated tests, quality gates, and secure delivery practices.
• Integrate and standardize API exposure via gateway patterns, including usage policies, throttling, authentication/authorization, and versioning (Azure API Management where applicable).
• Establish and maintain observability standards using Azure Monitor and Application Insights (dashboards, alerting, distributed tracing, and runbooks).
• Diagnose and resolve complex issues across microservices, clusters, and pipelines; perform root‑cause analysis and preventative improvements.
• Embed security and resilience: secrets management, least privilege, container security best practices, and disaster recovery patterns.
• Engineer for regulated environments: implement audit‑friendly practices such as traceable changes, reliable logging, and disciplined handling of sensitive data (minimization, access controls, retention).
• Collaborate with ML Engineers, Platform Engineers, AI Architects, and DevOps to deliver shared foundations and consistent standards across global teams.

What You Bring

• 5+ years professional backend engineering experience; MLOps or AI platform experience is a strong plus.
• Expert‑level Python; ideally FastAPI, Pydantic, SQLAlchemy (or equivalent frameworks).
• Strong engineering fundamentals: testing strategies, REST API versioning, documentation, code quality, and pragmatic system design.
• Production experience with Docker and Kubernetes.
• Strong CI/CD experience (GitHub Actions preferred; ArgoCD or similar also relevant).
• Familiarity with Azure cloud platforms and services, particularly AKS, ACR, Key Vault, Azure Monitor/Application Insights, and Azure API Management (APIM).
• Strong experience with PostgreSQL including schema design, migrations, and performance tuning fundamentals.
• Familiarity with distributed systems and event‑driven architectures using Kafka.
• Strong troubleshooting skills and an operational mindset.

Ways of Working

• Comfortable in agile, iterative delivery environments with ownership and accountability.
• Clear communicator and collaborator across global, cross‑functional stakeholders.
• Proactive learner with pragmatic adoption of AI‑assisted developer tools (for example GitHub Copilot, Claude Code) to improve developer experience and delivery.

Nice to Have

• MLOps exposure: model packaging/deployment patterns, batch vs real‑time inference, feature pipelines, experiment tracking.
• Experience building internal libraries, platforms, or shared tooling used by multiple teams.
• Experience in regulated environments where auditability and secure‑by‑default delivery are essential.

What We Offer

Our employees play an integral part in our success as a business. We appreciate that each of our employees are unique and have unique needs, ambitions and we enjoy being a part of their journey. We are there to empower and encourage you with your personal and professional development ensuring that you take control by offering a large variety of courses and targeted development programs. All that in a global environment where international mobility and career progression are encouraged. Caring for your health and wellbeing is key priority for us. This is why we build Work Well programs to providing you with peace of mind and give the flexibility in planning and arranging for a better work‑life balance.

108464 | IT & Tech Engineering | Professional | Non‑Executive | Allianz Partners | Full-Time | Permanent

Allianz Group is one of the most trusted insurance and asset management companies in the world. Caring for our employees, their ambitions, dreams and challenges, is what makes us a unique employer. Together we can build an environment where everyone feels empowered and has the confidence to explore, to grow and to shape a better future for our customers and the world around us.

At Allianz, we stand for unity: we believe that a united world is a more prosperous world, and we are dedicated to consistently advocating for equal opportunities for all. And the foundation for this is our inclusive workplace, where people and performance both matter, and nurtures a culture grounded in integrity, fairness, inclusion and trust.

We therefore welcome applications regardless of ethnicity or cultural background, age, gender, nationality, religion, social class, disability or sexual orientation, or any other characteristics protected under applicable local laws and regulations.

Join us. Let's care for tomorrow.