Senior Backend Engineer

Shalion; Barcelona; On-site; EUR 50,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Office in Barcelona

Meal vouchers

Transport allowance

Private healthcare

Job summary

Shalion is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to lead backend initiatives across multiple products and shape the technical roadmap. You will manage one backend engineer from day one and guide the team as it grows, balancing hands-on architecture with leadership responsibilities.

The role emphasizes product-focused engineering, AI-enabled automation, and close collaboration with product stakeholders and the CEO. The position is based in Barcelona with a hybrid work model.

Qualifications

• 5+ years hands-on backend engineering experience across multiple products.
• At least 1 year in a management capacity.
• Experience with Kotlin, Python, React, Langgraph, AWS, Snowflake.
• Ability to make and own technology stack decisions.
• Fluent in both English and Spanish.

Responsibilities

• Lead backend development across products and own the engineering roadmap.
• Decide on and evolve the technology stack for these products.
• Manage the existing backend engineer and grow the team as needed.
• Lead development of new technical solutions for roadmap items.
• Introduce AI and automation to speed delivery.
• Set up engineering frameworks, standards, and processes.
• Stay close to product stakeholders and translate needs into roadmap.
• Maintain hands-on involvement in architecture and tech decisions.

Skills

Backend engineering

People management

AI/automation interest

English/Spanish fluency

Tools

Kotlin

Python

React

Langgraph

AWS

Snowflake

Job description

About the company

Shalion is a data and insights-driven company that serves world-class manufacturers and brands globally. Through our Digital Shelf Optimization, Retail Media, and Food Service Aggregators solutions, we provide innovative tools for e-commerce monitoring.

At Shalion, we empower brands to make smarter business decisions in eCommerce by delivering actionable data and insights on online product prices, availability, share of search, and more. We operate across 1000+ e-retailers in 60+ countries, serving industry giants such as Heineken, Lego, Danone, Nestlé, and JDE.

As a leader in data intelligence, we specialize in gathering, analyzing, and applying proprietary artificial intelligence to deliver relevant data and monitoring tools, helping our clients maximize their e-commerce performance.

The role

We run several distinct products, each supported by its own team. We want to boost the product team and are looking for a Senior Backend Engineer who leads the backend initiatives, decides on the technologies we use, and leads new technical solutions for what we want to build next. This sits alongside our internal software team.

Beyond feature work, you will own a platform to automate workflows for our clients with a solution developed in-house and using AI. This is a product oriented role: you think in terms of what clients need, not only what gets shipped. You will be in regular contact with the product stakeholders and CEO, translating what they need into your technical roadmap.

You will manage one engineer already in place from day one, with the team potentially growing further down the line. The products are already live and in clients' hands; what you will build is the unified engineering function behind them, the frameworks, standards, and way of working.

What matters is that you stay hands on, in the architecture and the tougher technology decisions, like tradeoffs on tech stack or when to rebuild versus patch, not just in oversight. This role works best for someone who wants to do both, manage people and stay technical, rather than choosing one over the other.

Your Responsibilities

• Lead back end development across our products, owning the engineering roadmap for new features.

• Decide on and evolve the technology stack for these products.

• Manage the existing backend engineer, staying hands on in the work, with the team potentially growing further down the line.

• Lead the team in developing new technical solutions for products still on the roadmap, not only in improving what already exists.

• Bring AI and automation into the products themselves, finding where workflows can be automated to speed up delivery.

• Set up engineering frameworks, standards, and processes across the product portfolio, since none exist in a unified way today.

• Stay close to the product stakeholders directly, understand what they need, and translate that into a technical roadmap and new features, not just a delivery plan.

• Stay hands on. This is a building role.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on experience in back end engineering, ideally across multiple products, including at least 1 year in a management capacity

• Today our stack includes Kotlin, Python, React, Langgraph, aws, snowflake though deciding where we go next is part of the job.

• Comfortable making and owning technology stack decisions.

• Experience building engineering processes and team structure from the ground up.

• Genuine interest in applying AI and automation directly to product development.

• Professional fluency in English and Spanish, both required.

Nice to have

• Experience scaling an engineering team from a small base.

• Prior experience working across several products at once, rather than owning a single one end to end.

• Experience with AI powered workflow automation.

• Frontend knowledge to be able work with those teams and be autonomous.

What we offer you

• An international team – Work with colleagues from 10+ nationalities.

• A dynamic and innovative environment – Be part of a high-performing team.

• Hybrid work model – 3 days in-office, 2 days remote.

• Impactful work – Contribute to a challenging and innovative project.

• Flexible benefits – allocate part of your gross salary (pre-tax) to meal vouchers, transport allowance, and private healthcare at a preferential rate.

• Office perks – Fresh fruit and specialty coffee daily.

• Contract: Permanent

• Salary range: from 50,000€ to 60,000€ gross/yearly, according to experience and seniority.

• Great location – Office in Barcelona’s Sarrià-Sant Gervasi district.

Shalion Data Services Limited is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.