Developer - Scala

Sage; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 85,000 - 112,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Bonus scheme up to 8% pension matching

25 days leave

Health coverage

Volunteer days

Work away scheme

Training & development

Job summary

Sage is seeking a Backend Developer to join the HCM Localisation engineering team. You will build and maintain scalable Scala backend services in a cloud-based enterprise product, focusing on performance, reliability, and modernisation.

The role is hybrid with 3 days in Newcastle or London office, collaborating with DevOps, frontend, QA, and product teams to deliver high-quality increments and strong observability across the stack.

Qualifications

• Experience designing and building scalable backend services in enterprise/cloud environments.
• Strong Scala skills including Futures, immutability, and pattern matching.
• Proficient with Play Framework or JVM backends; Pekko/Akka experience helpful.
• Relational DBs (MySQL): SQL tuning, indexing, query profiling.
• Experience with caching/Redis for performance-sensitive workloads.
• Deep understanding of OOP, FP, concurrency, Scala type system, and advanced patterns.
• Ability to design evolving distributed systems and promote engineering best practices.
• Hands-on AWS experience and cloud-native delivery practices.
• Knowledge of CI/CD, Git workflows, code reviews, testing, and release processes.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable Scala backend services.
• Collaborate with frontend, QA, product, and other backend teams to deliver increments.
• Optimize MySQL data access patterns and query performance.
• Develop, deploy, and support services in AWS with DevOps alignment.
• Contribute to CI/CD pipelines and code reviews.
• Improve observability and reduce technical debt in production.
• Support production stability and performance of distributed systems.

Skills

Scala

Play Framework

AWS

CI/CD

Distributed systems

SQL (MySQL)

Redis

Pekko/Akka

GIT & PR workflows

Tools

MySQL

Redis

Pekko/Akka

Job description

We are looking for a Backend Developer to join our HCM Localisation engineering team and help evolve a large-scale, cloud-based enterprise product. This role is focused on building and maintaining scalable backend services supporting complex product workflows, integrations, performance improvements, and ongoing platform modernisation.

*** Please note: This is a hybrid role requiring 3 days per week in our Newcastle or London office ***

Developer - Scala

In this role you'll:

• Design, develop, and maintain robust backend services using Scala 2.13 and Play Framework in a Pekko-based environment.
• Build clean, testable, and maintainable code using functional programming principles, immutability, pattern matching, and asynchronous programming with Futures.
• Work with MySQL to design efficient data access patterns, optimize queries, tune indexes, and profile database performance.
• Develop, deploy, and support services in AWS, working closely with DevOps and platform teams to ensure reliable delivery.
• Contribute to CI/CD pipelines, Git-based pull request workflows, code reviews, and engineering best practices.
• Collaborate with frontend engineers, QA, product owners, solution designers, and other backend developers to deliver high-quality product increments.
• Support production stability by investigating issues, improving observability, and continuously reducing technical debt.

Required Skills and Experience:

• Professional backend development experience, ideally in enterprise, SaaS, or cloud-based product environments.
• Strong hands-on experience with Scala, including collections, Futures, immutability, pattern matching, error handling, and clean functional design.
• Commercial experience with Play Framework or comparable JVM backend frameworks; Pekko or Akka experience is highly relevant.
• Strong understanding of relational databases, especially MySQL, with practical knowledge of SQL optimization, indexes, query profiling, and transaction behaviour.
• Experience using Redis or similar technologies for caching, session handling, or performance-sensitive workloads.
• Deep understanding of OOP principles, functional programming, concurrency, the Scala type system, and advanced architectural patterns (e.g., Tagless Final, type classes, effect systems).
• Ability to design and evolve complex distributed systems while promoting engineering best practices across the team
• Hands-on experience with AWS services and cloud-native delivery practices.
• Good understanding of CI/CD, Git, branching strategies, pull request flows, automated testing, and release practices.
• Ability to work effectively in distributed Agile teams, communicate clearly, and take ownership of complex technical problems.

Nice to Have:

• Experience with Squeryl, Doobie, or similar Scala data access libraries.
• Familiarity with Grafana or Kibana dashboards, alerting, logging, and production observability practices.
• Experience with large distributed systems, horizontal scaling, resilient service design, or high-throughput Play / Pekko applications.
• Previous experience in Payroll, HR, HCM, ERP, compliance-heavy, or localisation-focused product domains.
• Russian, Ukrainian, or Polish language skills would be beneficial, but are not essential.

Ways of Working:

• Pragmatic, delivery-focused, and able to balance new feature development with maintenance, bug fixing, and technical improvement work.
• Proactive in code reviews, design discussions, troubleshooting, and knowledge sharing across the engineering team.
• Strong problem-solving mindset, attention to detail, and willingness to work with an established codebase while helping modernise it over time.

Want to know more about our Product?: https://hcm.sage.com/

Benefits? We have plenty...

• Generous bonuses and pension scheme: Up to 8% matched pension contribution plus 2% top-up by Sage.
• 25 days of paid annual leave with the option to buy up to another 5 days.
• 8 bank holiday days.
• Paid 5 days yearly to volunteer through our Sage Foundation.
• 50% income protection.
• Holiday buy + sell.
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage.
• Work away scheme for up to 10 weeks a year.
• Ongoing training and professional development.
• Hybrid working.
• Healthy Mind app membership
• Access to various helpful memberships for finances, health and wellbeing.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCMtTYUUiuU

Product Delivery

United Kingdom

Newcastle;London

Hybrid

Working at Sage means you’re supporting millions of small and medium sized businesses globally with technology to work faster and smarter. We leverage the future of AI, meaning business owners spend less time doing routine tasks, like entering invoices and generating reports, and more time pursuing their ambitions.

Our colleagues are the best of the best. It’s why we were awarded 2024 Best Places to Work by Glassdoor. Because to achieve extraordinary outcomes, we need extraordinary teams. This means infusing Sage with people who knock down barriers, continuously innovate, and want to experience their potential.

Learn more about working at Sage: sage.com/en-gb/company/careers/working-at-sage/

Watch a video about our culture: youtube.com/watch?v=qIoiCpZH-QE

We celebrate individuality and welcome you to join us if you embrace all backgrounds, identities, beliefs, and ways of working. If you need support applying, reach out at [e-mail] .

Learn more about DEI at Sage: sage.com/en-gb/company/careers/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)

Sage is committed to Equal Employment Opportunity and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with physical and/or mental disabilities.

In order to provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all individuals, employment decisions at Sage will be based on merit, qualifications, and abilities. Sage does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, protected disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.