Senior Backend Software Engineer

DEPOP; United Kingdom; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

An eCommerce platform based in the UK seeks a Senior Backend Software Engineer. In this role, you will collaborate with Engineering and Product Managers, develop high-quality code, and drive technical solutions for over 1 million active users. A successful candidate will have a strong background in several programming languages, experience with scalable web applications, and a product-oriented mindset. Competitive benefits include flexible working options, health plans, and a generous leave policy.

Benefits

Health and wellbeing support

Cycle to Work scheme

Flexible working options

Paid sabbatical after 5 years

Parental leave

Qualifications

• Experience with high-quality code in JVM languages and TypeScript.
• Proficient in relational and NoSQL databases, ideally PostgreSQL and DynamoDB.
• Solid evidence of software engineering experience.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with teams to design solutions and produce clean code.
• Mentor colleagues and manage code through its lifecycle.
• Engage in agile practices and continuous improvement events.

Skills

Scala

Java

Typescript

Python

Relational databases

NoSQL

Stream processing

DevOps culture

Kubernetes

Job description

Job Description

Depop is looking for an experienced Senior Backend Software Engineer to join us permanently.

Within this role, you'll be working with 5+ backend engineers, EM and Product Manager to drive the team to success. The team is backend focussed and manages various backend systems at the core of Depop.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with Engineering Managers, Product Managers, and various Engineers to understand problems and to design solutions
• Produce high-quality code that is well-structured and simple to understand that will be used by 1M+ active daily users
• Take ownership of product development, from feature discovery, to the breakdown of work, and its implementation
• End-to-end application support, including production incident management
• Embrace agile methodologies and user‑centred thinking
• Engage in a culture of continuous improvement by attending events such as blameless post‑mortems, architecture reviews, and engineering guild sessions.
• Collaborate on a daily basis with fellow engineers in the cross‑functional environment to solve problems and write code
• Mentor and coach your colleagues
• Own your code, workflows and data through their entire lifecycle
• The language you use should be a tool to solve a problem and not fixate on a specific language. We are looking for an engineer who is happy working across different tech stacks.

Desired Experience

• Writing high quality code in Scala, Java, or another JVM language. Typescript or Python experience is also a big plus. The language you use should be a tool to solve a problem and not fixate on a specific language. We are looking for an engineer who is happy working across different tech stacks.
• Relational databases, ideally Postgres
• NoSql datastores (e.g. DynamoDB)
• Stream processing: (e.g. Kafka)
• Experience building scalable web applications serving 10,000s of requests per second
• DevOps culture (CI/CD pipeline)
• Ability to proactively find and solve complex problems independently, but also know when to seek guidance or help from your peers.
• Product-oriented mindset with a focus on solving real business problems rather than over‑engineering solutions.
• Experience with iterative development using A/B testing

Must Haves

• Solid software engineering experience. Strong evidence that you can learn our TypeScript and Scala stack effectively.
• Willing to work across multiple paradigms and languages, such as backend or data work, using TypeScript, Scala and Python.
• Strong technical and non-technical communication skills
• Proficient in testing solutions at different levels - unit and integration -
• Experience with relational or non-relational databases, preferably PostgreSQL and DynamoDB
• Experience with Kubernetes or similar

Bonus Points

• Experience with Play framework
• Experience with eCommerce
• Experience with event‑driven architectures, preferably using Kafka
• Experience in using production AWS infrastructure, ideally with Terraform
• Experience with Python
• Experience with data engineering

Additional Information

Health + Mental Wellbeing PMI and cash plan healthcare access with Bupa Subsidised counselling and coaching with Self Space Cycle to Work scheme with options from Evans or the Green Commute Initiative Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for 24/7 confidential support Mental Health First Aiders across the business for support and signposting Work/Life Balance: 25 days annual leave with option to carry over up to 5 days 1 company-wide day off per quarter Impact hours: Up to 2 days additional paid leave per year for volunteering Fully paid 4 week sabbatical after completion of 5 years of consecutive service with Depop, to give you a chance to recharge or do something you love. Flexible Working: MyMode hybrid-working model with Flex, Office Based, and Remote options *role dependant All offices are dog-friendly Ability to work abroad for 4 weeks per year in UK tax treaty countries Family Life: 18 weeks of paid parental leave for full‑time regular employees IVF leave, shared parental leave, and paid emergency parent/carer leave Learn + Grow: Budgets for conferences, learning subscriptions, and more Mentorship and programmes to upskill employees Your Future: Life Insurance (financial compensation of 3x your salary) Pension matching up to 6% of qualifying earnings Depop Extras: Employees enjoy free shipping on their Depop sales within the UK. Special milestones are celebrated with gifts and rewards!