Senior Software Developer – Scala

CyberNorth; Newcastle upon Tyne; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

CyberNorth is seeking a Senior Backend Developer to join the HCM Localisation engineering team in Newcastle. You will build scalable backend services, support complex product workflows, and modernise the platform.

The role is hybrid with three days per week in the Newcastle office. Key focus areas include Scala 2.13, Play Framework, Pekko, MySQL, Redis, and AWS, with emphasis on clean code, testing, and performance tuning.

Qualifications

• Extensive backend development experience in enterprise/cloud environments.
• Strong hands-on Scala with functional design and Futures.
• Proficient in Play Framework or equivalent JVM frameworks; Pekko/Akka knowledge is a plus.
• Deep MySQL knowledge: queries, indexing and profiling for performance.
• Experience with Redis caching and AWS cloud services.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain robust backend services in Scala 2.13 and Play Framework.
• Implement scalable, fault-tolerant data access patterns and optimise SQL.
• Build, deploy, and support services in AWS with DevOps collaboration.
• Contribute to CI/CD pipelines, PR reviews, and engineering best practices.
• Collaborate with frontend, QA, product, and other backend teams to deliver increments.
• Improve observability and reduce technical debt for production stability.
• Participate in distributed Agile teams and take ownership of complex problems.

Skills

Scala

Play Framework

Pekko/Akka

MySQL

Redis

AWS

CI/CD

Git workflows

Agile teams

Tools

Git

CI/CD tooling

Job description

We are looking for a Senior 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 office ***

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:

• Extensive 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.