Senior Software Engineer (Backend)

Navan; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Navan seeks a Senior Software Engineer (Backend) to design and scale backend systems powering a global corporate expense platform. You will contribute to AI-first engineering initiatives, building features for payments, accounting integrations, and policy automation.

The ideal candidate has 4-6 years of experience with Java and Spring Boot, strong distributed systems skills, and hands-on AWS expertise. A degree in CS or related field is required, with fintech/payments experience a plus.

Qualifications

• 4-6 years of experience building and scaling complex systems in fast-paced, high-growth, or large-scale environments.
• Java and Spring Boot mastery with a solid understanding of JVM performance and optimisation.
• Experience with AI-integrated development to build intelligent features and improve productivity.
• Strong systems architecture with distributed microservices and API design, plus cloud proficiency (AWS).
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.

Responsibilities

• Build at scale: design and develop robust, high-performance backend features and core services for a global customer base.
• Solve complex problems: apply deep technical expertise to improve reliability, performance, and user experience.
• Deliver customer-facing solutions with end-to-end ownership from design through deployment and support.
• Collaborate across teams: work with global, cross-functional partners to deliver impactful solutions.
• Contribute to engineering culture by championing code quality, testing, monitoring, and documentation.

Skills

Java

Spring Boot

Distributed systems

API design

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science

Tools

AWS

Microservices

Job description

Navan has transformed the corporate travel, payment, and expense landscape by consistently prioritising user needs. We are seeking a Senior Software Engineer (Backend) for our AI-first engineering team to drive the architecture of a next-generation corporate expense management platform. In this role, you will scale backend systems powering global commerce, payments, issuing platforms, and payment/money ledgers, while building infrastructure for automated policy management, granular admin controls, and seamless accounting system integrations.

What You'll Do

• Build at Scale: Design and develop robust, high-performance features and core services that support the company's flagship product and serve a global customer base.
• Solve Complex Problems: Apply deep technical expertise and creativity to address large-scale engineering challenges, driving improvements in reliability, performance, and user experience.
• Deliver Customer-Facing Solutions: Take end-to-end ownership of features—from design and development to deployment and operational support—ensuring exceptional quality and value for users.
• Collaborate Across Teams: Work effectively as part of a global, cross-functional team, partnering with fellow engineers, product managers, designers, and business leaders to deliver impactful solutions and elevate team performance.
• Contribute to Engineering Culture: Champion best practices in code quality, scalability, documentation, monitoring, and testing, fostering a culture of technical excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Learn and Grow: Stay engaged with new technologies and industry trends, bringing a growth mindset and a passion for delivering elegant solutions to complex problems.

What We're Looking For

• 4-6 years of experience building and scaling complex systems in fast-paced, high-growth, or large-scale environments (open to exceptional candidates with less experience).
• Java & Spring Mastery: Proficiency in Java and Spring Boot, with a solid understanding of JVM performance and optimisation.
• AI Integration: Proven experience leveraging AI models and AI-driven development to build intelligent, automated features and enhance engineering productivity.
• Systems Architecture: Strong experience with distributed systems, microservices, and API design, including practical expertise with AWS or other cloud platforms.
• Product Experience: Hands-on experience developing and maintaining consumer-facing or core business products at scale.
• Ownership Mentality: A record of delivering production-quality, maintainable code, and supporting features post-release through monitoring and troubleshooting.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborative team player able to work effectively with global, cross-functional partners.
• Technical Excellence: Commitment to engineering best practices in testing, documentation, scalability, and code quality, coupled with a passion for tackling technically demanding and customer-impacting challenges.
• Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.

Bonus Qualifications

• Fintech or payments processing experience is a plus.
• Comfort with financial or workflow-heavy domains: expenses, payments, ERP, tax, or similarly high-stakes data.

Navan uses AI-assisted Automated Employment Decision Tool (Metaview) to assist with evaluating resumes against job qualifications for this role. All final decisions are made by human recruiters and hiring managers.

Human oversight: Metaview does not automatically reject candidates or make final hiring decisions. Our recruiters and hiring managers review all outputs and make the final hiring decision regarding every application.

• Your rights: If you prefer to have your application reviewed without AI assistance, you may request a human evaluation by entering your email here. Your decision to do so will not affect how your candidacy is evaluated.

Please refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about our processing of personal data, and your rights.