Staff Software Engineer- (Analytics, Backend)

Optimizely; Camden Town; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A dynamic technology company in the UK is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead the development of scalable backend systems. You will work closely with product and UX teams to deliver impactful features and mentor junior engineers. The ideal candidate has over 8 years of experience in software development and a strong foundation in system design and cloud-native architectures. Join a rapidly growing team and impact the future of analytics.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software development experience.
• 5+ years of backend experience in large-scale systems.
• Hands-on experience with cloud-native architectures.

Responsibilities

• Design and evolve architecture for distributed systems.
• Drive technical excellence and mentor engineers.
• Collaborate with teams to deliver impactful features.

Skills

Software development

System design

API design

Performance tuning

Cloud-native architectures

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent

Tools

Java

CI/CD pipelines

Containerization

Job description

As a Staff Software Engineer, you will be a technical leader responsible for shaping the foundation of Optimizely Analytics' backend systems and scaling them to meet the needs of our rapidly growing customer base. You will:

Responsibilities

• Design and evolve the architecture of highly scalable, reliable, and secure distributed systems.
• Drive technical excellence across the engineering organization by setting standards for code quality, system design, observability, and operational best practices.
• Collaborate closely with Product, UX, and Application Engineering teams to deliver impactful features while ensuring architectural soundness and scalability.
• Mentor and guide senior and mid-level engineers, fostering technical growth and elevating the overall team's capabilities.
• Anticipate and address complex system challenges such as performance optimization, fault tolerance, and data‑intensive workloads.
• Influence product direction, leveraging deep technical insight to shape road

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of software development experience with strong foundations in data structures, algorithms, and distributed systems.
• 5+ years of backend experience building, deploying, and operating large‑scale distributed systems in production.
• Deep expertise in system design, API design, scalability, and performance tuning.
• Proficiency in at least one modern backend programming language (Java preferred).
• Hands‑on experience with cloud‑native architectures, containerization, orchestration, and CI/CD pipelines.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience as a technical lead or staff engineer, driving large cross‑functional initiatives to completion.
• Experience building enterprise‑grade backend infrastructure that handles high‑volume, low‑latency workloads.
• Proven ability to influence architecture and technical strategy across multiple teams.
• A track record of mentoring engineers and scaling engineering organizations.
• Passion for working in fast‑paced environments where you wear multiple hats and influence both product and technology.

Core Competencies

• Displaying Technical Expertise
• Communicating Effectively
• Solving Complex Problems
• Demonstrating Initiative
• Delivering High Quality Work

Company Overview

At Optimizely, we are on a mission to help people unlock their digital potential. We do that by reinventing how marketing and product teams work to create and optimize digital experiences across all channels. With Optimizely One, our industry‑first operating system for marketers, we offer teams flexibility and choice to build their stack their way with our fully SaaS, fully decoupled, and highly composable solution.

We are proud to help more than 10,000 businesses, including H&M, PayPal, Zoom, and Toyota, enrich their customer lifetime value, increase revenue and grow their brands. Our innovation and excellence have earned us numerous recognitions as a leader by industry analysts such as Gartner, Forrester, and IDC, reinforcing our role as a trailblazer in MarTech. At our core, we believe work is about more than just numbers — it's about the people. Our culture is dynamic and constantly evolving, shaped by every employee, their actions and their stories. With over 1500 Optimizers spread across 12 global locations, our diverse team embodies the "One Optimizely" spirit, emphasizing collaboration and continuous improvement, while fostering a culture where every voice is heard and valued. Join us and become part of a company that's empowering people to unlock their digital potential.

Optimizely Analytics is the industry leading warehouse‑native analytics platform. We are used by Canva, Grammarly, Alaska Airlines, and many more to unlock data‑driven decisions for experiment analysis, product analytics, sales analytics and beyond. You will work in a small, nimble team. Our team prides itself on shipping with speed and having our engineers make product and design decisions with ownership and autonomy. As the newest addition to the Optimizely product portfolio, with a rapidly growing customer base there is tremendous opportunity to work on exciting and impactful areas of the product.