Senior Backend Engineer - Data Platforms

Spherical Analytics; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Context Labs is recruiting a Senior Backend Engineer to drive the Immutably™ Platform, leading large-scale data systems and analytics initiatives. You will mentor engineers, shape architecture, and collaborate with product teams across time zones to deliver scalable solutions.

The role emphasizes technical leadership, API design, and experience with Spark, Airflow, Docker, and Kubernetes in a distributed environment. Amsterdam-based office with global impact.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience developing large-scale or “big data” systems, with strong knowledge of modern application architectures.
• Expertise with modern data processing technologies such as Spark, Flink, and Arrow, including large-scale query processing.
• Experience with workflow orchestration and scheduling platforms such as Dolphin, Dagster, and Airflow.
• Strong programming experience with JVM languages and Python, including Java frameworks such as Spring.
• Proficiency in API development and integration, including RESTful APIs, GraphQL, and gRPC.
• Experience developing data lakes/data fabrics and working with platforms such as Databricks.
• Proficiency with Docker, Kubernetes, microservices, and relational databases such as MySQL and PostgreSQL.
• Experience with digital asset creation/registration, unit and functional testing, and source code management.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to work independently and take ownership of technical initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a technical authority, providing engineering leadership and architectural guidance.
• Design, develop, and maintain data systems and services for the Immutably™ Platform, ensuring scalable, performant, and maintainable solutions.
• Translate business requirements into technical designs, estimates, and development tasks in collaboration with Product and Engineering.
• Lead technical projects using appropriate programming languages, including Java, Scala, and Python.
• Establish engineering best practices through high-quality code, architecture, documentation, and code reviews.
• Collaborate within an Agile development environment to deliver high-quality software.
• Coach and mentor engineers through technical and methodological challenges.
• Coordinate engineering efforts across distributed teams and multiple time zones.
• Anything else as may reasonably be required by the company.

Skills

Big data systems

Leadership

Mentoring

Communication

Architecture design

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field

Tools

Spark

Flink

Arrow

Dolphin

Dagster

Airflow

Java

Spring

RESTful APIs

GraphQL

gRPC

Databricks

Docker

Kubernetes

MySQL

PostgreSQL

Job description

Senior Backend Engineer – Data Platforms

Amsterdam, NL

About This Position

Context Labs is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to help drive forward our product initiatives with our data management platform and analytics spaces. Working as a leader within the development team, the engineer will lead many aspects of developing our “big data” systems, APIs, and related product capabilities; as well as provide thought leadership, upskilling of less senior engineers, and taking part in defining strategic linkages across the company’s products. This role will report to the CTO.

In This Role You Will

• Serve as a technical authority, providing engineering leadership and architectural guidance.
• Design, develop, and maintain data systems and services for the Immutably™ Platform, ensuring scalable, performant, and maintainable solutions.
• Translate business requirements into technical designs, estimates, and development tasks in collaboration with Product and Engineering.
• Lead technical projects using appropriate programming languages, including Java, Scala, and Python.
• Establish engineering best practices through high-quality code, architecture, documentation, and code reviews.
• Collaborate within an Agile development environment to deliver high-quality software.
• Coach and mentor engineers through technical and methodological challenges.
• Coordinate engineering efforts across distributed teams and multiple time zones.
• Anything else as may reasonably be required by the company.

Experience & Skills

• 10+ years of experience developing large-scale or “big data” systems, with strong knowledge of modern application architectures.
• Expertise with modern data processing technologies such as Spark, Flink, and Arrow, including large-scale query processing.
• Experience with workflow orchestration and scheduling platforms such as Dolphin, Dagster, and Airflow.
• Strong programming experience with JVM languages and Python, including Java frameworks such as Spring.
• Proficiency in API development and integration, including RESTful APIs, GraphQL, and gRPC.
• Experience developing data lakes/data fabrics and working with platforms such as Databricks.
• Proficiency with Docker, Kubernetes, microservices, and relational databases such as MySQL and PostgreSQL.
• Experience with digital asset creation/registration, unit and functional testing, and source code management.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to work independently and take ownership of technical initiatives.

Preferred Experience

• Experience with functional programming
• Experience leveraging AI tools – not only building & working with them.
  • Tools such as Github Copilot, Cursor AI, Claude Code, Bolt, Open AI Codex, etc. across all disciplines.
• Experience with languages other than Java
• Experience with frameworks other than Spring (Quarkus/Helidon/etc)
• Experience leading technical talks on topics relating to microservice based systems and processes
• Experience with NoSQL/NewSQL databases
• Experience working with the Delta Sharing, Iceberg ReST and other such protocols
• A bachelor’s degree in computer science or related field

Why You’ll Like It Here

• Context Labs is collaborative at its core. You’ll work within your team and across the organization allowing for continuous learning and discovery.
• We set goals that matter and provide value in all that we do, from building meaningful products to positively impacting carbon reduction and climate change.
• Context Labs’ mission is to transform complex data into continuously proven information. Powered by Immutably™, an innovative, trusted data fabric platform, our integrated solutions deliver context-driven insights that enable human networks to spot patterns, correlate trends – and reveal the ground truth hidden inside the world’s most complicated, persistent problems.

We understand that applying for a job can be intimidating. Applicants rarely meet every single job requirement, and we know there are many skills and backgrounds that will contribute to success in this role.

Context Labs embraces diversity and equal opportunity. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We believe the more inclusive we are, the better our products will be. Context Labs will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, perform essential job functions, and receive other benefits and privileges of employment. If you require accommodation, please contact Human Resources at [e-mail].

Who We Are

Context Labs builds industrial AI data infrastructure for global markets, giving energy and industrial companies trusted data and AI outputs they can defend. Its platform turns fragmented operational and emissions data into continuously proven information, while sensitive data stays within each company’s own environment. Because the data is verified and the workflows validated, one platform can support any output, from carbon management and compliance to commercial use. The company grew out of research at MIT and is led by a team that helped build the internet at scale through earlier companies. Context Labs has offices in Amsterdam, Cambridge, Mass., and Houston, TX. Learn more at www.contextlabs.com.