Staff Backend Engineer (Ruby on Rails)

Ruby Developer; Amsterdam; Hybrid; EUR 80,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Vacation days 25 per year

Office + home in Netherlands (flexible

Relocation support to Amsterdam

Personal learning budget

Mentors & coaches

Alleo benefits budget

Bi-annual company offsite retreats

Job summary

SkillLab is hiring a Staff Backend Engineer to lead architectural design, development, and scaling of a large-scale Ruby on Rails platform exposing a JSON API for a React front-end. You will mentor teammates and ensure high-quality delivery while aligning with product goals.

The role emphasizes PostgreSQL optimization, scalable solutions, and collaboration with Product Owners, DevOps, and analysts. You’ll contribute to documentation, drive code quality, and help shape the technical roadmap while

Qualifications

• 10+ years of web development experience, with recent Ruby on Rails expertise.
• Proven PostgreSQL experience with complex query optimization.
• Experience with testing methodologies (Minitest, WebMock or similar).
• Strong backend tooling knowledge: Redis and Solr.
• Solid git-based version control, Jira, and Agile practices.
• Proven ability to lead architecture and planning for major features.
• Enthusiastic and effective in mentoring other developers.
• Excellent problem-solving and debugging skills.

Responsibilities

• Architectural Leadership: lead the architecting and planning for major features.
• Platform Optimization: drive error triaging, debugging, and feature optimization, focusing on PostgreSQL performance.
• Technical Collaboration: partner with Product Owners, DevOps, and analysts to co-design solutions.
• Mentorship & Quality: elevate team standards through code reviews and technical direction.
• Product Partnership: review and contribute to product requirements and roadmaps.
• Knowledge Sharing: create clear technical documentation for knowledge transfer.

Skills

Ruby on Rails

PostgreSQL

Minitest

WebMock

Redis

Solr

Git

Jira

Agile

Architectural leadership

Mentoring

Debugging

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

FluxCD

Job description

We are hiring a Staff Backend Engineer who will lead the technical design, development, and scaling of a large-scale software platform built on Ruby on Rails, exposing a JSON API for a React front-end. This role requires architectural leadership, a commitment to code quality, and active mentorship of team members.

Responsibilities

• Architectural Leadership: Lead the architecting and planning for major features, ensuring solutions are scalable, modular, and align with the platform's long-term strategy.
• Platform Optimization: Drive error triaging, debugging, and feature optimization, focusing on enhancing PostgreSQL database performance and improving overall system scaling.
• Technical Collaboration: Partner directly with client Product Owners, DevOps, and analysts to co-design solutions that align technical specifications with their existing infrastructure and business workflows.
• Mentorship & Quality: Elevate team standards through high-quality code reviews, providing technical direction, and ensuring features are delivered with minimal QA rework.
• Product Partnership: Actively review and contribute to product requirements, translating strategic business goals into clear technical roadmaps.
• Knowledge Sharing: Create clear technical documentation to facilitate knowledge transfer and reduce organizational dependencies.

About SkillLab

At SkillLab, we envision a world where everyone has a pathway to employment. We enable and lead a radical change - a transition toward skill-based labor and education markets. Our AI-driven technology creates more inclusive and efficient markets by connecting people with jobs and education through the universal language of skills. SkillLab is working with employment and career services in 35+ countries and seeks to transform labor and education markets globally. SkillLab’s innovative use of AI was recognised with awards like Google AI for Impact, UNESCO Top 10 uses of AI and the European Social Innovation Competition 2021, among other awards.

Skills

• 10+ years of web development experience. Most recent experience in Ruby on Rails.
• Proven experience with PostgreSQL and complex query optimization.
• Demonstrated expertise in testing methodologies (e.g., minitest, webmock or similar tools).
• Strong understanding of backend tooling: Redis and Solr.
• Strong grasp of git-based version control, Jira, and Agile software development practices.
• Proven ability to take the lead on architecture and planning for major features.
• Enthusiastic and effective in supporting and mentoring other developers.
• Excellent problem-solving and debugging skills.

Extra awesome

• Ability to read, understand, and contribute to the Typescript/React front-end.
• Experience in optimizing Docker-based builds.
• Experience with deploying Kubernetes (manual or via IaaC systems like FluxCD).

Salary & start-date

• We use a salary benchmark for the Dutch high-tech sector to set your salary based on your experience. We expect that the annual gross salary for the experience we are looking for ranges from 80k-90k Euro per year.
• We accept applications on a rolling basis, and we envision a start date in as soon as possible.

Benefits

• You will enjoy 25 paid vacation days per year (20 days as the statutory minimum holiday entitlement in the Netherlands plus 5 extra days from SkillLab).
• You can work flexibly from our office in Amsterdam and home within the Netherlands. You can also extend your holiday stay in a different country and work from abroad for a limited period of time.
• You will get an extensive relocation support to move to Amsterdam including visa sponsorship, 30% ruling application, your plane tickets, covered real estate agent fees, etc.
• You will have a personal learning budget to invest in your professional development.
• You will have access to mentors & coaches (SkillLab is part of the Google for Startups SDG accelerator).
• You will have access to a monthly flexible budget of benefits via Alleo app. You can spend this budget on a large selection of providers, ranging from gym memberships to bike subscriptions and online stores.
• You will join our bi-annual company offsite retreats in different locations like Belgium, the Netherlands etc.

What Else To Know

• This job description is intended to provide a general overview of the position and may be subject to change based on the organization's requirements and priorities.
• Get 4 tips for your job application at SkillLab: https://skilllab.io/en-us/news/skilllabjobapplication
• Read more about our compensation framework: https://skilllab.io/en-us/news/skilllab-compensation
• Learn more about SkillLab’s social life: https://skilllab.io/en-us/news/social-life-at-skilllab
• SkillLab is committed to diversity, equality and inclusion at the workplace. We welcome applications of candidates from all backgrounds. Read more about DEI: https://skilllab.io/en-us/news/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-at-skilllab