Software Architect

Accion Labs Europe; Poland; On-site; PLN 250,000 - 360,000; Full time

Job summary

Accion Labs Europe seeks a hands-on VPN Backend Architect to lead our backend team and spend ~70% of time coding in Golang. You will set the technical direction for our backend platform and own architecture for fast, secure distributed services.

You will partner with the SDK team to deliver client features end-to-end, mentor engineers, and champion testing and best practices. This role balances design with active coding and delivery.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience in CS
• 5+ years backend engineering experience, 3+ years with Golang
• Experience designing and operating distributed systems at scale
• Deep understanding of networking: IP, TCP, UDP, HTTP/HTTPS, DNS
• Hands-on VPN experience: WireGuard/OpenVPN/IPsec
• Knowledge of cryptography, threat modeling and secure coding
• Strong API design and durable interfaces between services
• AWS production experience: EC2, EKS, S3, Aurora/RDS
• Experience with Docker and Kubernetes
• Excellent debugging, problem solving and collaboration skills
• Strong communication and leadership by example

Responsibilities

• Define and evolve backend architecture for scalable services
• Design and operate highly available distributed services
• Set direction around scalability, reliability, performance
• Partner with SDK team to integrate client features
• Lead code reviews and promote testing and clean architecture
• Mentor engineers and grow technical depth
• Collaborate with security, infra and product teams

Skills

Backend engineering

Distributed systems design

Team leadership

Communication

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related field

Master's degree in CS or related field

Tools

Golang

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

Prometheus

Grafana

OpenTelemetry

WireGuard

OpenVPN

IPsec

Job description

We are seeking a hands-on VPN Backend Architect to lead our backend team while remaining actively involved in development. You'll set the technical direction for our backend platform, guide an engineering team, and spend roughly 70% of your time writing Golang code.

You'll own architecture decisions for distributed services that need to be fast, reliable, and secure at scale, while partnering closely with our SDK team to deliver client features end-to-end.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys both designing secure, scalable systems and writing the code that powers them.

Responsibilities

• Define and evolve the architecture of a backend platform serving connections from millions of users
• Design and build highly available, distributed services in Golang
• Set technical direction around scalability, reliability, and performance
• Partner with the SDK team to integrate client features cleanly into backend systems
• Lead code reviews and champion testing, clean architecture, and engineering best practices
• Mentor engineers and help grow the team's technical depth
• Collaborate with security, infrastructure, and product teams to deliver reliable products

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• 5+ years of backend engineering experience, including 3+ years with Golang
• Proven experience designing and operating distributed systems at scale
• Deep understanding of networking protocols, including IP, TCP, UDP, HTTP/HTTPS, and DNS
• Hands‑on experience with VPN protocols such as WireGuard, OpenVPN, or IPsec, as well as tunneling, NAT traversal, and low‑latency networking
• Working knowledge of cryptography fundamentals, threat modeling, and secure coding practices
• Strong API design skills and experience defining clear, durable interfaces between services
• Production experience with AWS, including EC2, EKS, S3, and managed databases such as Aurora or RDS
• Experience with Docker and Kubernetes
• Excellent debugging, problem‑solving, and collaboration skills
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical topics to varied audiences and lead by example

Nice to Have

• Master's degree in Computer Science or a related field
• Experience with network performance tuning and optimization
• Knowledge of Python and Java
• Experience with NoSQL databases
• Experience with load and performance analysis of server software
• Familiarity with observability tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, or OpenTelemetry