(Senior) Software Engineer (m/f/d) - AI-First Development

zvoove; United States; Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Dog-friendly offices

Pension plan

Health management

Employee discounts

Job summary

zvoove is seeking a senior software engineer to own the end-to-end technical delivery of a product or major feature area in an AI-first environment. You will write specs, orchestrate AI coding agents, and evaluate their output against tests before production on a cloud-native PHP platform using Kubernetes and multiple databases.

You'll partner with Product on solution design and align integration boundaries with other engineering teams. Business-fluent German and English are required.

Qualifications

• Several years of professional software engineering experience with PHP and databases.
• Experience cloud-native development and Kubernetes (Azure AKS / AWS EKS).
• Hands-on experience using AI coding agents and reviewing their output critically.
• Business-fluent written and spoken German and English.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end technical delivery including architecture decisions and platform migrations.
• Build core platform components on a PHP backend with databases and Kubernetes.
• Translate customer needs into specs for AI coding agents.
• Review AI-generated code for tests, correctness, and bias before production.
• Partner with Product to align integration boundaries with other teams.

Skills

Software engineering

Cloud-native development

AI coding agents

Architecture design

German and English fluency

Tools

PHP

MySQL/MariaDB

MongoDB

Kubernetes

Azure AKS

AWS EKS

Job description

Role overview

This is a senior-level engineering position focused on owning the end-to-end technical delivery of a product or substantial feature area, from architectural decisions through to production. The work is AI-first: the engineer writes specifications, orchestrates AI coding agents, and critically evaluates their output rather than producing every line of code by hand. The role partners closely with a Product counterpart and operates within a cloud-native platform built on PHP, container orchestration, and a mix of relational and document databases.

Responsibilities

• Drive the full technical lifecycle of an owned product or large feature area, including architecture choices and platform migrations such as upgrades to newer language runtimes and movement to an AWS-hosted environment.
• Build and evolve core platform components on a PHP backend backed by MySQL/MariaDB, MongoDB, and Kubernetes (AKS/EKS).
• Translate customer needs into precise, unambiguous specifications that AI coding agents can implement, while pushing back on requirements that do not hold up under business scrutiny.
• Review AI-generated code against tests and outcomes, flagging inconsistencies, hallucinations, and bias before changes reach production.
• Act as an equal partner to the Product function on solution design and align integration boundaries with neighbouring engineering teams.

Requirements

• Several years of professional software engineering experience, ideally including hands-on work with PHP and with both relational and document databases (MySQL/MariaDB, MongoDB).
• Background in cloud-native development and operating workloads on Kubernetes, particularly Azure AKS and/or AWS EKS.
• Demonstrated, hands-on experience using AI coding agents: writing specs, orchestrating agent workflows, and reviewing their output critically.
• Ability to make independent architecture and technology decisions across a sizeable scope.
• Business-fluent written and spoken German and English.

Nice to have

• Experience modernising long-lived, established software systems.
• Familiarity with Responsible AI principles and AI governance, for example in the context of the EU AI Act.
• Front-end or cross-platform experience with React, Angular, or Ionic/Capacitor, and exposure to B2B2C products with high availability requirements.

Benefits and work setup

• Hybrid working model combining office presence, home office, mobile work, and workation options.
• Structured onboarding plus ongoing learning through training sessions and informal, interdisciplinary formats.
• Support for professional development, including qualifications and growth opportunities.
• A range of perks such as a pension scheme, health management offerings, and employee discounts.
• Dog-friendly offices.