Sr Backend Engineer

Taboola; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision insurance

401(k) matching

Hybrid work schedule

Fully stocked kitchen

Parking

Discretionary bonus

Equity opportunity

Job summary

Taboola is hiring a senior backend engineer in Los Angeles to build and scale high-performance systems. You will design and implement robust services, manage real-time data pipelines, and own production health.

Strong Java/Spring, database, and distributed-systems experience are essential, with exposure to Docker/Kubernetes and modern CI practices. You’ll collaborate with cross-functional teams, including Tel Aviv partners, and leverage AI-assisted tooling to speed delivery while maintaining

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or advanced degree in a relevant field.
• 5+ years of hands-on Java coding with Spring Framework.
• Strong understanding of databases, with MySQL/Cassandra experience.
• Experience with big data tools (Spark, Hadoop, BigQuery).
• Containerization and orchestration using Docker/Kubernetes.
• Experience with Git version control.
• Experience with microservices, RESTful APIs, and event-driven messaging (Kafka).
• Knowledge of real-time search/recommendation pipelines (Vespa/Elasticsearch/Solr).
• System design mindset and ownership of production systems.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Product teams to design scalable backend solutions.
• Design, code, and manage integration projects end-to-end in SCRUM.
• Develop highly scalable backend services and data pipelines handling billions of events.
• Take ownership of production health: monitor, troubleshoot, and perform root-cause analysis.
• Leverage AI coding assistants to accelerate prototyping and debugging.

Skills

Java

Spring Framework

Backend development

RESTful APIs

Kafka

Distributed systems

Docker

Kubernetes

Git

Elasticsearch/Solr

Vespa

Python

Education

Bachelor’s or advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

MySQL

Cassandra

Apache Spark

Hadoop

Google BigQuery

Job description

Realize your potential by joining the leading performance-driven advertising company and a proud Great Place to Work® Certified employer in the US!

To thrive in this role, you’ll need:

• Bachelor’s or advanced degree in a relevant field, ideally Computer Science, Engineering, or similar.
• 5+ years of hands-on Java coding and experience with the Spring Framework.
• Strong understanding of database and search/serving concepts, with experience in relational, NoSQL (e.g., MySQL, Cassandra).
• Experience with big data processing and analytics tools (e.g., Apache Spark, Hadoop, Google BigQuery).
• Experience with containerization and orchestration tools (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience with modern version control systems (specifically Git).
• Thorough understanding of backend integration concepts, microservices architecture, RESTful APIs, and event-driven messaging (e.g., Kafka, web services).
• Experience building and scaling real-time search, recommendation, or vector-search pipelines (specifically using Vespa or similar technologies like Elasticsearch/Solr).
• System-architecture mindset — ability to design scalable, reliable, high-performance systems.
• Experience taking end-to-end ownership of systems—using AI-assisted tools (e.g., Cursor, Claude, Codex).
• Ability to communicate technical findings clearly, and to collaborate effectively across teams (including early morning or evening syncs with our Tel Aviv team).
• Experience supporting production systems, including participating in on-call rotations, troubleshooting live issues, and driving root-cause fixes.

Bonus points if you have:

• Experience developing models, algorithms and infrastructure to support large-scale data-mining and machine learning systems.
• Experience in Python coding.

How you’ll make an impact:

• Be a builder and problem solver – work closely with our Product team and architects to reach optimal technology solutions.
• Work in a SCRUM environment designing, coding, and managing integration projects from conception to completion.
• Develop highly scalable backend services and robust data processing pipelines to handle billions of high-throughput events and terabytes of data daily.
• Take end-to-end ownership to design, build, measure, and maintain complex backend systems. Use AI coding assistants as force multipliers for rapid prototyping, feature delivery, and troubleshooting, grounded in strong engineering discipline and rigorous code review.
• Own the health of your services in production: monitor performance, respond to incidents, lead root-cause analysis, and make improvements that keep Taboola services and system reliable at scale.

Why Taboola?

• Adam Singolda, Taboola Founder and CEO says; "You can copy anything from another business but you can't copy a company's culture."
• Well-being: Enjoy comprehensive benefits (health, dental, vision, 401k matching), a fully stocked kitchen and parking.
• Flexibility: We offer a hybrid work schedule with 3 days in-office with an option to come in more often if desired.
• Work with some of the biggest names: Our publisher partners include Yahoo, Conde Nast, Fox Sports, NBCU, ESPN, CBS, and E! Online. Our advertiser clients include Wells Fargo, Honda, Pinterest, and Expedia.

Ready to realize your potential?

Taboola is an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity in all forms. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and believe such an environment is critical for success. Employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit, and business need.

Taboola empowers businesses to grow through performance advertising technology that goes beyond search and social and delivers measurable outcomes at scale.

Taboola works with thousands of businesses who advertise directly on Realize, Taboola’s powerful ad platform, reaching approximately 600M daily active users across some of the best publishers in the world. Publishers like NBC News, Yahoo, and OEMs such as Samsung, Xiaomi and others use Taboola’s technology to grow audience and revenue, enabling Realize to offer unique data, specialized algorithms, and unmatched scale.

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#LI-Hybrid

The pay offered may vary depending on several factors such as location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. We may offer several perks as part of the compensation package that include a discretionary bonus, equity, flexible PTO, medical/dental/vision insurance, a competitive 401(k) match, paid parental leave, and more.