Staff Backend Engineer (Scala)

Engg; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Gen is seeking a Staff Backend Engineer (Scala) to design and deliver large-scale backend systems powering partner-facing and internal APIs within the Enterprise Engine stack.

You will shape architectural decisions, mentor engineers, and collaborate with product and business teams to ensure scalable, high-quality software across the organization. The role emphasizes distributed systems, data integrity, and performance at scale.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering experience.
• 2+ years in senior engineering roles.
• Experience with Scala or JVM languages.
• Experience with RESTful APIs and service-oriented architecture.
• Expertise in PostgreSQL and AWS.
• Experience with Kafka or MSK and event streaming.
• Strong design patterns and functional programming.
• Mentorship and leadership experience.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement large-scale backend systems creating new partner-facing and internal data-driven APIs.
• Review code with emphasis on readability and maintainability.
• Write API and technical documentation for services and new architecture.
• Optimize database schemas to support scalable, high-performance backend services.
• Contribute to RFC process by writing technical proposals and feedback to others.
• Mentor and guide technical growth of engineering talent.
• Be a resource for solving hard technical problems across teams and projects.
• Stay up-to-date with the state of the software industry.

Skills

Scala

RESTful APIs

Event-driven

PostgreSQL

AWS

Code review

Mentorship

Distributed systems

Tools

Kafka/MSK

Kubernetes

Docker

Terraform

Datadog

Job description

Staff Backend Engineer (Scala) Backend Core Enterprise Engine by Gen collaborates with leading financial institutions to deliver the most comprehensive and personalized financial product offers to consumers. As a Staff Engineer on the Backend Core Enterprise team, you’ll play a pivotal role in shaping products that integrate seamlessly with existing features, data, and infrastructure across the organization. These API-driven solutions power internal systems and are packaged for delivery to our extensive partner network. The team’s mission is to amplify the impact of existing verticals while engineering industry-leading architecture designed for scale, speed, and innovation.

Get ready to shape the future of scalable, high-impact distributed systems. As a Staff Engineer in this role, you’ll drive the technical design and delivery of complex software solutions that impact the entire organization. By defining and building an internal software platform, you’ll empower teams to deliver predictable, high-quality features at scale. Collaborating with stakeholders and partners, you’ll refine architectural constraints and requirements, ensuring alignment with both immediate needs and long-term goals. Your expertise will guide the organization’s architectural strategy, and your influence will extend through design and code reviews, technical mentorship, and fostering a culture of excellence in hiring and innovation.

Day-to-day:

• Design and implement large-scale backend software systems creating new partner-facing and internal data-driven APIs.
• Review code with an emphasis on readability and maintainability
• Write API and technical documentation for services and new architecture.
• Optimize database schemas to support scalable, high-performance backend services.
• Contribute to our RFC process by writing technical proposals and providing feedback to others
• Mentor and guide technical growth of engineering talent
• Be a resource for solving hard, technical problems across teams and projects
• Stay up-to-date with the state of the software industry

Qualifications:

• A minimum of 8+ years of experience in software engineering
• 2+ years of proven success in senior engineering roles
• Demonstrated success collaborating across engineering, product, and business functions to deliver functionality
• Meticulous attention to detail in reviewing others' and your own work
• Experience developing and testing in Scala or other JVM languages
• Solid understanding of software design patterns, functional programming, and database schema design
• Experience designing highly scalable event streaming architecture using Kafka/MSK or equivalent.
• Experience with service-oriented architecture and RESTful API design
• Expertise in PostgreSQL
• Expertise in AWS product and tools
• Knowledge of monitoring and observability tools, including Datadog or equivalent

Good to have, not required:

• Experience in customer-facing roles
• Familiar with modern DevOps tooling
  • Kubernetes/Docker
  • Terraform
• Familiar with Scala and the Lightbend and Typelevel ecosystems
  • Lightbend: Slick, Play/Play JSON
  • Typelevel: http4s, doobie/skunk, circe, cats, cats-effect
  • Debezium