Senior Backend Engineer - Search (All genders)

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THE ROLE & THE TEAM

We are looking for an experienced Senior Backend Engineer to enhance Zalando’s search systems and improve the shopping experience for millions of customers. In this role, you will build and optimise large-scale, high-throughput services on AWS and Kubernetes, enabling a smarter, more personalised experience that drives financial impact and improves customer engagement. If you thrive in solving complex problems and want to work on high-impact, scalable solutions, we’d love to have you on board.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

Design and scale backend systems that power discovery for 51 M+ customers, ensuring performance, scalability, and reliability.

Build and optimise high-throughput solutions on AWS, Kubernetes, and NoSQL databases.

Collaborate with engineers, product managers, applied scientists and stakeholders to develop innovative, production-ready solutions that boost key business metrics.

Drive continuous improvements, ensuring our systems evolve to support new use cases, product assortments, and long-term growth.

5+ years of experience in backend development, with expertise in Elasticsearch, JVM-based languages (Java or Scala), AWS, and Kubernetes.

Ability to understand and solve customer problems with scalable, high-impact solutions that drive measurable business outcomes.

Strong track record of building backend systems in large-scale production environments.

Excellent communication skills, with a history of leading cross-functional collaborations effectively.

INCLUSIVE BY DESIGN

At Zalando, our vision is to be inclusive by design. And this vision starts with our hiring – we do not discriminate on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation, personal expression, ethnicity, religious belief, or disability status. You are welcome to leave out your picture, age, or marital status from your application. We only assess candidates on their qualifications and merit.

We want to provide you with a great candidate experience. Feel free to inform us of any accommodations you may need, so we can best support you throughout the hiring process.

Zalando provides a range of benefits, here’s an overview of what you can expect. Ask your Talent Acquisition Partner to learn more about what we offer.

Employee shares program

40% off fashion and beauty products sold and shipped by Zalando, 30% off Zalando Lounge, discounts from external partners

2 paid volunteering days a year

Hybrid working model with 60% (or more) remote per week, actual practice is up to each team to best support their collaboration

Work from abroad for up to 30 working days a year

27 days of vacation a year (for Zalando SE)

Relocation assistance available (subject to prior agreement)

Family services, including counseling and support

Health and wellbeing options (including Gympass)

Mental health support and coaching available

Please note that all applications from this job page must be completed using the online form – we do not accept applications via e-mail. Once reviewed, our recruiters will contact applicants via an official Zalando email address (@zalando.de).

In some cases we also work with a selection of headhunters and agencies to fill specific roles. Please note that neither Zalando nor our recruiting partners will ask for any kind of payment to apply for a job or attend an interview.

If you have any questions about our recruitment process, please take a look at our FAQ page .

Software Engineering

Our Software Engineering teams deploy software extensively, managing a broad set of applications and conducting thousands of deployments per week. The Software Engineering team enables Zalando as Europe’s number one multi-brand, digital platform for fashion, beauty, and lifestyle for our partners and customers. As a Zalando Software Engineer, you’ll be part of a community of thousands of colleagues across Europe.

It’s the perfect time to join Zalando on our journey to build the leading pan-European ecosystem for fashion and lifestyle e-commerce. Help us offer an inspiring and quality multi-brand shopping experience for fashion and lifestyle products to about 50 million active customers in 25 markets. Or be part of our logistic infrastructure, software or service capabilities to help brands and retailers run and scale their entire e-commerce business, on or off Zalando. Join our Zalando ecosystem, to enable positive change for the fashion and lifestyle industry.

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