Zola is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to contribute to the architecture, design, and implementation of foundational services for their e-commerce and wedding planning product suite, addressing challenges in scalability, performance, and reliability.
Requirements
- You have 5+ years of professional experience in backend software development, with a proven track record of shipping high-quality, scalable products.
- You possess deep expertise in Java and are proficient with modern development tools, including AI coding assistants (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Claude Code).
- You have strong experience with distributed systems, microservices architecture, and designing RESTful APIs.
- You are experienced with both a relational data store such as PostgreSQL and one or more NoSQL data stores (e.g., Redis, MongoDB).
- You have hands-on experience designing, building, and operating production systems on a major cloud platform, such as AWS.
- Experience with other languages like Scala is a plus.
- A B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science or a related field is preferred.
Responsibilities
- Lead the design and development of scalable, secure, and maintainable backend microservices and APIs within our service-oriented architecture.
- Write high-quality, efficient, and testable code, primarily in Java, deployed on Amazon Web Services (AWS).
- Partner closely with product managers, front-end engineers, and other stakeholders to define features and deliver compelling solutions for our couples and vendors.
- Mentor other engineers through thoughtful code reviews and design discussions, actively contributing to a culture of shared knowledge and growth.
- Take ownership of the full software development lifecycle, from technical design to deployment, monitoring, and maintenance in a production environment.
- Proactively identify performance bottlenecks and scaling issues, and re-architect systems to ensure they can handle growing traffic and data volumes.
- Stay current with emerging technologies and industry trends, particularly within the AI ecosystem, and advocate for their adoption where they can improve our platform and processes.
Other
- You are a product-minded engineer who thinks about the end-user and is passionate about building robust, well-designed backend systems.
- You enjoy collaborating with cross-functional teams, including product managers, designers, and other engineers, to translate complex product requirements into scalable technical solutions.
- You have excellent communication skills and can clearly articulate complex technical ideas to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- You are a pragmatic and analytical thinker who is adept at breaking down complex problems and driving them to resolution.
- This full-time role will be hybrid at our office in NYC (Tuesdays & Thursdays).
