Senior Backend Engineer

Job Title: Senior Backend Engineer

Department: Product Engineering

Basis: Full-time, permanent

Location: Canary Wharf, London - WeWork

Reporting to: Director of Product Engineering

About the role

We're looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to design and own the systems that power our product. You will take end-to-end ownership of features with particular depth in APIs, data flows, and backend architecture, while remaining full-stack — comfortable shipping the frontend work needed to see a feature through without handing off. You'll take operational responsibility for what you build, help shape the team's technical direction, and mentor others as you go.

Want to dig deeper?

If you’re curious about what it’s really like to build at Onetrace, we’ve written more about our approach, straight from the people you’ll be working with:

• Our Product Engineering Culture – by Luca Carangella, Director of Product Engineering, on how we think about engineering and collaboration.
• Building Products for Subcontractors – by our Co-Founders, Lewis and Greg, outlining the mindset and manifesto that guide how we build.

What you’ll do

• Own end-to-end delivery of features that solve real product problems, with particular depth in the application logic and database layers, through to shipped functionality across the stack
• Design and implement complex data flows, API integrations, and background processing systems that handle high-volume operations reliably while maintaining system performance and data integrity
• Take operational responsibility for what you build — from architecture and implementation through to how it behaves in production
• Build performant, well-tested backend services, while staying hands-on with the frontend so you can take a feature all the way through without handing off — avoiding a backend-only silo
• Use product metrics, engineering signals, and feedback from your team to inform technical decisions, prioritise improvements, and validate that shipped features deliver measurable value
• Partner with product and design to shape solutions early, translating requirements into technical architecture and surfacing risks and opportunities that impact outcomes
• Mentor and coach other product engineers, raising the bar for technical excellence

What you'll bring

Essential

• JavaScript / TypeScript – core programming languages
• Node.js – primary backend framework
• SQL databases and query optimisation
• MongoDB or other NoSQL database
• RESTful API design and implementation
• Git – version control and collaborative workflows
• Backend testing strategies (unit, integration, end-to-end)
• Experience with monitoring, logging, and observability tools
• Knowledge of scalable system architecture and design patterns
• Familiarity with modern AI tools and a habit of staying up to date with how they can improve engineering workflows

Highly Desirable

• AdonisJS, NestJS or similar MVC frameworks
• AWS infrastructure and services
• Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or similar)
• Distributed systems experience
• Message queues and background job processing
• Caching strategies and performance optimisation
• CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices

Nice to Have

• Security best-practices implementation
• Experience in a growth-stage startup or B2B SaaS
• Knowledge of the construction industry

What we offer

• 25 days PTO, plus bank holidays
• Enhanced parental leave
• Private medical insurance with Bupa
• NEST pension scheme
• Employee assistance programme
• Remote work abroad opportunities
• Apple MacBook and tech accessories
• Onetrace merch, regular team socials and annual company offsites

Hybrid guidelines

We operate a hybrid working model, with a minimum expectation of 2-3 days per week in the office. This is a core part of how the role works and isn’t something we’re flexible on.

🔗 Full Job Description: https://onetrace.com/careers/senior-backend-engineer