Backend Engineering Lead

• Drive a security-first culture by defining and enforcing security protocols
• Lead threat modelling and oversee vulnerability remediation plans
• Track security compliance

• Set platform performance KPIs
• Conduct performance analysis
• Monitoring dashboards
• Guide teams in implementing scalable solutions and optimising system performance

• Establish organisation-wide testing standards and ensure adherence through coaching and reviews
• Promote quality ownership within teams

• Define and enforce API design principles
• Oversee API governance and documentation standards across the team

• Identify areas of technical debt and lead strategic refactoring initiatives
• Track and measure technical debt reduction progress
• Prioritise optimisation projects that improve system health

• Make strategic decisions on introducing new frameworks and tools
• Evaluate emerging technologies and guide adoption to improve productivity

• Lead the transition to microservices/event-driven architecture
• Define architectural patterns and mentor teams on implementation best practices
• Maintain system design documentation and Architecture decision records (ADRs)

• Develop clear documentation guidelines to ensure consistency and quality
• Maintain detailed documentation for complex systems, including architecture diagrams, workflows, and integration points, ensuring accessibility for all stakeholder Implement and manage a structured process for creating incident reports, capturing root causes, and resolutions to drive continuous improvement

• Set clear objectives, monitor KPIs, and ensure timely delivery of high-quality solutions
• Drive career progression through regular feedback, mentoring and knowledge-sharing to support in identifying growth opportunities

Skills, Knowledge and Experience Required:

PLEASE NOTE: This is a hybrid role that would require presence in our Sofia or Plovdiv office at least twice per week, as agreed.

Salary budget for this role is €58,000 to €60,000 gross per annum. We have a salary transparency policy, which means our budgets are not negotiable.

• Solid and proven experience as a Backend Engineer with a minimum of 2+ years of experience in a technical leadership role
• Proven team management and leadership skills
• Experience with PHP is required
• Experience with OOP concepts and SOLID principles
• Experience with Unit and Integration testing
• Experience with design patterns
• A good understanding of building and operating cloud-based microservices
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Strong problem-solving, critical thinking, and analytical skills

• Online interview with the Senior Talent Partner and an Engineering Manager. This should last no longer than 45 minutes.
• The final video interview of 90 minutes will consist of 3 stages. This includes: 60 minutes to discuss your experience and technical abilities; 20 minutes to review and discuss a coding exercise; 10 minutes to ask questions you may have

Be comfortable. Be you.

At Reward Gateway, we want all of our employees to feel comfortable bringing their passion, creativity and individuality to work. We value all cultures, backgrounds and experiences, as we truly believe that diversity drives innovation. Express yourself, join our community and help us Make the World a Better Place to Work.

We hire BETTER.

From perks to people, our BETTER approach to hiring earns us more trust, happier people and more world-class talent that help us to make the world a better place to work. Find out more about Reward Gateways approach to benefits, equality, talent, technology, empathy and what you’ll get in return for joining our Mission at rg.co/lifeatrg.

About Reward Gateway

Reward Gateway is culture and client driven. We’re obsessed with putting the “Human” in HR and are proud to have been 100% dedicated to HR for over a decade. Since 2007, we’ve been right by the side of the world’s most innovative HR people, giving them beautiful products and tools they can use to attract, engage and retain their people.

The world’s most successful companies treat their people differently. They generate stock market returns of twice their peers and they have half the employee turnover. 76% of CEOs recognize that employee engagement is vital to their success but only 24% say they have a highly engaged company. Bridging that engagement gap is what drives us.