Senior/Lead Back End Engineer

Location: Romania; Poland; Egypt; North Macedonia; Bulgaria RemoFirst is transforming the way businesses hire and manage global teams. Our mission is to enable Freedom of Work by providing an all-in-one global HR platform that simplifies hiring, compliance, payroll, and benefits management. We partner with some of the world’s most innovative companies, including Fortune 500 businesses and leading startups. We are a small but strong team of 200+ people (and growing) hyper-focused on delivering a world-class platform and unparalleled service with our industry-leading partnerships. We are looking for a Senior/Lead Back-End Engineer with strong experience in both Python and Java to help us maintain and improve our existing Python-based systems and support the design, build, and strategic transition of parts of our backend to Java. This is a hands-on role with strong technical ownership and exposure to global-scale systems. This role goes beyond simply implementing requirements - you’d be a real product engineer taking extreme ownership over the quality of your product, caring deeply about our customers and what’s being built. You will collaborate with international engineering, product, and design teams in a fully remote setup. Requirements What you will bring: 5+ years of backend software development experience Strong professional experience with Python (Django, FastAPI, Flask, or similar frameworks) Strong professional experience with Java, preferably using Spring Boot. Solid understanding of object-oriented design, SOLID principles, and design patterns Experience designing and consuming RESTful APIs Experience with relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL); exposure to NoSQL databases is a plus Familiarity with unit testing, integration testing, and test-driven development (TDD) Experience with CI/CD pipelines, Git, and modern development workflows Understanding of microservices architecture and distributed systems Experience working with cloud platforms (AWS preferred) Strong problem-solving skills and attention to performance and scalability Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English What you will do: Design, develop, and maintain backend services using Python and Java. Support and contribute to the gradual migration from Python-based services to Java, ensuring stability and continuityBuild and maintain RESTful APIs and backend integrations. Participate in system design and architectural discussions, especially around service boundaries and migration strategy. Work with distributed systems and microservices. Integrate with third-party services and external APIs. Write clean, well-tested, and maintainable code following best practices. Participate in code reviews, technical discussions, and knowledge sharing. Debug production issues and improve system reliability, observability, and performance. Collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams across time zones. Benefits Fully remote role Opportunity to work on global-scale systems and products Exposure to international teams and modern engineering practices High ownership and autonomy in a fast-growing startup environment A strong culture grounded in speed, ownership, trust, transparency, customer obsession, and excellence. Real problems, global impact, and the chance to help redefine how the world works.