Senior Backend Engineer – Kotlin / AWS
Outside IR35 \| Remote (UK/Europe) \| Initial 6-month contract
A leading global technology business is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to help design and deliver a new greenfield product built with modern cloud-native practices. This is an exciting opportunity to work on highly scalable, secure systems serving millions of users, with full ownership of the delivery lifecycle, from architecture to deployment.
If you thrive in autonomous environments, enjoy solving complex engineering challenges end-to-end, and have a passion for building robust services in AWS, this could be an ideal fit.
Day to day responsibilities
Design and implement backend services using AWS-native technologies (e.g. ECS Fargate, ALB, DynamoDB, Lambda, Cloudflare, OAuth).
Build and maintain high-performance APIs and microservices in Kotlin (Ktor) or similar JVM-based frameworks.
Own the full delivery lifecycle, including requirements analysis, design, implementation, testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Drive system reliability and performance through strong observability practices (OpenTelemetry, CloudWatch, Grafana).
Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including product, mobile, and security, to ensure seamless integration across the wider platform.
Develop automated tests (unit, integration, performance) and uphold CI/CD best practices.
Promote secure-by-default design principles, ensuring alignment with privacy and data governance standards.
Background and experience
Proven experience designing and delivering scalable backend systems in AWS environments.
Strong hands-on experience with Kotlin (Ktor) or similar JVM-based frameworks (e.g. Spring Boot, Micronaut).
Deep understanding of distributed systems, data modelling, and API design (REST, gRPC, event-driven).
Proficient with infrastructure as code (CDK, Terraform, or equivalent) and modern CI/CD pipelines.
Excited to contribute to a greenfield initiative, adopting modern engineering practices such as progressive delivery and feature flagging.