Senior Backend Engineer (Kotlin / GCP)
6 month contract initially, Outside IR35, Fully remote role (UK/Europe)
A leading global consumer technology company is building products that prioritise safety, equity, and meaningful user experiences. They are seeking a Senior Backend Engineer with strong technical judgment, a high sense of ownership, and the ability to drive work forward even when requirements are not fully defined.
You’ll work primarily with Kotlin and Google Cloud Platform, helping to design, build, and evolve backend systems that support products used by millions of users worldwide. This role suits someone who thrives in ambiguity, executes with focus, and elevates teams through clarity, momentum, and example.
What You’ll Do
• Design, build, and operate reliable, scalable backend services using Kotlin
• Own and evolve systems running on GCP, contributing to architecture, reliability, observability, and cost optimisation
• Take loosely defined problems and translate them into clear, actionable technical plans
• Lead backend initiatives from concept through production and iteration
• Proactively identify and resolve blockers across technical, process, and cross-team boundaries
• Collaborate closely with product, mobile, platform, and other backend engineers
• Raise standards for code quality, system design, testing, and documentation
• Contribute to a culture of learning, inclusion, and thoughtful engineering
What We’re Looking For
• Strong experience building and maintaining production backend systems in Kotlin
• Hands-on experience working with Google Cloud Platform in live environments
• Proven ability to create clarity and momentum in ambiguous problem spaces
• A pragmatic, execution-focused mindset balanced with long-term architectural thinking
• Strong communication skills and a collaborative approach to problem-solving
Nice to Have / Bonus
• Experience with or exposure to PHP, particularly in legacy or hybrid environments
• Ability to collaborate effectively with PHP engineers and support incremental system evolution
• Interest in mentoring or upskilling teammates in Kotlin and GCP
• Experience helping teams adopt or improve cloud best practices
• Background working on high-scale, consumer-facing platforms
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