Senior Backend Engineer - Sorting (all genders)
At a glance
Senior Backend Engineering role at ABOUT YOU SE & Co. KG. Hamburg or Berlin · full-time · €70,000–€85,000 base.
techroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Build and maintain Spotsetter, keeping product rankings fast, consistent and fair
- Combine machine-learning scores with campaign boosts and sponsored-item rules to shape product order
- Create batch pipelines that move BigQuery data into Postgres and MySQL stores
- Develop responsive ranking APIs with Fastify and Node.js/TypeScript
- Work with data, product and commercial teams to make ranking choices, and keep the codebase clean
What you bring
- At least five years building backend systems; Node.js and TypeScript are preferred, with Java, Go or Kotlin also considered
- Practical SQL expertise covering relational schema design, query tuning and batch work beyond basic ORMs
- Sound judgment around sorted data, deduplication, latency trade-offs and constraint handling
- Clear English communication and a pragmatic approach to solving problems
Who this fits
This role suits a senior backend engineer who wants ownership of a ranking product and an active link between backend systems and machine learning. You’ll work hybrid from Hamburg or Berlin.
From the employer
ABOUT YOU is one of Europe’s fastest growing e-commerce companies. Based in Hamburg and Berlin, we operate at the intersection of fashion and technology. Our mission is to rethink online shopping and make it personal and seamless. This takes more than good ideas. It takes people who take initiative and challenge the status quo. We believe in flat hierarchies, direct communication, and pragmatic decisions. No long approval chains. Just ownership, trust, and clear responsibility. We work hard, but we also believe in enjoying the ride together - over team lunches, afterwork drinks, company events, or a quick coffee in between meetings. If this sounds like you, ABOUT YOU could be the right place to bring in your perspective.
- Shape how millions of users see products by blending ML model outputs with business logic (like campaign boosts or sponsored items)
- Build and own our high-throughput ranking engine ("Spotsetter") to ensure fast, deterministic, and fair product sorting
- Design reliable batch write pipelines that stream data from BigQuery straight into high-performance relational stores like Postgres and MySQL
- Develop low-latency serving APIs with Fastify and Node.js/TypeScript
- Work closely with data engineers, product managers, and commercial teams to make data-driven ranking decisions
- Architectural freedom: collaborate with our Tech Lead, bring in your own ideas, and keep our codebase clean
- You love digging into ranking problems, taking deep ownership of a product, and seeing your changes move real business metrics
- 5+ years of experience with backend systems (Node.js/TypeScript preferred, but we welcome fast learners from Java, Go, or Kotlin)
- Strong hands-on SQL knowledge (Postgres/MySQL schema design, query optimization, and batch operations beyond basic ORMs)
- Good algorithmic intuition for sorted data, deduplication, latency trade-offs, and constraint logic
- You're excited to bridge backend engineering and ML by serving model scores or ranking data in live systems
- Clear communication skills in English and a pragmatic, solution-oriented mindset
Nice to Have
- Experience with job queues (BullMQ, Redis) or batch processing pipelines
- Exposure to cloud tooling (AWS Step Functions, CDK, GCP/BigQuery)
- Background in e-commerce, sponsored products, or ad-tech systems
- Curiosity about learning-to-rank algorithms
Your perks at a glance: Visit our benefits page.
Simply apply online via our career page - we will get back to you as soon as possible!
A Place Where You Can Be You
We take it as our responsibility to create an environment where everyone feels welcome, exactly as they are.
Different backgrounds and perspectives make us stronger and shape our culture in ways that matter.
What we stand for internally, we stand for as a brand: acceptance, inclusion, and a fairer approach to fashion.