Lead Backend Engineer

About the role

N26 is a digital bank that operates across Europe with a strong presence in Berlin and Barcelona. The Lead Backend Engineer will take ownership of the backend systems that power everyday banking for millions of customers. This role combines hands-on technical leadership with strategic decision-making around system architecture and scalability. The engineer will work closely with cross-functional teams to deliver reliable and secure financial services. N26 serves millions of customers who depend on the platform for payments, transfers, and managing their personal finances. Engineering teams at N26 operate with autonomy and ownership, building products that shape the future of European banking.

Key facts

What you'll do

Architect and evolve the backend services that support core banking operations across multiple European markets and regions

Lead a team of backend engineers through planning, code reviews, and technical decision-making processes on a daily basis

Design and implement scalable APIs that serve frontend applications and external third-party partners with consistent reliability and uptime

Own the performance and reliability of critical payment processing and transaction handling systems that run in production environments

Collaborate with product managers and designers to translate complex business requirements into clear and actionable technical specifications

Mentor junior and mid-level engineers through pair programming sessions, technical workshops, and constructive one-on-one code feedback regularly

Define and enforce coding standards, testing practices, and deployment pipelines across the entire backend engineering organization consistently

Evaluate and adopt new technologies and frameworks that improve developer productivity and overall system resilience and performance

Participate in on-call rotations to ensure rapid response to production incidents and ongoing service degradation without delay

Drive technical debt reduction initiatives by refactoring legacy components and improving overall code quality, test coverage, and maintainability

Requirements

Demonstrated experience leading backend engineering teams in a production environment with measurable and verifiable results over multiple quarters

Strong proficiency in at least one modern backend language such as Go, Java, or Python with several years of hands-on use

Deep understanding of distributed systems, microservices architecture, and event-driven design patterns applied at scale in production environments

Experience building and maintaining high-availability systems that handle financial transactions with strict consistency, durability, and fault tolerance requirements

Familiarity with cloud-native deployment on platforms such as Kubernetes and container orchestration tools in production settings with real traffic

Excellent communication skills with the ability to articulate technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders, partners, and business teams

Track record of writing clean, maintainable code and establishing engineering best practices across distributed engineering teams working remotely

Degree in computer science or equivalent practical experience in software engineering roles with a strong focus on backend development

Nice to have

Experience with event streaming platforms such as Apache Kafka or similar distributed message brokers for building reliable and scalable data pipelines

Knowledge of domain-driven design and event sourcing patterns applied specifically to financial services and banking domain modeling

Previous exposure to open banking standards and regulatory compliance frameworks operating within the European Union region and markets

Background in working within agile or scrum teams with continuous integration and continuous delivery practices established and running

Skills & tools

Go, Java, or Python as primary backend programming languages for building, testing, and maintaining server-side applications and services

PostgreSQL or MySQL for relational data storage, query optimization, schema design, and database management at scale in production

Docker and Kubernetes for containerization, orchestration, and deployment of microservices in production environments with high availability

RESTful API design and gRPC for internal microservice communication and external partner-facing service interfaces with versioning support

Git-based version control workflows with code review, pull requests, branching strategies, and trunk-based development for team collaboration

Monitoring and observability tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, or equivalent platforms for system health tracking and alerting

Practical notes

The role is based in Berlin or Barcelona with a hybrid work model combining office days and remote work arrangements across both locations

Candidates should be prepared for a structured interview process that includes technical assessments, system design discussions, and behavioral evaluations

N26 offers competitive benefits including comprehensive health insurance, retirement planning options, and professional development budgets for all team members

The hiring process typically involves multiple rounds with engineering managers, team leads, and senior leadership stakeholders across both locations