Lead Backend Engineer

The road to 'infrastructure nirvana' is often paved with project post-mortems. But frankly, we got tired of that approach and adopted a more humane way. At Dyflexis, we work in six-week cycles of deep focus, followed by two weeks to refine, reflect, and prepare for what's next. No sprints that -surprise- turn into marathons. No backlog novels, no stand-up shenanigans. Just uninterrupted time to build distributed systems that handle vast amounts of traffic. For clients like Hilton, Marriott, and Secrid. Our trajectory? Bigger and beyond. We're expanding across Europe like beer at a BBQ, and preparing for our US market entry. Want to help make that happen in a setting where Scrum is considered the new Waterfall? Join the team that sleeps through the night

What you'll do
As the Lead Backend Engineer, you'll own the backend strategy, build and lead a team of 7 engineers, and ensure our platform can deftly handle the demands of multi-market deployment. You'll work closely with our Engineering Manager, CTO, and product leadership to design systems that support ambitious growth without compromising on reliability. You'll lead the backend development for a SaaS platform serving enterprises across multiple regions and verticals. You'll set the technical direction, empower the team to solve distributed systems challenges, and build the capabilities we need to quickly gain momentum in the US market.

Here's what makes this role different: we work in focused six-week cycles followed by two-week cooldowns so that you can build without distractions, reflect on refinements, and calmly prepare for what's next. No deadline pandemonium, barbaric backlog sessions, or stand-up shenanigans. Our CTO codes as fiercely as anyone on the team (he's still got it) and expects you to pick things up as you go: fix problems before they become Jira tickets, spot architectural issues before they become technical debt, and build systems that don't need constant defibrillating. 

You'll hire, inspire and develop 7 backend engineers, make infrastructure decisions that enable scale, and ensure our platform can handle enterprise-level traffic patterns without compromising reliability or compliance. You'll partner with internal frontend, product, and infrastructure teams to translate business requirements into systems that work for every workforce. That includes the autonomy to make technical calls without bureaucratic approval chains or hierarchical hurdles. At Dyflexis, we play to win. By breaking down silos, not by constructing islands. You'll inspire your team to think beyond their tickets and see how their code impacts the entire platform. We celebrate architectural wins that prevent future problems, not just hotfixes that solve today's crisis. And we always win bigger together. Your core responsibilities:

• Define the backend architecture for multi-region, enterprise-scale deployment
• Hire, coach, and grow 7 backend engineers into a high-performing team, including code reviews and embedding best practices
• Make decisions that balance performance, reliability, and cost
• Design systems that can handle enterprise traffic and data patterns
• Partner with cross-functional teams to deliver scalable solutions

The tech stack includes
Core: PHP (Symfony), MySQL/PostgreSQL, Redis, and Docker 
Infrastructure: GitLab CI/CD, containerized deployments, cloud-native architecture Scale: 200k+ active users, enterprise clients, multi-region deployment Plus whatever tooling you introduce.

How you maximize your impact
You have 7+ years of experience in building backend systems that survive and thrive in production. You know PHP intimately (modern practices, not legacy band aids) and understand the trade-offs between consistency, availability, and partition tolerance. You've optimized slow databases, debugged race conditions under pressure, and made architectural decisions that aged gracefully as traffic multiplied. You think in systems, not features. When someone proposes a capability, you're already considering failure modes, migration strategies, and operational burden. You care about code quality and system reliability, not just the number of closed tickets (though we won't complain if you excel at all of these things). You're comfortable with ownership – if you ship it, you support it. And you elevate engineers around you by showing them how to analyze problems efficiently.

Technical requirements:

• 7+ years building production backend systems at scaleDeep PHP expertise with modern frameworks (Symfony preferred)
• Proven experience with distributed systems, caching strategies, and database optimization
• Track record of well-considered architectural decisions and mentoring engineers
• In-depth understanding of operational concerns, including monitoring, alerting, and incident response

What you get
You'll earn up to €8,000 per month, work hybrid (2 days/week at our HQ), and join a successful bootstrapped company that heavily reinvests in its infrastructure. No VC pressure, no corporate theater, no feature-factory mentality, and – importantly – no ivory CTO tower. You'll work in a post-scrum environment that values thoroughness over hasty delivery, with direct influence on infrastructure decisions as the team scales.  You're building a high-performing backend team – and high performance comes from collaboration, not competition. Your engineers will review each other's code with genuine curiosity, and share on-call responsibilities as equals. When the platform scales successfully, it's a team win. When someone prevents an incident, the whole team celebrates.

Enticing extra's:

• Modern stack: PHP (Symfony), Docker, Kubernetes, GitLab CI/CD
• Enterprise clients: every line of code has real operational impact
• Personal development budget
• 25 vacation days + your birthday off
• In-house chef, ARJ Boxing gym membership, solid pension plan
• 8% vacation pay, option to buy/sell vacation days

Why now matters
We need to fill 7 backend vacancies ASAP to tackle challenges that limit our revenue potential. You'll oversee this critical phase, and your technical decisions will have real impact. If you want to solve real distributed systems problems, work on infrastructure that matters, and influence how a growing team handles scale – unburdened by legacy constraints and red tape – this is your chance.