Backend Engineer

At Kpler, we are dedicated to helping our clients navigate complex markets with ease. By simplifying global trade information and providing valuable insights, we empower organisations to make informed decisions in commodities, energy, and maritime sectors.   Since our founding in 2014, we have focused on delivering top-tier intelligence through user-friendly platforms. Our team of over 850 experts from 69 countries works tirelessly to transform intricate data into actionable strategies, ensuring our clients stay ahead in a dynamic market landscape. Join us to leverage cutting-edge innovation for impactful results and experience unparalleled support on your journey to success.  

About the Role

As an Engineer II within our Engineering Maritime & Logistics division, you will play a pivotal role in designing, building, and operating high-throughput data processing and API distribution systems. You will take end-to-end ownership of real-time streaming applications, backend services, and reliable pipelines that deliver critical maritime intelligence to global consumers via Kafka, Flink, and Snowflake. By maintaining platform resilience and scaling event-driven architectures, your work directly powers the actionable insights our clients rely on to navigate complex global trade.

Key Responsibilities

Design, build, and maintain high-performance backend microservices and APIs using Java, TypeScript, and PHP.

Develop and operate scalable real-time stream-processing applications using Apache Kafka, Kafka Streams, and Apache Flink.

Drive end-to-end technical ownership of backend services from design and testing through deployment, continuous monitoring, and production operations.

Optimize system health, throughput, and consumer lag across streaming infrastructure to maximize data freshness and platform uptime.

Investigate production incidents, perform thorough root-cause analysis, and implement long-term structural improvements.

Reduce technical debt by continuously elevating software maintainability, observability, automated test coverage, and CI/CD practices.

Partner cross-functionally with product managers, platform engineers, and peer teams to turn complex maritime domain needs into robust software.

Experience & Background

What you'll need (Must-haves)

• 3+ years of professional software engineering experience delivering backend services and data pipelines in production.

• Strong proficiency in at least two core backend programming languages: Java, TypeScript, PHP, or Scala.

• Practical experience building and operating event-driven applications or data pipelines in cloud environments (AWS).

• Hands-on experience with containerized deployments using Kubernetes, Docker, and GitOps workflows.

• Solid background in SQL, relational database design, data modeling, and distributed system fundamentals.

Nice-to-haves

• Production experience with Apache Flink, Kafka Streams, or Snowflake.

• Exposure to Test-Driven Development (TDD) and modern observability stacks (Datadog, OpenTelemetry, metrics, tracing).

• Experience working on high-throughput, low-latency streaming systems where data freshness is critical.

We are a dynamic company dedicated to nurturing connections and innovating solutions to tackle market challenges head-on. If you thrive on customer satisfaction and turning ideas into reality, then you’ve found your ideal destination. Are you ready to embark on this exciting journey with us?   We make things happen We act decisively and with purpose, going the extra mile.   We build
together We foster relationships and develop creative solutions to address market challenges.   We are here to help We are accessible and supportive to colleagues and clients with a friendly approach.     Our People Pledge   Don’t meet every single requirement? Research shows that women and people of color are less likely than others to apply if they feel like they don’t match 100% of the job requirements. Don’t let the confidence gap stand in your way, we’d love to hear from you! We understand that experience comes in many different forms and are dedicated to adding new perspectives to the team.   Kpler is committed to providing a fair, inclusive and diverse work-environment. We believe that different perspectives lead to better ideas, and better ideas allow us to better understand the needs and interests of our diverse, global community. We welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities and perspectives and are an equal opportunity employer.       By applying, I confirm that I have read and accept the Staff Privacy Notice