Developer - Scala
4 days ago
Newcastle upon Tyne
We are looking for a Backend Developer to join our HCM Localisation engineering team and help evolve a large-scale, cloud-based enterprise product. This role is focused on building and maintaining scalable backend services supporting complex product workflows, integrations, performance improvements, and ongoing platform modernisation. * Please note: This is a hybrid role requiring 3 days per week in our Newcastle office * In this role you'll: • Design, develop, and maintain robust backend services using Scala 2.13 and Play Framework in a Pekko-based environment., • Build clean, testable, and maintainable code using functional programming principles, immutability, pattern matching, and asynchronous programming with Futures., • Work with MySQL to design efficient data access patterns, optimize queries, tune indexes, and profile database performance., • Develop, deploy, and support services in AWS, working closely with DevOps and platform teams to ensure reliable delivery., • Contribute to CI/CD pipelines, Git-based pull request workflows, code reviews, and engineering best practices., • Collaborate with frontend engineers, QA, product owners, solution designers, and other backend developers to deliver high-quality product increments., • Support production stability by investigating issues, improving observability, and continuously reducing technical debt., • Professional backend development experience, ideally in enterprise, SaaS, or cloud-based product environments., • Strong hands-on experience with Scala, including collections, Futures, immutability, pattern matching, error handling, and clean functional design., • Commercial experience with Play Framework or comparable JVM backend frameworks; Pekko or Akka experience is highly relevant., • Strong understanding of relational databases, especially MySQL, with practical knowledge of SQL optimization, indexes, query profiling, and transaction behaviour., • Experience using Redis or similar technologies for caching, session handling, or performance-sensitive workloads., • Deep understanding of OOP principles, functional programming, concurrency, the Scala type system, and advanced architectural patterns (e.g., Tagless Final, type classes, effect systems)., • Ability to design and evolve complex distributed systems while promoting engineering best practices across the team, • Hands-on experience with AWS services and cloud-native delivery practices., • Good understanding of CI/CD, Git, branching strategies, pull request flows, automated testing, and release practices., • Ability to work effectively in distributed Agile teams, communicate clearly, and take ownership of complex technical problems., • Experience with Squeryl, Doobie, or similar Scala data access libraries., • Familiarity with Grafana or Kibana dashboards, alerting, logging, and production observability practices., • Experience with large distributed systems, horizontal scaling, resilient service design, or high-throughput Play / Pekko applications., • Previous experience in Payroll, HR, HCM, ERP, compliance-heavy, or localisation-focused product domains., • Russian, Ukrainian, or Polish language skills would be beneficial, but are not essential., • Pragmatic, delivery-focused, and able to balance new feature development with maintenance, bug fixing, and technical improvement work., • Proactive in code reviews, design discussions, troubleshooting, and knowledge sharing across the engineering team., • Strong problem-solving mindset, attention to detail, and willingness to work with an established codebase while helping modernise it over time. Want to know more about our Product?: https://hcm.sage.com/ Benefits? We have plenty... Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCMtTYUUiuU • Generous bonuses and pension scheme: Up to 8% matched pension contribution plus 2% top-up by Sage., • 25 days of paid annual leave with the option to buy up to another 5 days., • 8 bank holiday days., • Paid 5 days yearly to volunteer through our Sage Foundation., • 50% income protection., • Holiday buy + sell., • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage., • Work away scheme for up to 10 weeks a year., • Ongoing training and professional development., • Hybrid working., • Healthy Mind app membership, • Access to various helpful memberships for finances, health and wellbeing. #J-18808-Ljbffr