Staff Software Engineer (Java) - Developer productivity

ABOUT TIDE

At Tide, we are building a business management platform designed to save small businesses time and money. We provide our members with business accounts and related banking services, but also a comprehensive set of connected administrative solutions from invoicing to accounting.

Launched in 2017, Tide is now used by over 1 million small businesses across the world and is available to UK, Indian and German SMEs. Headquartered in central London, with offices in Sofia, Hyderabad, Delhi, Berlin and Belgrade, Tide employs over 2,000 employees.

Tide is rapidly growing, expanding into new products and markets and always looking for passionate and driven people. Join us in our mission to empower small businesses and help them save time and money.

ABOUT THE TEAM

The Developer Productivity (DevPro) team is the driving force behind engineering efficiency at Tide. We are a specialized, internal-facing team dedicated to empowering our backend engineers by eliminating friction, automating repetitive tasks, and creating an exceptional development experience. Our mission is to accelerate the delivery of high-quality software, enabling our product teams to focus on building innovative solutions for our members.

We achieve this by:

• Developing and maintaining core Java libraries that are the backbone of our backend services.
• Building robust CI/CD pipelines optimized specifically for our backend tech stack.
• Creating self-service tooling that simplifies common workflows, from local development to production deployments.
• Championing engineering best practices, ensuring our codebase is scalable, maintainable, and secure.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are seeking a Staff Developer Productivity Engineer to join our team in Serbia. In this role, you will act as a force multiplier, applying your deep backend expertise to solve the most critical challenges facing our engineering organization. This isn't just about building infrastructure; it's about crafting the tools and frameworks that define how we build and ship software.

The ideal candidate is a seasoned backend engineer with a passion for improving the developer experience. You will have extensive experience with the Java ecosystem, including Spring/Spring Boot and Gradle or Maven, and a proven track record of designing solutions that scale. You'll be proactive, analytical, and an excellent collaborator who can influence and mentor engineers across the business.

As a Staff Developer Productivity Engineer you’ll:

• Architect and own the internal Java libraries that abstract complexity and standardize development across hundreds of microservices.
• Lead the optimization of our backend CI/CD pipelines, focusing on performance, reliability, and security for Java/Spring applications.
• Drive critical initiatives such as dependency upgrades and framework migrations to ensure our core tech stack remains modern and secure.
• Develop and maintain internal tooling that automates workflows and reduces "toil" for backend teams.
• Serve as a subject-matter expert on testing strategies, build systems (Gradle), and code quality, creating and advocating for company-wide standards.
• Mentor senior and junior engineers on best practices for performance, scalability, and code maintainability.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

• Deep expertise in the Java ecosystem (7+ years): Proven experience designing, building, and maintaining production-grade applications using Spring/Spring Boot.
• Strong proficiency in build automation and dependency management: Extensive experience with Gradleor Maven is essential, including multi-module builds, custom plugins, and dependency versioning.
• CI/CD Pipeline mastery: Hands-on experience optimizing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions) specifically for large-scale backend services.
• A passion for developer enablement: A track record of creating internal tools, libraries, or frameworks that have measurably improved engineering efficiency.
• Solid understanding of software engineering best practices: Expertise in unit testing, integration testing, static analysis, and code quality tools.
• Cloud and containerization knowledge: Experience with AWS services, Docker, and Kubernetes is necessary to build effective solutions that integrate with our infrastructure.
• Mentorship and communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to influence technical decisions and mentor engineers at all levels.

OUR TECH STACK

Backend and Database:

• Java, Python
• Spring/Spring Boot
• Gradle

• PostgreSQL
• RESTful APIs
• Event-driven architecture (AWS SQS, SNS)

Development and Deployment:

• AWS cloud and their services (SQS, S3, EKS)
• Docker
• Kubernetes
• Microservice architecture
• GitHub with GitHub Actions for CI/CD pipelines

Monitoring and Analytics:

• DataDog
• Semgrep

Note: New joiners are encouraged to deploy to production within their first two weeks.

WHAT YOU’LL GET IN RETURN

• 25 days paid annual leave
• 3 paid days off for volunteering or L&D activities
• Family-Friendly Leave (according to statutory)
• Personal L&D budget in the amount of 500 EUR per year (may be lower for A1-A2 folks in India Region, UK/ Europe Region and PCS UK sales team)
• Mental wellbeing platform Plumm
• WFH equipment allowance
• Share options

TIDEAN WAYS OF WORKING

At Tide, we champion a flexible workplace model thatsupports both in-person and remote work to cater to the specific needs of our different teams.

While remote work is supported, we believe in the power of face-to-face interactions to foster team spirit and collaboration. Our offices are designed as hubs for innovation and team-building, where we encourage regular in-person gatherings to foster a strong sense of community.

TIDEAN WAYS OF WORKING

At Tide, we champion a flexible workplace model thatsupports both in-person and remote work to cater to the specific needs of our different teams.

While remote work is supported, we believe in the power of face-to-face interactions to foster team spirit and collaboration. Our offices are designed as hubs for innovation and team-building, where we encourage regular in-person gatherings to foster a strong sense of community.

TIDE IS A PLACE FOR EVERYONE

At Tide, we believe that we can only succeed if we let our differences enrich our culture. Our Tideans come from a variety of backgrounds and experience levels. We consider everyone irrespective of their ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, family or parental status, national origin, veteran, neurodiversity or differently-abled status. We celebrate diversity in our workforce as a cornerstone of our success. Our commitment to a broad spectrum of ideas and backgrounds is what enables us to build products that resonate with our members’ diverse needs and lives.

We are One Team and foster a transparent and inclusive environment, where everyone’s voice is heard.

At Tide, we thrive on diversity, embracing various backgrounds and experiences. We welcome all individuals regardless of ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. Our inclusive culture is key to our success, helping us build products that meet our members' diverse needs. We are One Team, committed to transparency and ensuring everyone’s voice is heard.

You personal data will be processed by Tide for recruitment purposes and in accordance with Tide's Recruitment Privacy Notice.