Senior Backend Engineer

Job Title: Senior Backend Engineer

Location: Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Language: English

FTE: Full-time, hybrid (3 days per week in the office)

Employment type: Initial fixed-term contract for 12 months. This role starts with a 12-month fixed-term contract, in line with company policy and common Dutch employment practice.

About Newzoo

Newzoo is the global leader in PC and console games data, helping companies make confident strategic and operational decisions. With 17 years of expertise, we provide proprietary data through a platform covering game-level metrics, gamer insights, market intelligence, and storefront data. We work with many of the world's leading game developers and publishers.

About the role

You'll join our Engineering team as a senior individual contributor with a primary focus on backend systems and data infrastructure. You'll design and improve the services, APIs, and pipelines that power our products, while collaborating with colleagues across platform and infrastructure when needed.

This role is best suited to someone who enjoys solving real product and data problems in a stable, well-understood stack. Because this is a senior role, we're looking for someone who can take ownership of production systems and contribute thoughtfully to technical direction. You do not need to be a gamer, but you should be interested in working on meaningful data challenges in the games industry.

What you'll do

• Design and build backend services and APIs that power our analytics platform and client-facing products
• Improve and extend data pipelines that ingest millions of data points from gaming platforms and partners
• Strengthen reliability, observability, performance, and cost efficiency across our systems
• Contribute to architectural decisions and help shape scalable technical solutions
• Partner with engineers across backend, data, and infrastructure to solve cross-functional problems
• Support engineering quality through code review, technical discussion, and collaboration
• Use AI-assisted development tools such as Claude Code and Cursor as part of your day-to-day work

Our engineering environment

We primarily work with Python, Flask, SQLAlchemy, PostgreSQL, BigQuery, dbt, Airflow, Kubernetes, and GCP. Our stack is deliberately stable so engineers can focus on solving important product and data problems, improving quality, and building systems that last.

Your profile

• Senior professional experience building and operating production Python services
• Strong experience with Flask or a similar Python web framework, and REST API design skills
• Strong understanding of analytical data systems, including experience with BigQuery and PostgreSQL
• Experience designing and operating data pipelines or ETL workflows in production
• Good judgment around reliability, scalability, and operational quality
• Comfortable with modern CI/CD practices and version control
• Comfortable using AI-assisted development tools in daily engineering work
• Commitment to testing, maintainability, and clear technical thinking
  
• Based in The Netherlands
• Availability to work hybrid from our Amsterdam office 3 days per week

Nice to have

• Kubernetes and containerised deployment
• Task queues such as Celery
• Experience with gaming platform APIs such as Xbox, PlayStation, Steam, Nintendo, or Epic
• dbt experience at meaningful scale
• Interest in games or the games industry

What you can expect from us

• Real technical ownership with room to influence architecture and engineering decisions
• Interesting work at the intersection of backend systems, data infrastructure, and analytics
• Direct impact on products used by leading games, hardware, media, and tech companies
• A collaborative engineering environment focused on reliability, quality, and long-term thinking
• Hybrid setup with work-from-home, internet, and travel reimbursement, plus catered lunch in the office
• Summer hours and flexible national holidays
• Option to purchase additional holidays
• Work from another country for up to 6 weeks per year
• Personal development budget of €1500
• Physical activity budget, OpenUp mental wellness support, and pension plan
• And More: There's always more to discover!

Hiring process

1. Application Submission: Send us your resume and cover letter to kickstart your journey with us! We value authenticity and genuine interest in the role. Applications generated by AI will not be considered. Please ensure your application reflects your own voice, experience, and motivation.
2. Screening Call (30 minutes): We'll have a friendly chat to get to know you better and discuss your fit for the role.
3. First Interview with Hiring Manager (30 minutes): Meet with the hiring manager to dive deeper into your experience and skills.
4. In-person technical assessment (2 hours) followed by a 30-minute conversation with team members from other departments.
5. Offer: If we're a good match, you'll receive a job offer to join our amazing team!

Interested?

Please upload your CV and cover letter to apply. If there is a great match, we will discuss your motivation and relevant technical examples during the interview process.