Senior Backend Engineer – AI Platform (Abu Dhabi)

About the role

We are seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to design, build, and operate the core backend platform that powers advanced AI and data products for a major government transformation initiative in Abu Dhabi. The role focuses on creating reliable, scalable, and secure services that enable AI‑native government operations.

Key responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable backend services and APIs.
• Build event‑driven architectures using Kafka, Azure Service Bus, or Azure Event Hubs.
• Create data pipelines, ETL processes, and shared platform abstractions.
• Manage PostgreSQL, caching layers, and object‑storage infrastructure.
• Deploy and operate containerised services on Kubernetes.
• Implement CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure‑as‑code with Terraform.
• Administer cloud resources on Azure (AWS/GCP experience valued).
• Define and monitor SLOs, metrics, logging, tracing, and alerting.
• Lead incident response, root‑cause analysis, and post‑mortems.
• Apply secure engineering practices, IAM, secrets management, network policies, and zero‑trust architecture.
• Mentor engineers through design and code reviews.

Required profile

• 7+ years of backend or platform engineering experience.
• Strong expertise in distributed systems and event‑driven architecture.
• Proficiency in Python, Java/Kotlin, or Go.
• Hands‑on experience with Azure (AWS or GCP also valued).
• Production experience with Docker and Kubernetes.
• Deep knowledge of PostgreSQL at scale.
• Experience with observability, SLOs, and incident response.
• Practical use of AI coding assistants such as Codex or Claude Code.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Required skills

• Python
• Java
• Kotlin
• Go
• Azure
• AWS
• GCP
• Docker
• Kubernetes
• PostgreSQL
• Kafka
• Azure Service Bus
• Azure Event Hubs
• Terraform
• CI/CD pipelines
• Observability tools
• SLO definition and monitoring
• Incident response
• AI coding assistants (Codex, Claude Code)