Principal Backend Engineer

• Focus on friction points across all Engineering teams (90+ engineers), steering backend architecture in the right direction and standardising practices. • Own projects that span quarters, breaking complex problems into small steps that can be delivered and validated iteratively. • Work end-to-end from a React client application to a monolithic Python backend, leading projects that span across multiple teams. • Consider the long-term direction of Engineering, developing capabilities to stay ahead of challenges 12–18 months out. • Based in-office or remote from the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, or potentially other European locations.

• Have at least 10 years of experience as a software engineer, with at least 2 at the Senior Staff/Principal level (L7+). • Have previous leadership experience driving projects across multiple teams of 50+ engineers. • Have experience in a high-performing engineering organisation operating at scale, whether in a scale-up or an established organisation recognised for great engineering culture. • Work across the stack with deep knowledge on server side and all things backend related. • Bring relevant engineering experience for building an enterprise-grade SaaS product. • Show strong alignment with commercial success.

• Have experience delivering AI-powered video generation products. • Bring experience with billing systems, experimentation platforms, video delivery systems, online editors, or real-time collaboration. • Have experience working across monorepo and non-monorepo setups and standardising engineering practices across them. • Bring experience with inter-service testing strategies and improving overall system stability at scale. • Have experience bridging engineering and R&D teams to align practices and tooling.

• Identify and resolve friction points around backend issues for all Engineering teams. • Steer backend architecture in the right direction, addressing questions like inter-service testing and monorepo standardisation. • Bring overall stability up across the engineering organisation. • Standardise practices across all of Engineering and bring R&D teams (40+ engineers and researchers) closer to the main engineering organisation. • Own projects that span quarters, breaking problems into small iterative steps. • Evaluate your own work by leveraging the data pipeline and frameworks to understand impact on commercial objectives, pivoting where necessary. • Consider the long-term direction of Engineering, developing capabilities to stay ahead of challenges expected in 12–18 months. • Work end-to-end from the React client to the Python monolithic backend, leading projects across multiple teams.

• Receive a salary starting at £200,000 base plus a stock option plan. • Take 25 days of leave plus local public holidays. • Work in-office or remotely from the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, or potentially other European locations. • Join a company in the golden age of AI with ambitions to become one of the next iconic companies. • Work alongside 90+ engineers and 40+ researchers building proprietary AI technology in-house.

Synthesia is the world's leading AI video platform for business, used by over 90% of the Fortune 100. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in London, the company develops products to enhance visual communication and enterprise skill development. Serving 50,000+ customers including Heineken, Zoom, Xerox, and McDonald's, Synthesia's proprietary AI technology is built in-house by a team of world-class AI researchers and engineers. Following a Series E round raising $200 million, Synthesia's valuation stands at $4 billion.