Senior​/Software Engineering Entitlements

Senior / Staff Software Engineering - Payments & Entitlements

Full‑time. Contract type:
Expert.

Join a team that builds and evolves the technical foundation for our premium subscription business across multiple brands. Together, we create scalable solutions for acquisition, checkout, payments, entitlements, and partner integrations, combining engineering excellence with business impact. As a Senior/Staff Engineer, you will help shape architecture, drive technical improvements, and contribute to systems that enable sustainable growth and exceptional user experiences.

We believe in the future of journalism as a business model and invest in forward‑looking technologies. Our five essentials are the values that unite us and guide our commitment to freedom.

• Own and evolve the technical foundation of our Premium Services domain across acquisition, retention, offering, checkout, payment, entitlement, and partner integrations.
• Design, build, and operate scalable backend services using Node.js, Type Script, AWS, serverless architectures, and high‑availability web systems.
• Challenge existing systems and drive well‑founded improvements that reduce complexity, optimize costs, increase reliability, or unlock new revenue opportunities.
• Identify and improve technical and business processes across payment flows, entitlement logic, checkout experiences, partner integrations, and operations.
• Work closely with product, engineering, and business stakeholders to turn premium, payment, and entitlement requirements into pragmatic technical solutions.
• Design and improve APIs, service architectures, event‑driven communication patterns, and integration flows across our multi‑brand premium ecosystem.
• Build and operate AWS infrastructure with Terraform, CI/CD, observability, and strong production ownership, including hands‑on troubleshooting and mentoring.

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with strong expertise in backend engineering, distributed systems, and cloud‑native architectures.
• Strong hands‑on production experience with Node.js and Type Script, ideally in high‑traffic, business‑critical environments.
• Deep experience with AWS, serverless architectures, Infrastructure as Code, Terraform, CI/CD, observability, and incident resolution.
• Experience operating and evolving subscription, payment, checkout, entitlement, acquisition, retention, or partner integration products.
• Strong analytical mindset with the ability to question existing solutions, identify inefficiencies, and turn improvements into measurable impact.
• Pragmatic, hands‑on approach with strong English communication skills, confident AI tool usage, and interest in Rust where it adds value.

• Your personal growth is important to us: we offer trainings and learning lunches, tech conferences, a budget for workshops and much more to expand your knowledge and your skills.
• Employee offers that suit you and your life situation: discounted public transport ticket or Job Rad leasing, bicycle garage (incl. regular bicycle service), childcare facilities or two modern in‑house kindergartens.
• 30 days vacation plus 10 days work from abroad.
• Our free food offer: in addition to a breakfast snack, we also offer a free lunch in our canteens.
• We offer guidance on the administrative side of relocation and visa processes through our relocation agency.
• Collaboration thrives on direct exchange – we rely on 80% office presence and 20% mobile working.

FAQ:
The most frequently asked questions and their answers can be found on our FAQ page:

Diversity is an essential part of our corporate culture! We are looking forward to receiving all applications regardless of gender, nationality, ethnic and social origin, religion, ideology, disability, age, sexual orientation, and identity. You can find information about the representation for the severely disabled at