Staff Backend Engineer
Staff Backend Engineer at what3words designs, builds, and scales microservices on Kubernetes/AWS (Java/Spring, MySQL, Redis, some Python/FastAPI) to deliver the addressing platform's roadmap end-to-end. Based in the HCMC office with hybrid working and technical leadership expectations.
- Compensation
- $4K–$5K / mo
- Location
- Vietnam Office
- Work setup
- Hybrid
- Seniority
- Staff
- Employment
- Full time
- Experience
- Not specified
- Category
- Backend
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Excellent Java programming skills with significant experience in the Spring ecosystem
- Commercial experience working with SQL & DB schema design
- Work autonomously, own features end-to-end, collaborate directly with PMs, QA, and other engineers
- Experience designing and evolving microservices, including service boundaries, API contracts, and resilience when dependencies fail
- Hands-on experience running services with Docker and Kubernetes in AWS or a similar cloud environment
- Ability to diagnose production issues, improve observability, and make sound trade-offs around latency, scalability, and availability
- Ability to set technical direction, make pragmatic architecture decisions, and raise engineering standards across teams
- Excellent communication in spoken and written English, with a product mindset and rigorous attention to detail
Nice to have
- Experience working with Python, FastAPI and LLM APIs
- Experience working with Voice AI Models
- Experience with Agentic AI workflows for software development
Full description
Our mission is to become the global standard for addressing. Street addresses weren’t designed for 2026. They aren’t accurate enough to specify building entrances, and they don’t exist for parks, rural areas and many parts of the world. This makes it hard to find places and causes problems and inefficiencies on a global scale.
That’s why we created what3words. We divided the world into 3m squares and gave each square a unique combination of three words. It’s the easiest way to find and share precise locations.
Over the last year, what3words has been used in 193 countries, and our monthly active users continue to grow at an impressive pace. Our tech is used by emergency services, delivery companies, eCommerce businesses, ride-hailing apps and NGOs, and is integrated into the navigation systems of millions of cars around the world.
**Who we’re looking for
**We’re looking for a Staff Backend Engineer who enjoys solving problems and designing, building and scaling robust services and solutions. You’ll be working to deliver our product roadmap, choosing technologies, evaluating tradeoffs, and seeing your work through all the way to production.
At what3words, we’re proud of our tech stack. We have built a massively scalable, microservices-based architecture, based around Kubernetes on AWS. You’ll work in technologies such as Spring, Redis, FastAPI, Docker, MySQL among many others.
This is a great opportunity to join a collaborative and ambitious team, at one of the most exciting times in this company’s life.
Essential Skills:
- Java Proficiency: Excellent Java programming skills, with significant experience in the Spring ecosystem.
- Database Proficiency: Commercial experience working with SQL & DB schema design.
- Ownership: Work autonomously, own features end-to-end, collaborate directly with PMs, QA, and other engineers.
- Distributed Systems: Experience designing and evolving microservices, including service boundaries, API contracts, and resilience when dependencies fail.
- Cloud and Containers: Hands-on experience running services with Docker and Kubernetes in AWS or a similar cloud environment.
- Reliability and Performance: Ability to diagnose production issues, improve observability, and make sound trade-offs around latency, scalability, and availability.
- Technical Leadership: Ability to set technical direction, make pragmatic architecture decisions, and raise engineering standards across teams.
- Soft Skills: Excellent communication in spoken and written English, paired with a product mindset and rigorous attention to detail.