Software Engineer (m/f/d) – Backend & Platform | AI-First Engineering

Job description We are modernizing a business-critical Payroll platform and building the foundation for a more scalable, service-oriented and AI-enabled product. This is a  software engineering role, not an AI/ML engineering role .

We are looking for experienced engineers who are strong in backend and platform development and who already work, or want to work, in an  AI-first engineering environment .

AI-assisted development is part of the normal engineering workflow: understanding existing systems, exploring solutions, writing and reviewing code, creating tests, documenting decisions and accelerating delivery. You will work on gradually transforming an established, business-critical product without disrupting the proven Payroll logic behind it. Your tasks

• Design and build modern backend services and platform capabilities around an established Payroll product
• Build APIs and integration points that allow Payroll capabilities to be used by modern applications and workflows
• Modernize the product incrementally rather than through a big-bang rewrite
• Work closely with existing engineers and Payroll domain experts to understand and safely evolve proven business logic
• Establish strong engineering practices around automated testing, observability, code quality and maintainability
• Use AI throughout the software development lifecycle to:
• understand unfamiliar and complex codebases
• analyse dependencies and behaviour
• explore solution options
• accelerate implementation
• generate and improve tests
• review code and documentation
• Help define how AI-first software engineering should work in practice across the team
• Collaborate with external Web/UI engineers while ensuring that core product architecture and engineering quality remain owned internally
• Contribute to technical architecture and modernization decisions

Your profile

• Several years of professional software engineering experience with strong backend development skills in a modern programming language and ecosystem
• Experience designing APIs, services and integration-oriented systems, with a solid understanding of software architecture, clean boundaries and maintainable system design
• Comfortable working with existing or complex systems – not only greenfield products – and taking ownership from technical problem through implementation and production
• Strong automated-testing mindset and excellent communication skills, with a willingness to work closely with product and domain experts
• Practical experience using modern AI coding tools or engineering agents as part of day-to-day development, combined with the ability to judge AI-generated output critically

Particularly valuable Experience in one or more of the following is a plus: modernization of large or long-lived software products, strangler/incremental migration approaches, cloud and container-based environments, asynchronous processing, high-compliance or business-critical software (e.g. Payroll, HR or financial), legacy integration, or developer platforms and internal tooling.

Experience with C#/.NET, especially for backend services, APIs or modernization of established applications.

We are not looking for someone whose primary skill is a specific legacy technology, we are looking for engineers who can help us progressively move beyond it. Your benefits

• Collaboration within an empathetic and supportive team
• You can put your knowledge and personal strengths to good use, and continue to develop your skills and grow
• You’ll start with a structured onboarding process and learn ‘on the job’, through training sessions or informal learning formats and working in interdisciplinary and international teams
• You’ll have the opportunity to benefit from our hybrid work concept, which includes working in the office, from home, on the move and on workations
• A modern tech stack and agile working methods are a given
• A wide range of benefits, e.g. pension scheme, health management – right through to staff discounts
• Well-behaved dogs are very welcome at all our locations

I look forward to receiving your application Svenja Krüßel D-49835 Wietmarschen-Lohne Tel.: 0170-7888740 E-Mail: career@zvoove.com