Backend developer (Kotlin, Event-driven, DevOps)

Help build the integration backbone powering warehouse mechanization. As our new Backend Engineer, you will design and develop services that connect WMS, integration platforms, and mechanized systems (WCS), enabling reliable and scalable data exchange across the supply chain.

Operating in a distributed and event-driven environment, you will work on systems that handle real-time flows of orders, stock, and operational events. Your contributions will be key to ensuring data consistency, system resilience, and the smooth coordination between digital systems and physical warehouse operations.

Build systems that matter at real scale. In this role, you will design and build backend services that support business-critical processes used daily across the organization. Your work directly impacts system reliability, developer productivity, and the ability of teams to deliver features faster and more safely. You will work on production systems at scale, where performance, resilience, and maintainability are first-class concerns-not afterthoughts.

This is how you'll reinvent food retail.

• You design, develop, and operate backend services using modern engineering practices
• You work with technologies such as Kotlin, event-driven architectures with Kafka
• You take ownership of services end-to-end: from design and implementation to production support and continuous improvement, DevOps
• You collaborate closely with product, platform, and other engineering teams to make pragmatic technical decisions

How we work.

• Engineers have real ownership and autonomy in technical decisions within our architectural guiderails
• With the latest DevAI Tooling we supercharge our development workflow, automate where we can, giving you more time to focus on creative problem-solving.
• Code quality matters: peer reviews, clear architecture, and readable code are part of daily work
• Technical debt is acknowledged and addressed-not ignored
• We value simple, robust solutions over unnecessary complexity

Why this role is interesting for engineers.

• You work on systems with real users and real impact
• You face non-trivial engineering challenges around scalability, data flow, and reliability
• You have time and space to improve both the codebase and the way we work
• You grow technically through exposure to complex systems, experienced engineers, and meaningful ownership

Your new team and office. You work at the heart of the Albert Heijn supply chain, we are responsible for the on-time delivery of our products at 1200+ Albert Heijn stores every day across the Netherlands and Belgium. Our mission is to provide the best shopping experience to our customers, offering high service levels and fresh products at an affordable price, a task you won't take on solo but as a full-fledged member of the Supply Chain Transport engineering team.

Together with your full stack team you will work on inspiring projects to accelerate our transition into a hybrid Food & Tech company. We want to leverage data and technology to future-proof food shopping and give our customers accessibility to healthy food more easily available for everyone. At Albert Heijn, you team up with inspiring peers in the supply chain tech domain. A community of diverse individuals, working together for our logistic and transport business. Are you ready to reinvent the supply chain of the future, enabling millions of people to buy and enjoy their food every day? We invest heavily in data, digital and tech. And that includes investing in your career! Our teams work in a hybrid way: both from home as well as in the office. We are located right next to the train station Zaandam.

We think it's important to be part of a high-belonging team; a team where you can be yourself and feel safe, accepted and appreciated. For this job we are preferably looking for someone who brings diversity in our team, in the widest possible sense. Someone who is a great addition to our team by bringing other ideas to the table. So don't check all the boxes? Don't worry, we probably don't either . Don't hesitate to apply if you think you are up for the challenge, we're happy to have a look at your resume.

The recipe for maximum impact.

• Experience with Kotlin
• 5+ years of experience with key technologies: Spring Boot, GitHub Actions, Kubernetes, Postgres, Kafka, and Azure Cloud.
• CI/CD expertise: Confident working with continuous integration and deployment, including test automation and release engineering.
• Embraced DevAI: You understand their capabilities and limitations and have applied these in your daily work.
• Solid grasp of best practices: You understand clean code, security, test automation, and cloud concepts.
• Excellent English communication skills.
• Full stack mentality, while you are the expert in Kotlin you will be involved in the React front-end development together with your team front-end experts.
• Experience with iterative development: Comfortable working in cycles and adapting as you go.
• Business-technical translation: Able to turn business needs into technical solutions and work closely with stakeholders.
• Continuous improvement: You spot opportunities for improvement and help shape the technical roadmap.

What we offer. At Albert Heijn we aim to grow, and this is only possible if you grow along with us. As we work together to build our brand and your career, you can count on (based on 40 hours per week):

• An annual salary up to 80k including holiday allowance and a flexible bonus. Depending on your experience;
• 45 days of paid leave to enjoy your well-deserved holidays: 25,5 regular vacation days and 19,5 ADV days. Enjoy!
• Flexible working hours;
• Access to a challenging training curriculum - AH Tech Academy;
• An excellent pension plan where we as an employer contribute 4,5 more than you as an employee;
• A travel allowance or a NS-business card for traveling to and from Zaandam by train;
• Attractive discounts on various insurance policies;
• 10% staff discount on groceries in all Albert Heijn stores, to a maximum of €300 per year;
• A free Mijn Albert Heijn Premium membership with many benefits;
• A company laptop and telephone.

Albert Heijn goes way back. More than 135 years, to be exact. So for millions of people, food shopping is synonymous with the Albert Heijn brand. We didn't achieve this with a complacent, 'hey, if it works today, it'll work tomorrow' approach, but by continually rethinking our propositions and staying plugged in to customer demands. More than 125,000 colleagues? Check. Over 1,250 stores in the Netherlands and Flanders? Check. The leading online food retail platform? Check, we build, run and love it. Together we make eating better the easy choice. For everyone. The world around us has changed, and significantly at that. These changes have impact on the lives of our customers, colleagues and partners. And therefore, also on Albert Heijn. We're moving towards a new world with new opportunities and challenges. Albert Heijn wants more people to eat fresher, healthier and more sustainable food. Eating brings us together, keeps us healthier and contributes positively to the world. Our mission is: Together we make eating better the easy choice. For everyone. Albert Heijn the Netherlands is B Corp certified. This underscores our purpose, through which we aim to contribute to a healthier, more social, and sustainable society. B Corp certification is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability and transparency.