Lead Backend Engineer - Conversational Banking - Barcelona

OverviewAs Lead Engineer at N26, you shape high-availability microservices in Java/Kotlin with Spring Boot, enabling core internal operations.You work closely with product and engineering managers to align tech roadmaps and reduce technical debt, while driving delivery excellence and scalable architectures.You’ll integrate AI features to empower back-office teams and mentor a growing engineering team, promoting knowledge sharing and engineering culture.This role offers autonomy, cutting-edge tech, and a chance to influence a global digital banking platform.Compensaciones / Beneficioscompetitive personal development budgetwork-from-home budgetfitness, wellness, language app, and transport discountsfree Premium subscription on N26 account + family sharesadditional vacation day per year of servicehigh autonomy and access to cutting-edge tech renominal relocation with visa supportResponsabilidadesShape the team’s technical roadmap with PMs and EMs to minimize debtArchitect, build and maintain high-performance web applications for internal opsFoster clean delivery: promote clean code, testing, refactoring and frequent production releasesIntegrate AI features and automation with foundational models to support back-office teamsScale distributed systems with measurement and observability for continuous deliveryMentor, review code, document technically, and share knowledge to avoid silosLead initiatives to improve engineering culture and team effectivenessInvolve in recruitment and employer branding to strengthen the engineering teamRequisitos principales5+ years building complex distributed systems in Java or Kotlin with Spring BootStrong REST API design experiencePostgreSQL proficiency and CI/CD mindsetExperience with AWS and/or Kubernetes is a plusKnowledge of design patterns (DDD, Hexagonal, microservices)Experience with TDD/BDD and deep observabilityProven ability to leverage AI coding agents (Claude Code, Gemini Code, GitHub Copilot) to accelerate deliveryLeadership experience guiding mid/senior engineers to milestonesStrong communication and ownership in evolving domainsBias for actionEffective leadershipCollaborative spiritJava/KotlinSpring Boot / Spring AIREST API design

This role offers autonomy, cutting-edge tech, and a chance to influence a global digital banking platform.Compensaciones / Beneficioscompetitive personal development budgetwork-from-home budgetfitness, wellness, language app, and transport discountsfree Premium subscription on N26 account + family sharesadditional vacation day per year of servicehigh autonomy and access to cutting-edge tech renominal relocation with visa supportResponsabilidadesShape the team’s technical roadmap with PMs and EMs to minimize debtArchitect, build and maintain high-performance web applications for internal opsFoster clean delivery: promote clean code, testing, refactoring and frequent production releasesIntegrate AI features and automation with foundational models to support back-office teamsScale distributed systems with measurement and observability for continuous deliveryMentor, review code, document technically, and share knowledge to avoid silosLead initiatives to improve engineering culture and team effectivenessInvolve in recruitment and employer branding to strengthen the engineering teamRequisitos principales5+ years building complex distributed systems in Java or Kotlin with Spring BootStrong REST API design experiencePostgreSQL proficiency and CI/CD mindsetExperience with AWS and/or Kubernetes is a plusKnowledge of design patterns (DDD, Hexagonal, microservices)Experience with TDD/BDD and deep observabilityProven ability to leverage AI coding agents (Claude Code, Gemini Code, GitHub Copilot) to accelerate deliveryLeadership experience guiding mid/senior engineers to milestonesStrong communication and ownership in evolving domainsBias for actionEffective leadershipCollaborative spiritJava/KotlinSpring Boot / Spring AIREST API design