Senior Software Engineer - Payroll Foundation

As a Senior Backend Engineer, you will join the Payroll Foundations team, the group responsible for the core systems that power Personio Payroll. These systems ensure employees are paid accurately, payroll processes run reliably, and critical payroll outputs such as payslips and reporting documents are generated at the right time.

You will work on the backend infrastructure that sits at the heart of payroll processing, solving complex problems around correctness, reliability, and performance at scale.

This role offers the opportunity to work on high-impact systems where quality, accuracy, and engineering excellence directly affect thousands of employees being paid correctly every month.

What You’ll Do

• Build and maintain backend systems that power payroll processing pipelines
• Design and improve services responsible for payroll calculations and processing workflows
• Ensure payroll data is processed accurately and reliably across the platform
• Work on systems responsible for generating payslips and payroll reporting outputs
• Improve reliability, performance, and maintainability of payroll backend services
• Collaborate with product managers and engineers across payroll teams
• Contribute to technical decisions and architectural improvements within the payroll domain

• Strong experience building backend systems in production environments
• Experience working with distributed systems or large-scale backend services
• Strong programming experience in languages such as Kotlin/Java, or similar
• Experience designing reliable services with high correctness requirements
• Ability to work in a collaborative engineering environment
• Strong problem-solving and debugging skills
• AI Fluency: You have hands-on experience using AI to improve your workflow, and the sound judgment to know exactly when to rely on it and when to step in yourself.

Nice to have:

• Experience in fintech, payroll, or other regulated domains
• Familiarity with systems where accuracy and compliance are critical

This role requires 2 days per week in office. The remaining days can be worked from home, plus 20 Flex Days per year to work remotely from other locations.

You’ll also benefit from:

• Competitive salary, benefits, and pre-IPO equity
• 28 days paid holiday, plus extra days after 2 and 4 years
• One fully paid Impact Day per year
• Family leave, mental health support, and sabbatical options
• Regular team events, office snacks, drinks, and weekly catered lunches

At Personio, we’re on a mission to help millions of people have a better work life. Our People Operating System empowers organisations across Europe to manage HR, payroll, and employee experience in one place.