Senior Software Developer - Scala

Job Description

hackajob is collaborating with Sage to connect them with exceptional professionals for this role.

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We are looking for a Senior Backend Developer to join our HCM Localisation engineering team and help evolve a large-scale, cloud-based enterprise product. This role is focused on building and maintaining scalable backend services supporting complex product workflows, integrations, performance improvements, and ongoing platform modernisation.

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*** Please note: This is a hybrid role requiring 3 days per week in our Newcastle office ***

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In this role you'll:

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• Design, develop, and maintain robust backend services using Scala 2.13 and Play Framework in a Pekko-based environment.
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• Build clean, testable, and maintainable code using functional programming principles, immutability, pattern matching, and asynchronous programming with Futures.
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• Work with MySQL to design efficient data access patterns, optimize queries, tune indexes, and profile database performance.
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• Develop, deploy, and support services in AWS, working closely with DevOps and platform teams to ensure reliable delivery.
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• Contribute to CI/CD pipelines, Git-based pull request workflows, code reviews, and engineering best practices.
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• Collaborate with frontend engineers, QA, product owners, solution designers, and other backend developers to deliver high-quality product increments.
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• Support production stability by investigating issues, improving observability, and continuously reducing technical debt.
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Required Skills and Experience:

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• Extensive professional backend development experience, ideally in enterprise, SaaS, or cloud-based product environments.
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• Strong hands-on experience with Scala, including collections, Futures, immutability, pattern matching, error handling, and clean functional design.
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• Commercial experience with Play Framework or comparable JVM backend frameworks; Pekko or Akka experience is highly relevant.
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• Strong understanding of relational databases, especially MySQL, with practical knowledge of SQL optimization, indexes, query profiling, and transaction behaviour.
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• Experience using Redis or similar technologies for caching, session handling, or performance-sensitive workloads.
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• Deep understanding of OOP principles, functional programming, concurrency, the Scala type system, and advanced architectural patterns (e.g., Tagless Final, type classes, effect systems).
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• Ability to design and evolve complex distributed systems while promoting engineering best practices across the team
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• Hands-on experience with AWS services and cloud-native delivery practices.
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• Good understanding of CI/CD, Git, branching strategies, pull request flows, automated testing, and release practices.
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• Ability to work effectively in distributed Agile teams, communicate clearly, and take ownership of complex technical problems.
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Nice to Have:

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• Experience with Squeryl, Doobie, or similar Scala data access libraries.
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• Familiarity with Grafana or Kibana dashboards, alerting, logging, and production observability practices.
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• Experience with large distributed systems, horizontal scaling, resilient service design, or high-throughput Play / Pekko applications.
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• Previous experience in Payroll, HR, HCM, ERP, compliance-heavy, or localisation-focused product domains.
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• Russian, Ukrainian, or Polish language skills would be beneficial, but are not essential.
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Ways of Working:

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• Pragmatic, delivery-focused, and able to balance new feature development with maintenance, bug fixing, and technical improvement work.
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• Proactive in code reviews, design discussions, troubleshooting, and knowledge sharing across the engineering team.
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• Strong problem-solving mindset, attention to detail, and willingness to work with an established codebase while helping modernise it over time.
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Want to know more about our Product?: https://hcm.sage.com/

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Benefits? We have plenty...

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Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCMtTYUUiuU

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• Generous bonuses and pension scheme: Up to 8% matched pension contribution plus 2% top-up by Sage.
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• 25 days of paid annual leave with the option to buy up to another 5 days.
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• 8 bank holiday days.
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• Paid 5 days yearly to volunteer through our Sage Foundation.
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• 50% income protection.
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• Holiday buy + sell.
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• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage.
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• Work away scheme for up to 10 weeks a year.
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• Ongoing training and professional development.
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• Hybrid working.
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• Healthy Mind app membership
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• Access to various helpful memberships for finances, health and wellbeing.
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