Full job descriptionRobert Half Technology are assisting a leading UK media organisation to recruit a Backend Engineer on a 6-12 month contract.
We are hiring a Senior Backend Engineer to lead the evolution of a global platform supporting international expansion and acquisition integration.
This role focuses on building and scaling transaction systems that enable global commerce, while evolving an existing real-time platform to support new markets. You will address backend capacity constraints and help design a shared transaction and ledger layer used across multiple business lines.
This is a hands-on senior engineering role requiring both high-quality delivery and strong technical leadership in ambiguous, high-scale environments.
You will be expected to:
*Design scalable systems with correctness and failure modes considered from the outset
*Clarify and scope requirements before proposing solutions
*Make pragmatic trade-offs in system design, avoiding over-engineering
*Operate independently without reliance on AI tooling for core problem solving
*Fully understand, explain, and defend all systems and code you produce
Role


*The Backend Engineer will be responsible for designing and scaling systems supporting multi-currency, cross-border transactions
*Building and extending a shared transaction and ledger layer
*Supporting integration of newly acquired platform capabilities
*Designing APIs for frontend, mobile, and seller platform use cases (REST and GraphQL)
*Handling complex transaction logic including:*Currency conversion
*Fees and commissions
*Reconciliation
*Refunds and adjustments

*Supporting region-specific requirements such as tax, shipping, and compliance
*Improving performance and scalability of real-time transaction systems
*Identifying bottlenecks and evolving platform architecture as demand grows
Profile
You will operate within a modern distributed systems environment spanning multiple services, languages, and architectural patterns. The role combines hands-on ownership of backend services with architectural leadership responsibilities.
*Elixir and the Phoenix framework
*GraphQL
*PostgreSQL
*Redis
*WebSockets and Phoenix Channels for real-time communication
*Message-driven architectures and asynchronous processing patterns
*Cloud-native infrastructure supporting globally distributed workloads
You may interact with services and systems built in:
*Python
*Go
*Java
*Kotlin
*C#
*TypeScript / Node.js
*Ruby
*Rust
API Design
*You will design, build, and consume:
*RESTful APIs
*GraphQL APIs

Company
*UK’s market leading media organisation with offices in London
*Hybrid working
Salary & Benefits
The salary range/rates of pay is dependent upon your experience, qualifications or training.
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