Staff Software Engineer, Backend at Stream

About the role

Responsibilities:
- Own and evolve backend systems powering real-time chat, video, activity feeds and moderation at large scale.
- Design and implement scalable services, APIs and SDKs used by thousands of developers.
- Operate and optimise databases (Postgres), in-memory stores (Redis), and related infrastructure for performance and reliability.
- Work on infrastructure tasks (Kubernetes, deployments, observability), sharding/partitioning and large migrations when required.
- Drive system design reviews, mentor engineers, perform code reviews and ensure production readiness and cost-conscious engineering.
- Investigate incidents, tune performance, and implement changes to improve latency and throughput.

Requirements:
- Extensive backend engineering experience building and operating production systems at scale.
- Proficiency in Go or Python (willingness to work in Go expected) and strong systems design skills.
- Solid experience with relational databases (Postgres), Redis or similar in-memory stores, and API/SDK design.
- Comfort with infrastructure work including Kubernetes, monitoring and reliability engineering.
- Experience scaling services, reasoning about trade-offs and shipping changes to live traffic.
- Strong written and spoken English. Experience with high-throughput systems (gRPC, Kafka, RabbitMQ) and cloud (GCP/AWS) is a plus.

Responsibilities

You will own and scale backend systems that support billions of API requests for real-time chat, video, and activity feeds. This role involves hands-on coding, database management, and technical leadership to ensure high reliability and performance.

Requirements

Candidates must have extensive backend engineering experience and proficiency in Go or Python. Strong knowledge of relational databases, infrastructure, and scaling systems in a production environment is required.

Key skills

• Backend engineering — in 121 other listings on The Stack
• Go — in 217 other listings on The Stack
• Python — in 1085 other listings on The Stack
• PostgreSQL — in 267 other listings on The Stack
• Redis — in 112 other listings on The Stack
• Kubernetes — in 542 other listings on The Stack
• API development — in 117 other listings on The Stack
• SDK development — in 16 other listings on The Stack
• Distributed systems
• gRPC
• RabbitMQ
• Kafka
• GCP
• AWS
• Technical leadership
• Database scaling

On The Stack (as of 2026-10-24)

• Stream has 4 other listings on The Stack, 3 of them marked as offering visa sponsorship.
• 35 visa-sponsored jobs in the Netherlands on The Stack, posted in the last 60 days.
• 137 visa-sponsored software engineer jobs in Europe on The Stack, posted in the last 60 days.

Frequently asked questions about Stream

Is this Staff Software Engineer, Backend role still open?

It was posted on 2026-10-22 and is listed as active on The Stack. Confirm on Stream's application page before applying.

Does Stream offer visa sponsorship?

This listing is marked as offering visa sponsorship. Eligibility rules are set by the employer, so check the details on Stream's site.

Where is this role located?

The listing gives the location as Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is marked hybrid.

What skills does this role ask for?

The listing names: Backend engineering, Go, Python, PostgreSQL, Redis, Kubernetes, API development, SDK development, Distributed systems, gRPC, RabbitMQ, Kafka, GCP, AWS, Technical leadership, Database scaling.