We're hiring a Founding Backend Engineer (Java) to design, build, and operate the backend systems that power Grand. This is a hands-on individual contributor role for someone who enjoys owning problems end-to-end. You'll design APIs, model data, build event-driven services, and ingest signals from external sources — turning raw data into the product surface that customers actually use. This is a product-focused engineering role, and at Grand you are your own product manager. You'll work alongside founders, designers, AI engineers, and other product engineers — shaping what gets built, not just how. Your primary responsibility is shipping backend systems that are reliable, secure, well-designed, and production-ready. This is a 0→1 environment, where you help define how Grand feels, behaves, and earns trust from day one. ## What You’ll Do
Design and build Java services and APIs that power Grand and the customer-facing product
Model the data that powers our product — turning messy external signals into a coherent product surface
Build event-driven pipelines that ingest, transform, and enrich data from external sources
Operate production systems with a security-first mindset — regulated data, audit, compliance
Design APIs and data models that hold up under real distributed concerns: latency, retries, idempotency, partial failure
Build search, indexing, and query systems at scale
Integrate AI capabilities into backend workflows where they make the product meaningfully better
Make product decisions on what to build and how, in collaboration with founders and other engineers
Use AI-assisted development tools to accelerate coding, testing, and refactoring
Own features through their full lifecycle, from idea → production → iteration
Must Have
Strong backend experience building production systems in Java with a modern framework (Micronaut, Spring Boot, Quarkus or similar)
Experience designing APIs, modelling data, and reasoning about distributed concerns (latency, retries, idempotency, failure handling)
Experience shipping and operating software in AWS-based production environments
Experience with event-driven or message-based architectures in production
Experience building products in fintech, payments, credit, identity, KYB, or another regulated/financial environment
Security, data-protection, and compliance awareness when building production systems
Familiarity with CI/CD workflows
Experience working in startup or 0→1 environments
AI-first mindset, using modern tools to increase velocity responsibly
Nice to Have
GraphQL in production (AppSync a bonus)
Search and indexing experience (OpenSearch, Elasticsearch, or similar)
Data ingestion and ETL at scale, particularly from third-party feeds or APIs
Real-time features in production (WebSockets, server-sent events, event streams)
Infrastructure-as-code (Pulumi, Terraform, CDK)
Experience integrating with AI/ML systems in cloud-native environments
Salary and Benefits
Excellent Salary: Competitive and reflective of impact and responsibility
Equity: Meaningful ownership in a long-term company
Hybrid Work: At least 3 days in our Dublin office, with extended remote on request — outcomes matter more than optics
Health Insurance & Pension: Comprehensive cover
Holidays: Generous holiday allowance
Equipment: High-end spec laptop and setup of your choice
Who You Are
You want to build a company, not just code at one. You're a product-minded engineer with a startup mindset, comfortable operating in a 0→1 environment, making progress with imperfect information and taking responsibility for outcomes. You have a bias toward shipping real value, not ceremony or over-engineering. You enjoy building systems that businesses actually rely on — the kind where reliability, correctness, and trust really matter. You care about how data flows, how APIs behave under load, and how messy real-world inputs get turned into clean product surface. Bonus points if you've worked with credit bureau data, business registries, or KYB/KYC feeds before and found that kind of messy third-party data interesting rather than painful. You care about reliability, performance, and clarity across the stack, not just getting something working once. You're a clear communicator who can reason about trade-offs and constraints with founders, designers, and other engineers. You use AI tools to move faster, but you understand the code you ship and stand behind it. You thrive in ambiguity, take pride in owning problems end-to-end, and build software that earns trust. You're based in Dublin, or in easy commuting distance (or ready to be), and ready to help build a product from the inside out. If this sounds like you, let’s talk.
