Sr Backend Engineer
Overview:
In this role you will advance Taboola's Realize platform, building scalable backend services that power a high-traffic, cookie-less advertising ecosystem. You will work closely with cross-functional teams to deliver resilient data processing and recommendations at scale, impacting publishers' and advertisers' outcomes. The position emphasizes ownership, performance, and collaboration, with opportunities to leverage AI-assisted tooling for rapid prototyping. This role offers hybrid work in Downtown Los Angeles and a chance to influence global product delivery. Compensation / Benefitscomprehensive health/dental/vision insurance 401k matchingdiscretionary bonusequitypaid parental leaveflexible PTOResponsibilitiesDesign and develop scalable backend services for the Realize platform Build and optimize real-time data processing pipelines and search/recommendation components Take end-to-end ownership of systems, from conception to production and monitoring Collaborate with product, architecture, and other teams to implement robust solutions Participate in SCRUM rituals, drive integration projects from idea to completion Mentor junior/mid-level developers and contribute to code reviews Maintain service health through incident response, root-cause analysis, and reliability improvements Leverage AI-assisted tools to accelerate prototyping, delivery, and troubleshooting Manage production systems, including on-call rotations and troubleshooting
Key requirements:
- Bachelor's or advanced degree in a relevant field (ideally Computer Science/Engineering)5+ years of hands-on Java coding and experience with the Spring Framework
- Strong understanding of relational and NoSQL databases (e.g., MySQL, Cassandra)
- Experience with big data processing tools (e.g., Apache Spark, Hadoop, Google BigQuery)
- Experience with Docker and Kubernetes for containerization/orchestration
- Proficiency with Git and modern version control workflows
- Solid knowledge of backend integration, microservices architecture, RESTful APIs, and event-driven messaging (Kafka)
- Experience building and scaling real-time search/recommendation/vector-search pipelines (Vespa or Elasticsearch/Solr)
- System-architecture mindset for scalable, reliable, high-performance systems
- Experience taking end-to-end ownership and collaborating across teams (including with Tel Aviv)
- Experience supporting production systems, on-call rotations, incident response, and root-cause analysis
- Strong communication of technical findings
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Mentoring and coaching
- JavaSpring Framework
MySQL