Senior Backend Engineer (Django), High Ownership

Work & Travel Guide is a young, fast-growing startup. We are building a product that helps people discover the world... smarter, simpler, and radically better than anything available today.

But this is about more than features.

We are building the **infrastructure for freedom.**

For people who do not want to travel someday, but now.

You will join at a stage where your decisions will make a real difference:

**Maximum impact:** You will work on core systems across backend, frontend, architecture, and deployments - the systems that support both the product and the company.

**Fast-growing responsibility:** If you deliver, your scope will grow quickly. You can move from owning individual components to leading architecture, owning processes, and eventually helping build a team. With enough commitment, your path can go very far.

You will work closely with the CTO. Short communication lines, fast decisions, and real technical leadership.

Tasks

**Backend & APIs - Django (main focus)**

• Build and continuously improve backend systems and APIs in Django.
• Take ownership of architecture decisions around scalability, reliability, and maintainability.

**Frontend - React (experience with any other frontend technology is fine)**

• Build features in the React frontend, including UI, state management, and backend integration.
• Improve performance and developer experience.
• Design clean interfaces between frontend and backend.

**Engineering Excellence**

• Implement and improve CI/CD pipelines and deployment workflows.
• Consistently apply clean code, design patterns, and strong system design principles.
• Refactor larger parts of the codebase to improve long-term maintainability, using modern tools such as Claude Code.
• Systematically expand testing and QA, including unit, integration, and end-to-end testing depending on the area.

**AI-supported Productivity**

• Actively use and improve AI-assisted development workflows to iterate faster, increase quality, and automate repetitive work.

Requirements

• Strong experience in backend development. Some frontend experience in any framework is preferred.
• Excellent backend skills, especially with Django, APIs, and data models.
• Solid understanding of architecture, design patterns, and clean code principles.
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD, including build pipelines, tests, deployments, and release processes.
• Strong testing and QA practices.
• Familiarity with modern toolchains and workflows, including AI-assisted development.

**Bonus**

Experience with Go and/or Rust, or strong curiosity to learn them, as we plan to expand parts of the system in that direction over time.

Benefits

• **100% remote option**, or work from our office in Frankfurt, Germany — whatever you prefer.
• **High autonomy and ownership**: you influence decisions and build end-to-end.
• **Direct collaboration with the CTO**: short feedback loops, fast decisions, and real technical leadership.
• **Your ideas matter**: small team, big impact, fast iteration.
• **Retreats and workations**: you are invited to come join us for workations in interesting and inspiring places all around the world regularly
• **Strong engineering culture**: clean architecture, code reviews, testing, and observability.
• **AI at the core**: modern AI tooling stacks, used only where they truly make sense.
• **Stock option program** for employees who stand out through exceptional talent and commitment.

We accept applications exclusively via email to **tech \[at\] workandtravelguide .org**

Work & Travel Guide is a young, fast-growing startup. We are building a product that helps people discover the world... smarter, simpler, and radically better than anything available today.

But this is about more than features.

We are building the **infrastructure for freedom.**

For people who do not want to travel someday, but now.

You will join at a stage where your decisions will make a real difference:

**Maximum impact:** You will work on core systems across backend, frontend, architecture, and deployments - the systems that support both the product and the company.

**Fast-growing responsibility:** If you deliver, your scope will grow quickly. You can move from owning individual components to leading architecture, owning processes, and eventually helping build a team. With enough commitment, your path can go very far.

You will work closely with the CTO. Short communication lines, fast decisions, and real technical leadership.

Aufgaben

**Backend & APIs - Django (main focus)**

• Build and continuously improve backend systems and APIs in Django.
• Take ownership of architecture decisions around scalability, reliability, and maintainability.

**Frontend - React (experience with any other frontend technology is fine)**

• Build features in the React frontend, including UI, state management, and backend integration.
• Improve performance and developer experience.
• Design clean interfaces between frontend and backend.

**Engineering Excellence**

• Implement and improve CI/CD pipelines and deployment workflows.
• Consistently apply clean code, design patterns, and strong system design principles.
• Refactor larger parts of the codebase to improve long-term maintainability, using modern tools such as Claude Code.
• Systematically expand testing and QA, including unit, integration, and end-to-end testing depending on the area.

**AI-supported Productivity**

• Actively use and improve AI-assisted development workflows to iterate faster, increase quality, and automate repetitive work.

Qualifikation

• Strong experience in backend development. Some frontend experience in any framework is preferred.
• Excellent backend skills, especially with Django, APIs, and data models.
• Solid understanding of architecture, design patterns, and clean code principles.
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD, including build pipelines, tests, deployments, and release processes.
• Strong testing and QA practices.
• Familiarity with modern toolchains and workflows, including AI-assisted development.

**Bonus**

Experience with Go and/or Rust, or strong curiosity to learn them, as we plan to expand parts of the system in that direction over time.

Benefits

• **100% remote option**, or work from our office in Frankfurt, Germany — whatever you prefer.
• **High autonomy and ownership**: you influence decisions and build end-to-end.
• **Direct collaboration with the CTO**: short feedback loops, fast decisions, and real technical leadership.
• **Your ideas matter**: small team, big impact, fast iteration.
• **Retreats and workations**: you are invited to come join us for workations in interesting and inspiring places all around the world regularly
• **Strong engineering culture**: clean architecture, code reviews, testing, and observability.
• **AI at the core**: modern AI tooling stacks, used only where they truly make sense.
• **Stock option program** for employees who stand out through exceptional talent and commitment.

We accept applications exclusively via email to **tech \[at\] workandtravelguide .org**