Looking for a new adventure? You’ve come to the right place.

We're an Amsterdam-based team of 90+ (and counting) with 25+ nationalities amongst us! A varied bunch of “Citizens of The World” with a wide range of skills and hundreds of thousands of kilometers under our travel belts. And we have something important in common (other than our very well-worn passports): We want to change the way people travel.

And that's exactly what we're doing, with the travel app to plan, track, and relive trips in a smart and beautiful way.

Polarsteps has over 20 million users already, but, for us, this is just the beginning. We have big plans for the future, and so we need even more talented and enthusiastic people to help us on our journey.

Want to know more about us? Here you go.

Your expedition: Backend Engineering at Polarsteps

We’re a small team, doing big things.

If you haven't seen our app yet, go ahead and check it out, you'll see that we care (a lot) about providing a seamless, top-quality user experience for every one of our travelers. And it is this that has got us ratings of 4.8 and 4.7 on the app stores (where we’ve been featured multiple times).

Our constant innovation is done with a clear aim: to turn Polarsteps into the best travel app out there – which is probably why Google created this awesome video about us, and we've been featured multiple times in the App Store, as well as in two Apple’s WWDC keynote speeches.

We’ve got an impressive past but we’re even more excited for the future, and the impact you can make from day one is huge, with everything you ship affecting millions of users.

If you thrive on navigating the complexities of feature development in the multifaceted travel domain and enjoy thinking about the performance and scalability aspects of a platform, you're in for a lot of fun with us!

Your itinerary

What your journey at Polarsteps will look like day-to-day:

You will:

• Collaborate with Product Development teams, PMs, designers, and other engineers to enhance Polarsteps' features and functionalities.

• Lead technical projects that improve scalability, reliability, and performance.

• Develop and maintain our main API and related services, ensuring seamless support for web and mobile applications used by travelers globally.

• Maintain an efficient development process, including timely code reviews, streamlined meetings, and effective asynchronous communication.

• Partner with stakeholders to prioritize tasks, align with quarterly and yearly OKRs and enhance the overall developer experience with the guidance of the Tech Lead and fellow backend engineers.

The equipment in your backpack

What we’re hoping you’ll bring with you:

✅ 6+ years of experience developing complex backend systems for web platforms, proficiency in Python

✅ Strong background in relational databases (we use PostgreSQL) and messaging queues (e.g., Celery, RabbitMQ)

✅ You build leverage through AI-assisted engineering, and at the right level: not blind trust, but confident delegation for accelerating your output.

✅ Experience using one of the cloud service providers (AWS, Google, Azure)

✅ Have built and scaled applications processing thousands of requests per second

✅ Solid understanding of observability and monitoring practices

✅ Solid understanding of the web stack

✅ Pragmatic problem-solving approach, balancing quick solutions with structural changes when necessary.

✅ Excellent English communication skills, both written and spoken.

Bonus points for:

• Proficiency in FastAPI.

• Having worked in a consumer-facing product.

• Being product-minded.

1st class extras

Some cool things to make the journey extra sweet.

• A yearly free flight or train to a random location! Give our Teleporter a spin here.

• A shiny new MacBook to work your magic on.

• Hybrid working, our way. Work from home and the office, we ask everyone to be in the office 2 days a week. It’s how we stay flexible, focused, and meaningfully connected in person.

• An extensive home office set-up, everything from noise-canceling headphones to a standing desk.

• 30 days of vacation (for adventures or sitting on the couch, it's up to you).

• Two paid Culture Days for days that are important to you, but not recognized by the official Dutch calendar.

• The option to switch up your zoom background by working from another country for up to 8 weeks a year.

• A personal development budget for that curious mind of yours!

• A pension plan to help you save for those around-the-world retirement trips.

• Delicious daily office lunches.

• Awesome monthly parties, as well as team trips away.

• A lively office in downtown Amsterdam, with travel costs reimbursed.

• Free Polarsteps Travel Books to contain all your far-flung adventures.

At Polarsteps, we believe the best products are built by people as diverse as the travelers using our apps! That's why we specifically encourage people underrepresented in the tech industry to apply for a role with us. Because we believe that diversity, be it age, race, sexual orientation, physical ability, ethnicity, or gender identity, makes both the world and the workplace better.

Think this is the path for you? Find out more about how we hire.