Senior Backend Developer (Kotlin, Microservices, Kafka)

What are you looking for?

Would you like to work on a newly designed and built employee solution with a modern tech stack, which is used by thousands and thousands of employees of Albert Heijn? As a Senior Backend Developer, you can make a direct impact on a priority project in a fast-developing environment.

• You get to work with modern technologies, and since this is a new-build solution we have zero legacy.
• Everything we build is scalable, using Azure and Microservices, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines and Kafka. We work in small increments so we’re able to put things live straight away, hence reduce our time to market.
• We work in a multi-disciplinarian team with back-end developers and UKG configuration experts.

This is how you will reinvent food retail.

More specifically, as Senior Backend Developer you:

• Are the Lead software engineer, guiding other Backend developers.
• Understand how to technically scale the services in the ‘employee experience platform’, our work force management solution.
• Understand how to combine best agile development practices in combination with a services-based architecture.
• Are an expert on ‘your’ domain (Kotlin back-end services on our Azure Kubernetes platform), though you can also liaise with other senior engineers and their respective technologies.
• Although your focus is developing integrations between our back-end services and our UKG SaaS solution, you would like to learn about UKG and WFM as well.
• You collaborate closely with the PO to prepare the user stories for the team.

We are seeking a Senior Backend Developer to support and enhance the integration between our organization’s core back-end systems and the UKG Workforce Management (WFM) SaaS solution. This integration will support a growing Workforce Management (WFM) solution for 800+ stores across the country and will later extend to cover our supply chain operations and ecommerce delivery workforce.

As a passionate Senior Engineer, you own the realization of new features. You lead the team in keeping up the high security and coding standards of the platform, push the engineering skills of the team, and develop new features using the latest technology. You participate in standups and refinements, develop code, enforce code quality, develop best practices, write tests and manage the continuous integration of code. As a Senior Engineer you support product or platform architects and are the technical point of contact for product owners and heads of tech. Beyond your own team, you contribute to the AH Tech community via Guilds, inner source initiatives, and more.

Your new team and office.

Together with your team you will work on inspiring projects to accelerate our transition into a hybrid Food & Tech company. We want to leverage data and technology to future-proof food shopping and give our customers the accessibility to healthy food more easily available for everyone. At Albert Heijn, you team up with inspiring peers in the data, digital and tech domains. A community of diverse individuals who share a common goal; to create digital solutions that make (online) shopping simpler and more inspiring. Are you ready to reinvent the way millions of people buy and enjoy their food? We invest heavily in data, digital and tech. And that includes investing in your career! Our teams work in a hybrid way: both from home as well as in the office. We are located right next to the train station of Zaandam.

We think it’s important to be part of an high-belonging team; a team where you can be yourself and feel safe, accepted and appreciated. For this job we are preferably looking for someone who brings diversity in our team, in the widest possible sense. Someone who is a great addition to our team by bringing other ideas to the table. Don’t check all the boxes? Don’t worry, we probably don’t either 😉. Don’t hesitate to apply if you think you are up for the challenge, we’re happy to have a look at your resume!

What we offer.

At Albert Heijn we aim to grow, and this is only possible if you grow along with us. As we work together to build our brand and your career, you can count on (based on 40 hours per week):

• An annual salary up to 92K including holiday allowance and a flexible bonus. Depending on your level of seniority and experience; 
• A minimum of 20 days paid vacation, optionally 12.5 days extra. Do you want to take that extra time off, or would you rather convert the extra days into discounts or sell them for cash? You’re the end boss!;
• Flexible working hours;
• Access to a challenging training curriculum – AH Tech Academy;
• An excellent pension plan where we as an employer contribute 4,5 more than you as an employee; 
• A travel allowance or a NS-business card for traveling to and from Zaandam by train;
• Attractive discounts on various insurance policies;
• 10% staff discount on groceries in all Albert Heijn stores, to a maximum of €300 per year;
• A free Mijn Albert Heijn Premium membership with many benefits;
• A company laptop and telephone.

The recipe for maximum impact

• 6+ years of experience as a Backend Developer;
• You know your technology stack: you are the expert when it comes to Kotlin, MongoDB, Docker, k8s and Kafka;
• Experience in Cloud (Azure preferred, but we will get you up to speed if you have AWS/Google experience);
• Experience leading/mentoring other backend developers, preferable in a microservice landscape for an internet facing app;
• Know your way around with CI/CD, including test automation integrations and release engineering automation (fyi, we use Azure DevOps and Github Actions);
• Strong understanding of concepts like code quality, IT security, test automation, and cloud practices;
• Good communication in English;
• Ability to identify (technical) improvements and contribute to a technical roadmap.
• Understanding of WFM, UKG or React (for our custom portal) is a plus.

We’re Albert Heijn, food retail reinventors. 🚀

Albert Heijn goes way back. More than 135 years, to be exact. So for millions of people, food shopping is synonymous with the Albert Heijn brand. We didn’t achieve this with a complacent, ‘hey, if it works today, it’ll work tomorrow’ approach, but by continually rethinking our propositions and staying plugged in to customer demands. More than 125,000 colleagues? Check. Over 1,250 stores in the Netherlands and Flanders? Check. The leading online food retail platform? Check, we build, run and love it.

Together we make eating better the easy choice. For everyone.

The world around us has changed, and significantly at that. These changes have impact on the lives of our customers, colleagues and partners. And therefore, also on Albert Heijn. We’re moving towards a new world with new opportunities and challenges. Albert Heijn wants more people to eat fresher, healthier and more sustainable food. Eating brings us together, keeps us healthier and contributes positively to the world. Our mission is: Together we make eating better the easy choice. For everyone. Albert Heijn the Netherlands is B Corp certified. This underscores our purpose, through which we aim to contribute to a healthier, more social, and sustainable society. B Corp certification is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability and transparency.

Ready to contribute to our mission?

Do you want to play an active role in changing the food retail landscape as we know it? Then hop on board and join us on our expedition. Would you like to learn more first, before you apply to Albert Heijn? We’re happy to tell you everything about this vacancy! An assessment will be part of our selection process.

What matters to us?

Ahold Delhaize is one of the world’s largest food retail groups and a leader in both supermarkets and e-commerce. Together, we help people eat well, save time and live better – it’s how we make a difference. And we do it because we care: for our customers, our people and the world around us.

Be courageous

"I realized how much impact you can truly have as an individual, working for such a huge international company.”

Anonymous colleague

Live wholeheartedly

“The support this company has always offered means the world to me."

Anonymous colleague

Keep growing

“I feel the freedom to show initiative, propose changes and try new things. Having that freedom gave me wings to fly.”

Anonymous colleague

Meet your colleagues

Robert Němec

"We need to offer the best digital experience: that's our goal!"

Solution Architecture Manager

Christy Elgee

"An endless race we must win"

Manager of Cyber Defense and Operations, Ahold Delhaize USA