Backend Engineer

About us

Time is our most valuable resource—why waste it on admin? At Shiftbase, we believe that businesses should focus on what truly matters, not on repetitive paperwork. That’s why we’ve built a scalable workforce management platform that helps companies with shift workers streamline scheduling, time tracking, and leave management.

Shiftbase is one of Europe’s fastest-growing B2B SaaS platforms. With over 10,000 paying customers across the Netherlands, Germany, and beyond, we’re scaling quickly with a clear roadmap for international expansion. By 2034, we aim to become the go-to workforce assistant for 250,000 businesses across Europe—freeing them from administrative complexity through automation and smart tooling.

Why join Shiftbase?

Working at Shiftbase means being part of a fast-moving, high-impact team where innovation, ownership, and collaboration are at the heart of everything we do. Our 75+ talented team members work in close-knit cross-functional teams from our inspiring, centrally located headquarters in Zoetermeer.

Here’s what makes us an inspiring place to work:
• A culture of speed and ownership – We go all in, move fast, and own our results.
• Smart and ambitious colleagues – You’ll work alongside top talent, challenge ideas, and grow every day.
• International expansion – We’re scaling rapidly across Europe, and you’ll be part of this exciting journey.
• Innovation-driven mindset – Our cutting-edge product is evolving into an intelligent assistant, offering strategic insights, automation, and AI-powered decision-making.
• Big impact – Your work directly improves operations for thousands of businesses, making their customers happier and their employees more efficient.

About the role

At Shiftbase, we’re modernizing our platform from the inside out—while keeping the doors open building a robust and future-proof platform. As a Backend Developer, you’ll play a vital role in evolving our core product: a complex, high-impact SaaS application used daily by tens of thousands of employees across Europe.

Your primary focus will be on building new functionality while incrementally modernizing existing systems. This includes designing our robust Open API, improving backend performance, and simplifying complex logic. Our monolith architecture remains—but we’re making it smarter, cleaner, and easier to scale through modularization, test automation, and best practices like DDD and Hexagonal Architecture.

The ideal candidate understands that true backend craftsmanship isn’t about technical cleverness only - it’s about clarity, maintainability, and long-term value for both users and fellow engineers.

What success looks like

• You’ve delivered scalable backend functionality that solves real user problems.
• You’ve simplified legacy logic into well-structured, maintainable modules.
• You’ve improved test coverage and helped accelerate CI/CD pipelines.
• You’ve optimized performance-critical processes like complex queries and calculations.
• You’ve contributed to a better Developer Experience, making it easier to onboard new engineers.
• You’ve influenced architectural direction without slowing down feature delivery.

Who you are

You’re a backend engineer who loves creating order from complexity. You care about clean code, practical and pragmatic solutions. You’re excited by technical depth, but motivated by real-world outcomes.

You are:
• Experienced – At least 3 years working with PHP (Symfony, Laravel, or custom frameworks)
• Test-savvy – You value test automation (PHPUnit, Playwright) and CI/CD reliability
• Pragmatic – You balance legacy modernization with shipping new features fast
• Communicative – You explain decisions clearly and collaborate well with others
• Curious – You keep up with tools and approaches that improve product and team velocity
• Empathetic – You build for other developers, not just the machine

Bonus: You’ve worked with DDD, Hexagonal Architecture and/or TypeScript.

What you’ll do

• Build new backend features and improve existing functionality
• Design, document, and maintain our Open API for internal and external use
• Refactor legacy components into modular, testable structures
• Write reliable automated tests and improve CI/CD processes
• Collaborate with frontend, product, and infra on planning and architecture
• Contribute to platform performance, scalability, and maintainability
• Help improve Developer Experience and reduce onboarding friction

What’s in it for you?

• Benchmarked competitive salary based on experience
• 25 vacation days (based on a 40-hour contract)
• Excellent pension plan & NS Business Card (if applicable)
• Hybrid-friendly with flexible working hours
• High-end laptop (Mac or Windows)
• Travel reimbursement and a personal training budget
• Quarterly hackathons, team BBQs, Friday drinks, and more
• A growing product and engineering culture you can help shape

Is this your dream job?

This *is* your dream job if:
✅ You enjoy solving hard problems with elegant, maintainable code
✅ You want to modernize and build at the same time
✅ You take pride in clean architecture and great developer experience

This is *not* your dream job if:
❌ You prefer greenfield projects with no legacy
❌ You avoid collaboration or mentoring
❌ You’re not interested in contributing beyond your code

Want to apply?

Sound like a match? We’d love to hear from you!

📧 hr@shiftbase.com
Attn: Marco Janssen – Engineering Manager