Backend Engineer

Title: Backend Engineer

Location: Sydney Australia

Job Description:

Big Red Group is the largest experience network in Australia and New Zealand. A powerful connector that provides more than 3000 experience operators with quality customers and the tourism industry with trusted intelligence and partnership.

Australian owned, Big Red Group operates an industry-leading platform, enabling the wholesale distribution of experiences through domestic and international partners, powering its renowned domestic marketplaces RedBalloon, Adrenaline, Experience Oz, and Everything NZ. Equipping in-destination experience retailing through hotels and travel agents through its Local Agent offering. As well as a suite of software products and services to support experience operators grow their businesses.

With a purpose to ‘shift the way people experience life’, Big Red Group seeks to reduce the tide of consumption. Encouraging people to choose ‘stories over stuff’ at every opportunity. Together with our experience operators, we are on track to deliver an experience every second by 2030.

We are The Experience Network.

The Role

We’re creating a platform that connects partners, businesses, and customers across the experiences industry - from gifting to direct bookings. We’re a major player in ANZ, and we’re investing in our platform for the future and a global stage. We’re hiring two Senior Backend Engineers to join our small, fast-moving teams to take it further.

Why You'll Love It Here

• Own what you build: From idea to deployment, you’ll shape real solutions at scale.
• Work with purpose: We connect people through experiences, not things.
• Move fast, stay focused: Small teams with clear, shared goals and minimal red tape.
• Grow with us: You’ll help scale a platform and solve complex problems in distributed systems delivering an experience every second.
• Choose your location: Sydney, Gold Coast, or remotely within Australia.

How We Work

• Projects run end-to-end in weeks, not months.
• We favour clarity over cleverness, and simplicity over complexity.
• Constraints fuel our creativity - we build lean, smart, and fast.

Our Stack

• AWS ECS, AWS RDS, Redis, Terraform, GitHub + GitHub Actions, Datadog
• Micronaut (Java 17, 21), Grails, Next.js (Node.js, React), MySQL, OpenAPI, AI
• Gradle, Webpack

What We're Looking For

• Clear Communicator: in code, documentation and ideas
• Product-minded Engineer: you care about customer impact, code quality, design and maintainability and you know what good engineering looks like
• Ownership: capable of driving solutions end-to-end across the SDLC with minimal guidance
• Pragmatism: you know when to ship quickly and when to refine
• Well Rounded: experienced in test-automation, debugging, troubleshooting, performance tuning, scaling and marking trade-offs to deliver steady, sustainable outcomes

Key Responsibilities

• Design, build, and deliver scalable, responsive backend services that scale to support a high-volume e-commerce platform using Micronaut (Java 17/21), Grails, MySQL, and Redis.
• Collaborate on designing and evolving robust APIs and data models that enable flexibility for frontend and partner integrations.
• Ensure systems are secure, reliable, and performant, with strong observability and reliability practices in place.
• Contribute to architecture decisions, technical designs, and make pragmatic trade-offs to deliver sustainable engineering outcomes.
• Debug, troubleshoot, and resolve complex issues in distributed systems, contributing to continuous improvement.

Skills & Experience:

• Proficiency with Java (Micronaut, Grails, or similar frameworks), relational databases (MySQL), and caching (Redis).
• Proficiency designing and integrating APIs (REST/OpenAPI) for internal and external consumers.
• Strong experience with cloud platforms (AWS preferred), CI/CD pipelines, and observability tooling (Datadog).
• Strong experience debugging, troubleshooting, performance tuning, and scaling distributed systems.
• Strong communication and problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and ability to work effectively in a cross-functional team.

What’s in It for You?

At Big Red Group, we’re a high-growth, technology-led business that embraces innovation and change in a flexible, hybrid environment. You will join a close-knit team with a great leader, focused on delivering our transformation program and pushing the boundaries of front-end development. This is an exciting opportunity to make a real impact in a company that values innovation, collaboration and growth.

What Sets Us Apart:

Community Focus: Our ESG commitment shapes everything we do, from responsible sourcing to sustainable office practices. For those based in Sydney or the Gold Coast, we host weekly, catered Community Lunches.

Commitment to Your Growth: We offer continuous learning opportunities, 30 work-from-anywhere days, leadership development, paid parental leave, and wellness support to prioritize your growth and well-being.

At Big Red Group, we believe diverse perspectives drive innovation and success. We are an equal opportunity employer, committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive workplace where everyone – regardless of background, identity, or ability – has the opportunity to thrive.