Staff Backend Engineer / Tech Lead Manager

Remote from: UK, Europe +2 more, Germany, Netherlands
Annual salary: Undisclosed
Salary information is not provided for this position. Check our Salary Directory to estimate the average compensation for similar roles.
Department: Software Engineering
Employment type: Full Time,
Job posted: 22 Jun 2026
Apply before: 22 Jul 2026
Experience level: Senior
Views / Applies: 70 / 13

Nebius is the AI cloud company, delivering a unified platform that spans the complete AI journey from data and model training and tuning to production runtime and deployment.

Computer Software
2023

Actively Hiring

AI Summary

Nebius is hiring a Staff Backend Engineer / Tech Lead Manager for their Managed Kubernetes (mk8s) team. The role involves leading a core team of 4-8 engineers, hands-on coding in Golang, driving technical vision, and collaborating with product management to scale AI cloud infrastructure. The ideal candidate has 8+ years of experience, deep Kubernetes expertise, and a track record of leading multi-month technical projects. Nebius offers a fast-paced, innovative environment with opportunities for growth and impact on AI infrastructure.

Role DNA

Job Complexity

Easy Hard

Pace & Pressure

Relaxed Fast-paced

Autonomy Level

Guided Full Ownership

Communication Load

Independent Highly Collaborative

AI Insight Requires 8+ years of experience, expertise in Go and Kubernetes, and the ability to lead both technically and manage a team, making it a very challenging senior-level role.

Salary Analysis

AI Insight The offered salary is not specified, but for similar Staff Backend Engineer roles in the US market, the median is around $200k with a range from $150k to $300k. Nebius is a Nasdaq-listed company with competitive compensation.

Key Skills

Go Kubernetes Cloud Infrastructure Team Leadership API Design Autoscaling Incident Response Distributed Systems AI/ML

Cover Letter Sample

Dear Hiring Manager,

I am writing to express my interest in the Staff Backend Engineer / Tech Lead Manager position at Nebius. With over 8 years of software engineering experience and a strong background in Go and Kubernetes, I am excited to lead the mk8s Core team and drive the scaling of AI cloud infrastructure. I have successfully led multi-month technical projects and managed teams, ensuring high quality and performance.

My hands-on approach and technical vision align with Nebius's fast-paced and innovative culture. I look forward to contributing to the company's growth and shaping the future of AI infrastructure.

Sincerely, [Your Name]

Possible Interview Questions

Describe how you would lead a team to optimize a Kubernetes control plane for 20K GPU nodes.

I would start by analyzing current bottlenecks through profiling and metrics, then implement horizontal scaling of API server and etcd, introduce custom controllers for efficient resource management, and collaborate with infrastructure teams to ensure network and storage optimizations. Regular load testing would validate improvements.

How do you handle conflicting priorities between technical debt and new features?

I balance by assessing the impact of technical debt on velocity and reliability, then work with the product manager to allocate a portion of each sprint for debt reduction. I communicate trade-offs transparently and prioritize based on long-term value.

Explain a time you mentored a junior engineer to improve their performance.

I paired with a junior engineer on a complex feature, set clear learning goals, and conducted regular code reviews. I provided constructive feedback and encouraged them to take ownership. Over three months, their code quality and confidence improved significantly, and they became a key contributor.

What is your approach to on-call and incident management?

I ensure robust monitoring and alerting, automate remediation where possible, and maintain clear runbooks. During incidents, I lead with calm and systematic troubleshooting, and after resolution, I conduct blameless post-mortems to prevent recurrence.

How do you stay current with Kubernetes ecosystem changes?

I follow Kubernetes Enhancement Proposals (KEPs), attend KubeCon and local meetups, and experiment with new tools in sandbox environments. I also encourage my team to share learnings and host internal tech talks.

About Nebius:

Nebius is leading a new era in cloud infrastructure for the global AI economy. We are building a full-stack AI cloud platform that supports developers and enterprises from data and model training through to production deployment, without the cost and complexity of building large in-house AI/ML infrastructure.

Built by engineers, for engineers. From large-scale GPU orchestration to inference optimization, we own the hard problems across compute, storage, networking and applied AI.

Listed on Nasdaq (NBIS) and headquartered in Amsterdam, we have a global footprint with R&D hubs across Europe, the UK, North America and Israel. Our team of 1,500+ includes hundreds of engineers with deep expertise across hardware, software and AI R&D.

Nebius Managed Kubernetes (mk8s) mission is to grow the Nebius cloud platform by providing a Kubernetes-native way to run AI systems with high efficiency and low operational overhead.
With a single click, it provides a Kubernetes cluster on top of Nebius services for compute (VMs) and networking.
In 2026, the service is scaling 10× and is expected to manage customer workloads across tens of thousands of GPU servers in more than 10 data centers.

You will lead the mk8s Core team, one of three mk8s teams. The Core team owns the API, the core of the service control plane, cluster autoscaling, platform integrations, and running k8s add-ons.
At Nebius, team leads are hands-on. We expect you to be a senior or staff engineer now (or earlier in your career). You will start as an individual contributor to gain context, then take on managerial responsibilities.

In this position, you will be responsible to:

Lead by example. Set the quality bar by spending a significant portion of your time on IC work: writing and reviewing code, leading projects, and participating in on-call rotation, incident mitigation, and post-incident analysis.
Manage 4–8 mid-to-senior engineers. Provide context, coach, and give regular feedback.
Maintain the technical vision for your area of responsibility.
Collaborate with the Product Manager and Service Owner to shape product vision and plans.

Examples of outcomes you could drive as a Team Lead

Optimize the service control plane to create and manage 20K GPU nodes in a single Kubernetes cluster, enabling a major contract for the company.
Integrate cluster autoscaling approaches (e.g., Karpenter) to improve resource utilization and support seamless auto-upgrades.
Provide a Kubernetes-native way to use local disks to reduce disk I/O bottlenecks for AI training and inference, improving efficiency.
Deliver managed Layer 7 load balancers to reduce operational overhead for customers.

What you will bring to the table:

8+ years of professional software engineering or management experience
Excellent knowledge of Golang, or you are ready to quickly switch to this programming language
Expertise with

Multi-month technical projects
Tech leading engineers
Owning multi-month technical projects.

It would be an added bonus if you had:

Experience with Team management, Kubernetes administration, Developing Kubernetes controllers

Benefits & Perks:

Competitive compensation
Career growth and learning opportunities
Flexibility and ownership
Collaborative and innovative culture
Opportunity to work on impactful AI projects
International environment and talented teams

What’s it like to work at Nebius:

Fast moving – Bold thinking – Constant growth – Meaningful impact – Trust and real ownership – Opportunity to shape the future of AI

Equal Opportunity Statement:

Nebius is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace and to providing equal employment opportunities in all aspects of employment. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Applicants must be authorized to work in the country in which they apply and will be required to provide proof of employment eligibility as a condition of hire.

If you need accommodations during the application process, please let us know.

Apply now >