Staff Backend Developer

For over four decades, PAR Technology Corporation (NYSE: PAR) has been a leader in restaurant technology, empowering brands worldwide to create lasting connections with their guests. Our innovative solutions and commitment to excellence provide comprehensive software and hardware that enable seamless experiences and drive growth for over 100,000 restaurants in more than 110 countries. Embracing our "Better Together" ethos, we offer Unified Customer Experience solutions, combining point-of-sale, digital ordering, loyalty and back-office software solutions as well as industry-leading hardware and drive-thru offerings. To learn more, visit or connect with us on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram.

Position Description:

A Staff Backend Developer is a highly experienced software engineer responsible for designing, developing and evolving complex backend systems and services using PHP and/or Go (Golang), MySQL and related technologies.

The role requires deep technical expertise, strong engineering judgment and a high level of ownership. A Staff Backend Developer is expected to independently drive complex technical work, contribute to architecture and technical decisions, and act as one of the key technical references within the development team.

The role goes beyond implementation of individual tasks. A Staff Backend Developer is expected to understand the broader product and system context, proactively identify technical risks and improvement opportunities, and take responsibility for features and technical initiatives from initial design through implementation, testing, release, production validation and continuous improvement.

A Staff Backend Developer is also expected to make extensive and effective use of AI-assisted engineering tools as part of their daily development workflow. They must have sufficient technical depth and engineering judgment to critically evaluate, validate and improve AI-generated solutions rather than relying on them without proper technical review.

Position Location:

Serbia

Reports To:

Engineering Manager

What We’re Looking For:

Entrees (Requirements):

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

• Extensive professional experience in backend software development and independently delivering complex production systems.

• Strong knowledge of PHP and modern PHP web frameworks and/or Go (Golang), with deep understanding of backend application and service development.

• Strong knowledge of relational databases, particularly MySQL, including data modeling, query optimization and performance considerations.

• Strong experience designing and maintaining APIs and integrations.

• Deep understanding of software architecture, design patterns, maintainability, scalability and performance.

• Strong understanding of distributed systems, service integrations, asynchronous processing and failure scenarios.

• Strong understanding of testing practices, including unit, integration and automated testing.

• Strong understanding of production systems, observability, logging, monitoring, troubleshooting and root cause analysis.

• Strong experience with Git, Linux environments and modern CI/CD development practices.

• Experience working in Agile and continuous delivery environments with frequent releases and short development cycles.

• Demonstrated ability to independently solve complex technical problems and make sound engineering decisions with limited supervision.

• Demonstrated ability to take end-to-end ownership of complex features and technical initiatives.

• Demonstrated practical experience using AI-assisted software engineering tools as a significant part of the development workflow.

• Strong understanding of both the capabilities and limitations of AI-assisted development, with the technical depth required to critically review, validate and correct AI-generated code and technical solutions.

• Ability to use AI effectively to accelerate development, investigation, testing, documentation and problem solving without compromising engineering quality.

With a side of (additional skills):

• Strong ability to identify technical risks and improvement opportunities proactively rather than relying only on assigned work.

• Ability to help other engineers adopt effective AI-assisted development practices.

• Strong code review and technical mentoring skills.

• Ability to act as a technical reference for other developers and support the Engineering Manager with technical recommendations and decisions.

• Strong communication and collaboration skills across Engineering, Product, Quality Engineering, Architecture and DevOps.

• High level of ownership, accountability and self-direction.

• Strong focus on software quality, performance, reliability and long-term maintainability.

• Ability to balance technical excellence with business priorities and delivery needs.

Unleash your potential: What you will be doing and owning:

• Design, develop and maintain complex backend systems, services and APIs that support integrated ordering, payment and workflow management solutions.

• Actively contribute to the technical design and architecture of the software system, with a deep understanding of system behavior, dependencies, data flows and integration points.

• Take ownership of complex features and technical initiatives from initial requirements and technical design through implementation, testing, deployment, production validation and post-release follow-up.

• Ensure that feature ownership does not end when the code is completed, but continues through successful delivery, production stability and resolution of any issues identified after release.

• Act proactively and independently, identifying technical problems, risks, dependencies and improvement opportunities without waiting for tasks or solutions to be explicitly assigned.

• Serve as a technical reference point for the development team, providing guidance and support to other developers on architecture, implementation approaches, debugging, performance and engineering best practices.

• Work closely with the Engineering Manager and provide technical input, recommendations and support for technical decisions, planning, risk assessment and prioritization.

• Support the Engineering Manager in evaluating technical complexity, dependencies, implementation approaches and technical risks related to planned work.

• Mentor and support other developers, share technical knowledge, review implementation approaches and help raise the overall engineering capability of the team.

• Perform high-quality code reviews focused not only on code correctness, but also on architecture, maintainability, performance, security, scalability and long-term technical impact.

• Actively contribute to establishing and improving engineering standards, coding practices, development processes and technical guidelines across the team.

• Make extensive and effective use of AI-assisted engineering tools to improve development speed, code quality, investigation, debugging, testing, documentation and engineering productivity.

• Use AI as an engineering accelerator while applying strong technical judgment to validate AI-generated code, designs, assumptions and recommendations before they are introduced into production systems.

• Continuously evaluate new AI-assisted development approaches and identify practical opportunities to improve engineering efficiency and software quality across the team.

• Help other developers improve their effective and responsible use of AI-assisted engineering tools and workflows.

• Maintain a deep understanding of the codebase and surrounding systems sufficient to identify incorrect, incomplete or suboptimal AI-generated solutions.

• Work closely with Product, Quality Engineering, Frontend, Architecture, DevOps and other engineering teams to ensure successful end-to-end delivery of features.

• Collaborate with Quality Engineering throughout the development lifecycle to ensure testability, appropriate test coverage and early identification of quality risks.

• Write and maintain appropriate unit, integration and automated tests to ensure software reliability and support frequent and safe releases.

• Design and implement APIs and integrations with a strong focus on reliability, backward compatibility, performance, scalability and maintainability.

• Proactively identify performance bottlenecks and resource utilization issues and implement appropriate improvements.

• Participate in investigation and resolution of complex production issues, perform root cause analysis and ensure appropriate corrective and preventive actions are implemented.

• Use production monitoring, logging, metrics and other observability tools to understand system behavior and validate the impact of delivered changes.

• Consider production behavior, performance, reliability and operational impact as part of implementation and technical design decisions.

• Provide reliable technical estimates and clearly communicate assumptions, dependencies, risks and uncertainties that may impact delivery.

• Prioritize work in cooperation with the Engineering Manager while independently managing technical execution and dependencies.

• Communicate technical risks, blockers and development problems early and clearly, together with possible solutions or recommendations.

• Take responsibility for the quality, maintainability and technical correctness of delivered solutions.

• Use Git and established development workflows in accordance with team and company engineering practices.

• Continuously improve their own technical knowledge and actively evaluate technologies, tools and practices that can improve development efficiency, system quality and team effectiveness.

• Contribute to reducing technical debt and proactively identify areas of the system that require modernization, simplification or architectural improvement.

• Balance delivery speed with long-term maintainability and avoid unnecessary complexity or short-term solutions that create unacceptable future technical cost.

Interview Process:

Interview #1: Initial Screening: Video interview with the Recruiter and Hiring Manager (via MS Teams)

Interview #2: Technical Discussion: Video interview with a Technical Team Member (via MS Teams)

Interview #3: Leadership Interview: Video interview with VP of Engineering (via MS Teams)

PAR is proud to provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. We also provide reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities in accordance with applicable laws. If you require reasonable accommodation to complete a job application, pre-employment testing, a job interview or to otherwise participate in the hiring process, or for your role at PAR, please contact [email protected]. If you’d like more information about your EEO rights as an applicant, please visit the US Department of Labor's website.