Staff Software Engineer - Distributed Systems

Role

Staff Software Engineer - Distributed Systems

Location

Dubai, UAE

Industry

Internet

Function

IT-Software Development

Experience

8 years in software engineering, including 2 years in an Extreme Programming environment

Job Type

Full Time

Position Overview

talabat is hiring a Staff Software Engineer - Distributed Systems in Dubai, UAE to provide senior technical leadership across engineering teams, domains, chapters, and the wider technology organization. The role combines hands-on engineering with architecture, technical mentorship, cross-team initiatives, and continuous improvement of engineering systems and practices. The successful candidate will take end-to-end ownership of complex technical areas while helping teams build scalable distributed applications through Extreme Programming, Lean, Continuous Delivery, and modern software engineering practices.

Job Details

Country: UAE

City: Dubai

Industry: Internet

Function: IT-Software Development

Salary: Not disclosed

Gender: No Preference

Candidate Nationality: Not specified

Job Type: Full Time

Work Arrangement: On-site

Engineering Leadership

As a Staff Software Engineer, you will operate beyond an individual team and influence engineering practices across several levels of the technology organization.

Within engineering teams, you will:

• Represent and communicate the direction of your engineering chapter.
• Provide hands-on technical mentorship to engineers.
• Help teams understand and apply chapter-level engineering direction.
• Lead critical and technically complex initiatives that may span multiple teams.
• Take end-to-end ownership of specific areas within talabat 's systems.
• Help engineers identify better approaches to developing and delivering products.

Domain-Level Impact

• Partner with Engineering, Product, and Data counterparts, including senior managers, directors, and senior engineers.
• Improve technical systems and engineering processes across the domain.
• Simplify complex technical problems and architectures.
• Identify and remove engineering bottlenecks.
• Drive the RFC review process.
• Strengthen shared understanding of application architecture.
• Support technical alignment across teams while maintaining effective engineering ownership.

Chapter Leadership

The Staff Software Engineer will contribute directly to the evolution of the engineering chapter and its technical direction.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to Chapter Vision and Strategy.
• Sponsor important chapter-level engineering initiatives.
• Drive initiatives that improve engineering capabilities.
• Coordinate mentorship efforts across the wider technology organization.
• Share technical knowledge and encourage stronger engineering practices.
• Help other engineers explore more effective approaches to product development.

Technology Organization Contribution

• Contribute to improvements in the overall developer experience.
• Support initiatives related to engineering branding and hiring.
• Help individual engineers and teams operate more effectively.
• Identify organizational engineering practices that can be improved.
• Challenge unnecessary complexity and inefficient technical processes.
• Promote sustainable engineering practices that improve quality, security, and delivery speed.

Software Engineering Expertise

• C#.
• Java.
• Go.
• Microservices architecture.
• Event-driven architecture.
• RESTful services.
• Relational databases.
• Non-relational databases.
• Automated end-to-end testing.
• Trunk-Based Development.
• Continuous Delivery.
• Cloud platforms such as AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure.
• Mobile architectures and technology trends.

Engineering Practices

• Extreme Programming.
• Test-Driven Development.
• Pair Programming.
• Simple Design.
• Continuous Refactoring.
• Lean principles.
• Agile values and practices.
• Continuous Delivery.

Required Experience and Capabilities

• 8 years of software engineering experience.
• 2 years working within an Extreme Programming environment.
• Strong experience building large-scale applications.
• Expert knowledge of distributed systems architecture.
• Proven ability to mentor engineers.
• Strong understanding of Lean and Agile values and principles.
• Experience with automated testing and end-to-end software quality.
• Experience working with relational and non-relational databases.
• Exposure to cloud platforms.
• Experience implementing and improving Trunk-Based Development and Continuous Delivery.
• Familiarity with mobile architectures, technology trends, and emerging technologies.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to build effective working relationships across engineering and product organizations.
• Openness to continuous feedback and improvement.

About talabat

talabat is an on-demand food and quick-commerce platform founded in Kuwait in 2004 and operating across eight countries in the region. The company uses technology to support everyday deliveries for customers, operations for restaurants and local shops, and earning opportunities for riders. Its engineering culture emphasizes short feedback loops, small-batch delivery, Extreme Programming, Lean practices, Continuous Delivery, and product-minded engineering.