Senior Backend Engineer

Unith · Barcelona, Spain · Posted Feb 11, 2026

Senior Backend Engineer (LLM / AI Experience) Hybrid Tech Team Full-time Barcelona, Spain In a few words Build and scale backend systems powering conversational AI & digital humans Hands-on senior role balancing architecture + production code Work deeply with LLMs, RAG pipelines, and real-time systems Barcelona (hybrid) or remote in Europe | 50k-65k Why this role is exciting: You'll shape the backend foundations of a cutting-edge digital human platform, where your architectural and performance decisions directly impact real-time AI experiences used by enterprise customers. About UNITH At UNITH, we're transforming customer journeys with conversational AI. Listed on the ASX, we create lifelike digital humans using cutting-edge synthetic facial movement, voice engineering, and conversational design. Our digital humans speak 60+ languages with 600+ voices, redefining how businesses interact with customers worldwide. The Role We're looking for a Senior Backend Engineer with recent LLM product experience who combines strong architectural thinking with hands-on development. You'll work closely with the Head of Engineering, playing a key role in technical decisions while remaining deeply involved in day-to-day coding, feature delivery, and system optimization. You'll be a senior technical voice on the team someone who designs systems and builds them. What You'll Do Architecture & System Operations (50%) Actively participate in architectural decisions with the Head of Engineering Collaborate with the Cloud Infrastructure Engineer on platform architecture, observability (monitoring, logging, alerting), and deployment strategies Design and optimize systems: performance profiling, database queries, caching, and resource usage Own production operations: troubleshooting, incident response, and on-call Provide technical guidance through code reviews, design discussions, and best practices Collaborate on real-time streaming architecture with the Video Synthesis Engineer Feature Development & Implementation (50%) Implement backend features and services in production-grade Python and Go Build conversation features: state management, history, and intelligence improvements Implement multi-document knowledge bases using AWS Bedrock Integrate LLM APIs (OpenAI, AWS Bedrock) and build RAG pipelines Develop APIs and service integrations (gRPC, REST) Work on core backend services: orchestration, caching, and platform APIs Own testing, CI/CD pipelines, and deployment automation Tech Stack Python (FastAPI) and Go (gRPC services) AWS (S3, EC2, Lambda, Bedrock, managed services) Docker, Kubernetes, RabbitMQ, Redis LLM APIs (OpenAI, AWS Bedrock) What We're Looking For Must-Have 5+ years of backend engineering experience with distributed systems, microservices, and real-time architectures (WebSocket, gRPC, event-driven) Experience building and deploying complex, highly-performant Python applications 2+ years building LLM-powered products in production (2022-2025), including hands-on experience with LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock) and RAG systems Comfortable balancing architecture design with hands-on implementation Strong AWS experience with focus on performance optimization, observability, and production operations Proven ability to optimize production systems (latency, throughput, technical debt) Excellent collaboration skills across backend, infrastructure, and AI/ML teams Bonus Points Golang experience Experience with video streaming, media processing, or conversational AI platforms Data engineering or ML model serving infrastructure experience What Success Looks Like First 6 months Knowledge transfer completed and ownership of critical backend services established Multi-document knowledge base and conversation features live in production Active contributor to architecture discussions with measurable performance improvements Production systems well-monitored with improved observability First 12 months Core backend services and RAG pipeline running reliably in production Platform-wide performance optimizations delivered (Q1-Q3 targets met) Backend engineers unblocked and supported through your technical guidance Recognized as the go-to expert for backend + LLM implementation What We Offer Compensation & Flexibility Salary: 50,000 - 65,000, depending on experience Hybrid work in Barcelona or remote options within Europe Impact & Growth Ownership of critical backend services used daily by enterprise customers Hands-on technical work alongside architectural responsibility Deep technical challenges across LLMs, RAG pipelines, real-time systems, and scalability High-impact role in a small, senior team (12 people) Close collaboration with Engineering, AI research, and infrastructure teams Opportunity to build expertise in the fast-evolving digital humans domain Additional Perks Office in the center of Barcelona Work from anywhere Lunch compensation when in the office Private health insurance with Alan Travel allowance (for team members living 10km+ from the office) Flexible benefits (tax-free under Spanish legislation) ClassPass discount How to Apply: Submit: Your CV highlighting ML production experience A short motivation (3-5 sentences) covering: Backend systems you've built and maintained LLM features you've implemented in production A performance optimization project you worked on Your experience with RAG or knowledge bases Why digital humans excite you Apply via the Easy Apply button, or reach out directly to [email protected] creativity is welcome Recruitment Process Technical interview with the tech team (60 min) Small take-home assignment Assignment review (60 min) Reference check Call with Joyce (30 min) Timeline: 2-3 weeks from application to offer Ready to make digital humans faster, better, and more reliable?