Back-end Engineer

Company

NestAI is Europe’s fastest-growing physical AI lab. We build open, sovereign, and reliable autonomous systems and AI-enabled command capabilities for real-world operations — environments where reliability isn’t optional.

Our work spans defence, security, and other mission-critical domains where systems must earn trust through performance, not promises. At the core of what we build is an open, modular, and interoperable AI command foundation that integrates data from multiple sources — from UAV sensors and edge devices to situational intelligence platforms — and turns it into decision support and operational capability.

Rooted in Nordic engineering heritage, we focus on openness, reliability, and systems that earn trust through performance. We work with intent, iterate fast, and build technology that protects what matters most.

Role Description

We are looking for an experienced Backend Cloud Engineer to join our engineering organization full-time in the Helsinki or Tampere Metropolitan Areas.

In this role, you will focus on the core components that power our platform: designing, developing, deploying, and maintaining robust backend services, critical APIs, and complex integrations. You will work with modern server-side technologies and cloud platforms to build scalable, secure, and highly efficient solutions that handle significant load and interconnect varied systems. We value a willingness to learn and adapt; you will apply modern distributed systems practices, contribute to secure system designs and help ensure our architecture is ready for both cloud and on-premise deployments.

You will collaborate across the engineering organization to expose services securely and ensure smooth data flow throughout the platform.

Day-to-day responsibilities include:

• Design, development, testing, deployment and debugging of high-performance backend services and microservices.
• Building and operating scalable APIs that serve internal interfaces and external integrations.
• Database management, optimization and design, including schema and version management across relational and non-relational data stores.
• Implementing modern high-scale distributed systems practices, including utilizing message queues (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ, SQS) for asynchronous processing and event-driven architecture.
• Developing robust integrations to connect NestAI core systems with external third-party systems.
• Managing and optimizing cloud environments and deployments using Infrastructure as Code (Terraform).
• Demonstrating fluency in modern containerized environments: deploying and troubleshooting services in Kubernetes and working efficiently with Docker containers.
• Utilizing established CI/CD pipelines and ensuring system health via comprehensive observability (logging, monitoring, tracing) in production.
• Navigating system environments to debug and optimize application performance.
• Collaborating closely in agile development teams to deliver high-quality solutions.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of relevant industry experience
• Proficiency in backend software development, with a strong focus on building scalable, high-availability architecture.
• Deep knowledge of modern backend programming languages and ecosystems, with a strong willingness to learn new technologies. Experience with Go or Python is a plus.
• Strong experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP or Azure) and practical DevOps practices, specifically including Kubernetes, Docker, and modern CI/CD tooling. Ability to design for cloud-agnostic and on-premise deployments is a plus.
• Proven experience designing and implementing systems using message brokers and asynchronous communication patterns for high-scale environments.
• Strong skills in Linux environments and database management (SQL and NoSQL).
• Excellent problem-solving abilities and attention to detail.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment.
• Security expertise: While not a hard requirement, a strong grasp of secure programming practices, secure system design and experience with OIDC/OAuth2 flows or secrets management (e.g., Vault) is considered a significant plus.
• Experience with data pipelines and processing orchestration in AI/ML or related sectors is a plus.

Why join NestAI

At NestAI, you’ll build meaningful, real-world technology as part of a world-class team of engineers, scientists, and experienced professionals. You’ll work on systems where reliability genuinely matters, contribute to Europe’s security and resilience, and solve problems that demand depth, trust, and craftsmanship.

If you want to build with purpose — and with leading experts in the field — you’ve come to the right place.

Perks & Benefits

We offer a growing set of practical benefits to support your work and wellbeing, day to day:

• Occupational healthcare (currently provided by Mehiläinen)
• Epassi Flex benefit (sports, culture, commuting, wellbeing)
• Lunch benefit (25% tax-free coverage)
• Regular team lunches and all-hands events
• Your choice of Mac or PC
• Holiday allowance (50% of holiday salary)
• Phone benefit according to company policy (subscription and device)

We are continuously developing and expanding our benefits as we grow.

Practicalities

Employment is subject to applicable security screening (including SUPO, where required).

NestAI is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all applicants based on their skills, experience, and potential.