Mid-level Back-end Engineer (Scala)

  • Location: The Hague (hybrid)
  • Full-time (32–40 hours)

About Cleverbase

Cleverbase is an innovative Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP), operating under the eIDAS Regulation. We build the digital trust infrastructure that organizations and governments can rely on: from qualified electronic signatures to digital identity and PKI services. What we build has to be right — legally, technically, and organizationally. Our customers depend on our systems for processes where there is no room for doubt.

As a scale-up in a strictly regulated market, we combine the agility of a small team with the discipline that comes with working in a compliance-critical environment.

The role

As a mid-level back-end engineer, you'll work on the core of our platform: the services written in Scala that are responsible for cryptographic operations, creating and validating signatures, and the reliable processing of sensitive data. You'll work in a team of experienced engineers, independently take on well-defined features and services, and actively contribute ideas on architecture and code quality.

You won't just be building features — you'll be building systems that must be demonstrably correct, auditable, and secure.

What you'll be doing

  • Designing and building back-end services in Scala (functional style with Cats & Cats-Effect), with attention to correctness, performance, and maintainability
  • Working on our trust services — digital signing, electronic seals, and timestamps — and on the underlying public key infrastructure (PKI): issuing, validating, and revoking certificates, and integrating with hardware security modules (HSMs)
  • Building and extending interfaces (APIs) and gRPC connections between services, including the associated data models and Postgres migrations
  • Contributing to architectural and technical decisions within a compliance-driven environment, and proposing improvements to the platform
  • Writing clear, tested, and well-documented code (think functional patterns, type safety, and property-based and scenario-based (BDD) tests)
  • Collaborating with colleagues from compliance and audit to ensure that technical implementations align with regulations such as eIDAS
  • Contributing to code reviews, technical discussions, and the improvement of our development practices

Who you are

  • You have 2–5 years of experience as a back-end engineer, including demonstrable experience with Scala (or with another JVM language combined with a strong affinity for functional programming and the willingness to ramp up quickly)
  • You understand why type systems and functional patterns contribute to reliable software, and you apply this in practice
  • You're confident taking ownership of a new service or domain on your own
  • You feel at home building systems where correctness matters just as much as speed
  • You can independently pick up well-defined problems, but actively seek alignment when something touches on compliance or security
  • Affinity with cryptography, PKI, or digital identity is a plus — an interest in these areas is a requirement
  • You are fluent in Dutch and English, both written and spoken

Your technical background (indicative)

  • Experience with Scala (2.13) and the Typelevel ecosystem — Cats & Cats-Effect, and preferably http4s, tapir, fs2 and/or doobie (parts of the platform still run on Akka)
  • Knowledge of REST/API design and gRPC/Protobuf for service-to-service communication
  • Experience with PostgreSQL and schema migrations (e.g. Flyway)
  • Experience with testing at multiple levels (unit, integration, property-based with ScalaCheck, scenario-based (BDD) with Cucumber) and CI/CD
  • Familiarity with containerization (Docker/Kubernetes) is a plus
  • Experience with cryptographic libraries (e.g. BouncyCastle, DSS) or PKI standards is a strong plus

What we offer

  • A role with real substantive impact in an organization that delivers trust as its product
  • A salary between €3,800 and €5,500 gross per month, depending on knowledge and experience
  • 26 vacation days
  • A non-contributory pension plan (fully employer-paid)
  • Room to grow towards senior engineer, with mentoring from experienced colleagues
  • Technically challenging work at the intersection of software engineering, cryptography, and regulation
  • Room for personal development (training budget, conferences)
  • Hybrid working, with our office in The Hague as your home base
  • A small, close-knit team where your voice is heard

How to apply

Do you recognize yourself in this role and want to help build the digital trust infrastructure of tomorrow? Send your CV and a short cover letter to Ralf van Oosterhout (COO):

Ralf van Oosterhout COO, Cleverbase 📞 +31 (0)6 36298250 ✉️ ralf.van.oosterhout@cleverbase.com

Recruitment agency inquiries in response to this vacancy are not appreciated.

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