(Senior) Backend Software Engineer (Java) - Metadata Platform DB

Celonis is the trusted platform to industrialize Enterprise AI. At our core is the Celonis Context Model — which combines process data, business knowledge, and intelligence into a living digital twin of the enterprise that AI can actually understand, turning AI's operational blind spots into operational clarity. World's leading companies trust Celonis and its global ecosystem of partners to make their AI agents, people, systems, and processes work together, achieving transformational outcomes. We believe there's a massive opportunity to unlock global productivity and sustainability by giving AI the context to understand how every business process really works. Join our mission to make processes work for people, companies, and the planet.

We are looking for a Backend Software Engineer (Java), mid to senior level, to join the Metadata Platform DB team. This team owns Postgres end-to-end - from infrastructure and provisioning to the software layer that sits on top of it - and is looking for someone to help maintain and grow that ecosystem.

The Team

Metadata Platform DB owns Postgres provisioning and infrastructure as code, along with a set of Java (and one Rust) components built around it, including a core client library, a database proxy, a schema management tool, and a fork of an open-source sharding solution.

The Tech Stack

• Cloud Infrastructure: Cloud-native platform, expanding beyond current AWS and Azure dependencies toward provider-agnostic deployment.
• Core Technologies: Java, Postgres.
• Infrastructure as Code: Terraform, a Go-based operator.
• Systems components: Rust (database proxy).
• Containerization: Kubernetes.
• DevOps: Kustomize, GitHub CI, ArgoCD/Kargo, Datadog for metrics/logs/APM.

The Work You'll Do

• Take ownership of one or more Java components in the Postgres ecosystem, including newly onboarded ones.
• Work alongside the infrastructure-as-code side of the stack (Terraform, operators) to understand how your components are provisioned and operated.
• Improve reliability, performance, and security of the components you own.
• Where applicable, maintain forks of open-source projects - tracking upstream changes and making deliberate calls about merging versus diverging.
• Collaborate with teams handing off components and with downstream consumers.
• Document processes, concepts, and decisions as ownership transitions and components evolve.

The Qualifications You Need

• Solid professional experience building Java applications (3+ years mid-level, 7+ years senior).
• Experience with infrastructure and IaC concepts - comfort working with or alongside Terraform or similar provisioning tooling.
• Experience building, packaging, and debugging applications in containerized and Kubernetes environments (Docker/OCI).
• Experience with databases (Postgres preferred over InnoDB/MySQL, with a good grasp of Postgres MVCC and concurrency mechanics from an application perspective) and distributed systems.
• Experience writing and maintaining unit and integration tests.
• Strong communication skills in English and a passion for clean, maintainable code.

Nice to Have:

• Experience with Rust or Go.
• Experience maintaining a fork of an open-source project.
• Hands-on Terraform experience.
• Experience with monitoring and log analysis tools (e.g., Datadog).
• Familiarity with agentic coding tools (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor, Codex).

What Celonis can offer you:

• Pioneer Innovation: Work with the global leader in Process Mining and the Process Intelligence Graph to shape the future of AI-driven business operations.
• Ownership from Day 1: Every full-time "Celonaut" is an owner, receiving Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) and merit-based refresh grants.
• Unrivaled Family Support: Benefit from our inclusive parental leave policy—24 weeks of fully paid leave for primary carers and 12 weeks for supporting carers, available from your first day of employment.
• Work-Life Integration: Enjoy Unlimited PTO (in applicable regions) and generous PTO globally, as well as a flexible hybrid work model that balances remote focus with vibrant office collaboration.
• Continuous Growth: Elevate your skills through our 70-20-10 learning framework, mentorship programs, and access to a dedicated learning platform.
• Holistic Well-being: Prioritize your health with subsidized Wellhub memberships, mental health counseling, and dedicated "Wellness Weeks" that prioritize work/life balance.
• Drive Sustainability: Participate in annual Impact Days, where you receive paid time off to volunteer for community and environmental causes with your local office, or virtually.
• Global Inclusion & Belonging: Find community through our Inclusion Think Tank and participate in our annual Inclusion Days, ensuring every voice is heard and valued.
• Value-Driven Impact: Join a mission-led organization where our core values—Live for Customer Value, The Best Team Wins, We Own It, and Earth Is Our Future—drive every …