Who We Are

Cities are living systems - and trees are some of their most valuable assets. At greehill, we’re building the world’s most detailed digital twins of urban forests, mapping every individual tree in a city in 2D, 3D, and beyond.

By combining cutting-edge laser scanning, AI, and machine learning, we give cities the insights they need to maintain, protect, and grow their green infrastructure. The result? Smarter operations, healthier citizens, and cities that are more resilient to climate change.

We’re helping redefine what “smart cities” really means - and we’re doing it globally, with teams in Budapest (HQ & R&D), Singapore, Hannover, San Diego or Paris.

What You’ll Do

The Lead Backend & Data Engineer is a critical platform ownership role responsible for unifying application logic and data architecture into a coherent, scalable, and reliable system. This role sits at the intersection of backend engineering, data engineering, and platform architecture, ensuring that services and data are not developed in isolation but as a single, well-structured foundation for the business.

Beyond delivery, the role is accountable for standardizing how data is designed and used, and establishing clear ownership of the data layer as a core platform asset. The Lead drives consistency across services, databases, and integrations, ensuring that the platform evolves into a predictable, maintainable, and high-performing environment.

The position requires a hands-on technical leader who can operate across the full stack of backend and data concerns, from API design and service architecture to schema design, query performance, and data lifecycle management. At the same time, the role sets the engineering direction, defines standards and guardrails, and ensures that all development aligns with long-term scalability, reliability, and operational efficiency goals. Introducing structured ways of working, improving code and data review practices, and ensuring that solutions are built with clear responsibility, proper testing, and measurable outcomes.

Ultimately, this role is responsible for transforming the backend and data layers into a well-governed, high-quality platform foundation, enabling faster development, improved operation, and the ability to scale both technology and business with confidence.

Technical Leadership

• Lead the design and evolution of backend and data architecture

• Define and enforce engineering standards (coding, data modeling, performance)

• Provide technical direction, mentoring, and coaching to the team

• Ensure scalable, maintainable, and secure system design

• Drive best practices in system design, performance, and reliability

Backend Engineering

• Design and oversee development of scalable backend services and APIs

• Ensure clean, maintainable, and testable codebases

• Guide service architecture and integration patterns

• Oversee system performance, reliability, and security

Data & Database Engineering

• Own data architecture, schema design, and data lifecycle management

• Ensure data consistency, integrity, and governance

• Oversee query optimization, indexing strategies, and DB performance

• Define standards for data access and usage across services

• Support and guide data pipeline and transformation design

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in backend and/or data engineering

• 3+ years of experience in team leadership / people management

• Strong knowledge of data modeling and schema design

• Strong experience with backend development (Python, Java, Node.js)

• Deep expertise in relational databases (PostgreSQL) and NoSQL

• Advanced SQL skills (query optimization, indexing, transactions)

• Experience with API design and distributed systems

• Proven experience in performance tuning across application and database layers

• Experience with cloud platforms (Azure, AWS)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with microservices architecture at scale

• Exposure to data pipelines and streaming (Airflow, Kafka, etc.)

• Understanding of data governance, security, and compliance

• Experience in high-scale, data-intensive platforms

Key Competencies

• Strong ownership mindset across systems and data

• Ability to lead through complexity and ambiguity

• Balance between hands-on execution and strategic thinking

• Strong problem-solving and root cause analysis skills

• Focus on quality, scalability, and long-term sustainability

Why join us?

• Make a direct impact on climate adaptation and the future of cities through technology that actually gets used.

• Work on meaningful, real-world problems at the intersection of AI, sustainability, and urban tech.

• Join a fast-growing, international team with real freedom to shape both the product and your role.

• Learn, experiment, and grow with talented, curious (green-)tech experts who genuinely care about what they build.

• Develop yourself continuously with access to LinkedIn Learning and hands-on learning every day.

How we work – We believe the best ideas happen when people spend time together. That’s why we work 4 days a week from the office, with 1 day from home, creating space for collaboration while still keeping some freedom.