Principal Software Development Engineer (m/f/d)

Company Description

Axel Springer is Europe's leading digital publisher and a global media and technology company headquartered in Berlin. With renowned brands such as BILD, POLITICO Germany, WELT und BUSINESS INSIDER Germany, we reach millions of users worldwide. We combine the reach of an established industry leader with the agility of a startup, constantly driving innovation to transform journalism for the digital age.

Our corporate strategy places AI at the center: "Digital is the new print. AI is the new digital." This vision reflects our belief that the fusion of artificial intelligence and human creativity will shape the future of media. Our National Media & Tech division is the central tech hub that ensures our journalism is supported by state-of-the-art technology, positioning our brands to thrive in the digital age. We believe in the future of journalism as a business model and invest in forward-looking technologies. Our five essentials are the values that unite us and guide us in our commitment to freedom.

You will work at the heart of our central tech team to design and build the distributed systems architecture that powers our brands at massive scale. If you are passionate about solving complex infrastructure challenges and excited to enable the next chapter of digital journalism through robust, scalable platforms, this is the role for you.

Job Description

• design resilient, scalable architectures that power millions of users across BILD, WELT, POLITICO Germany, and BUSINESS INSIDER Germany
• lead architectural decisions across multiple engineering teams while providing hands-on support to solve complex distributed systems challenges
• build and operate cloud-native infrastructure using Kubernetes, ensuring high availability and performance at enterprise scale
• enable engineering teams through platform decisions, tooling, and architectural guidance that accelerates development velocity
• design and implement service architectures, API gateways, and inter-service communication patterns for our multi-brand ecosystem
• manage infrastructure and CI/CD pipelines (cloud, containers) to ensure stable and performant systems across all properties
• troubleshoot and resolve complex production issues, working directly with teams to implement solutions
• mentor colleagues on distributed systems best practices, conduct architecture reviews, and foster technical excellence across the organization
• translate complex infrastructure requirements into clear technical strategies for both technical and non-technical stakeholders

Qualifications

• 7-10+ years of software engineering experience with deep expertise in distributed systems and cloud architecture
• proven track record building and operating systems at significant scale (high-throughput, high-availability environments)
• expert-level Kubernetes knowledge and experience with cloud platforms (AWS preferred), containerization, and DevOps practices
• strong experience with service-oriented architectures, microservices patterns, and API design
• proficient with modern infrastructure tools and practices (Infrastructure as Code, observability, service mesh, etc.)
• experience with AI development tools like Cursor, Cline, Claude Code for enhanced development workflows
• bring a polyglot mindset and a high degree of adaptability and curiosity – you learn quickly, adapt easily, and are not afraid to venture outside your comfort zone
• solution-oriented mindset and a "just do it" mentality is key – you prefer shipping value over chasing perfection and are confident, driven, and open to try new things
• excellent communication skills in English and ability to work closely with engineering teams and non-technical stakeholders
• hands-on approach to problem-solving with the ability to dive deep into code and infrastructure when needed

Additional Information

• your personal growth is important to us: we offer trainings and learning lunches, tech conferences, a budget for workshops and much more to expand your knowledge and your skills
• flexible working hours support a healthy work-life balance
• our free food offer: in addition to a breakfast snack, we also offer a free lunch in our canteens
• 30 days vacation plus 10 days working from abroad
• free choice of top-notch office equipment (also for your remote work space and private usage), up-to-date hardware, software and modern office spaces that provide you with maximum flexibility - no matter where you are working
• we offer guidance on the administrative side of relocation and visa processes through our relocation agency
• collaboration thrives on direct exchange - we rely on 80% office presence and 20% mobile working
• from now a permanent full- or part-time position in a modern office in the heart of Berlin: http://www.axelspringer-neubau.de/
  
  Getting curious? Check out what we are doing on GitHub or check out our Techblog.

The most frequently asked questions and their answers can be found on our FAQ page: career.axelspringer.com/en/faq

Diversity is an essential part of our corporate culture! We are looking forward to receiving all applications regardless of gender, nationality, ethnic and social origin, religion, ideology, disability, age, sexual orientation and identity.

You can find information about the representation for the severely disabled at Axel Springer here: https://career.axelspringer.com/en/rsde