Backend Software Engineer - Indexing

About us: DeepJudge is Switzerland’s leading AI and ICT scale-up, transforming how law firms and legal departments access and leverage their knowledge. Founded by former Google search engineers with PhDs in AI from ETH Zurich, and backed by top-tier Silicon Valley investors, we are building the intelligence layer that powers the legal industry. Every firm can license the same AI models, but no two firms share the same institutional knowledge. Decades of experience, work product, and precedent are often trapped across systems, underused and inaccessible. DeepJudge makes this expertise instantly available through world-class enterprise search and AI infrastructure, enabling firms to automate workflows, build knowledge-powered applications, and turn experience into a lasting advantage. Our technology is trusted by many of the world’s leading law firms, including Freshfields, Gunderson Dettmer, Holland & Knight, Arent Fox, and Cozen O’Connor. Headquartered in Switzerland with a growing team across North America, we are expanding rapidly and shaping the future of how professional knowledge is discovered and applied. At DeepJudge, we move fast, think rigorously, and care deeply about what we build. We combine cutting-edge research with close collaboration with our clients to deliver solutions that truly make an impact. If you want to be part of a team defining how AI transforms high-stakes knowledge work, this is the place to do it. About the Role: We’re looking for a Backend Software Engineer to join our team and take meaningful ownership from day one. You’ll work closely with smart, driven, and genuinely fun people who are passionate about tackling the complex challenges involved in building a high-performance product at scale. Our indexing system is the backbone of our search engine, processing queries over hundreds of millions of documents in fractions of a second. Building and maintaining these indices within tight time and resource constraints requires highly performant, scalable software. To achieve this, we rely on modern technologies in distributed and parallel computing, database systems, and cloud platforms. You’ll leverage the strengths of these technologies to meet demanding throughput and latency requirements. Your responsibilities will include: - Design, develop, and maintain efficient, scalable backend services using modern tools and frameworks - Take ownership of core components of our indexing infrastructure - Collaborate with other engineers to define, design, and ship new features - Optimize performance and scalability across our data processing pipelines - Integrate with third-party data providers and effectively use their APIs - Review code and contribute to a high standard of code quality and maintainability - Participate in agile development processes, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and retrospectives You're a great fit if you: - Have a Master’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience - Have 2+ years of experience as a Backend Software Engineer, ideally in a scale-up or fast-growing environment - Have strong experience with concurrent and parallel programming and understand how to write correct, efficient code under load - Are highly proficient in Python, our primary backend language. Solid experience with Rust or Go is also very welcome, even if Python isn't your strongest language yet - Have solid experience working with databases (SQL and/or NoSQL) - Are comfortable with modern web architectures and cloud platforms - Enjoy solving complex problems and thinking about performance at scale - Communicate clearly and enjoy working in a collaborative team - Take ownership and can work independently when needed - Have experience with information retrieval or search systems (nice to have) What you can look forward to: - Location: Office 5min walking distance from Zurich central station, where we primarily work on site - Collaborative and supportive work environment - Potential for professional growth and advancement within the company - Ownership and ability to impact the company, product, and culture At DeepJudge, we believe great teams are built on diverse perspectives and experiences. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and are committed to fostering an inclusive, high-performance culture where everyone can thrive. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. If this role excites you, but you feel you don’t meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway and tell us why you’d be a great fit.