About Katana

Katana is a remote-first, AI-first SaaS company building powerful inventory and manufacturing software for 1,500+ businesses that make and sell physical products around the world.

We take a thoughtful, AI-first approach to how we work — not because it's trendy, but because it frees us up to focus on what really matters: thinking creatively, experimenting boldly, and making meaningful impact every single day.

We've just stepped into an exciting new phase of expansion — moving beyond small manufacturers into a larger market of modern, multi-channel, multi-location businesses. With that growth comes bigger opportunities, more complex challenges, and the chance to help shape how we scale. Our 100+ person team across 15+ countries is building what's next — together.

And that's where you come in.

This is the rare role where the systems you design carry real weight — heavier data volumes, more complex customers, and AI agents working alongside your code. Katana is scaling into more advanced use cases than ever, and you'll be the person who makes sure the architecture underneath it holds — then turns what you learn into the standards and practices the rest of Product Engineering builds on.

Impact at scale. As Katana takes on larger, more complex customers, the systems you build carry that weight directly — performance, reliability, and the ability to handle real growth. This isn't background infrastructure work; it shows up in what customers experience every day.

Real ownership. You own meaningful system or service areas end-to-end, and shape the architecture, standards, and practices the rest of the team builds on. Scope, ownership, and a direct line of sight to product outcomes.

The interesting problems. Event-driven systems, high-volume streaming and batch data, and architectures built to work seamlessly alongside AI agents — not routine CRUD work. You'll use modern tooling (Node.js, Kafka, PostgreSQL, React) and AI-enabled development workflows to move fast without cutting corners.

This isn't a role for someone who wants a bigger version of the job they already have. It's for the engineer who wants to shape how we build — not just implement someone else's design.

About the role

As a Senior Software Engineer, you'll play a meaningful role on our Product Engineering team, directly influencing system scalability, product performance, and the way we build AI-augmented software.

This role exists because we're scaling into more complex use cases, higher data volumes, and more advanced AI-enabled workflows. We need someone who can design systems that are not only reliable and scalable, but also work seamlessly with AI agents and evolving product needs.

You're not just implementing tickets — you're translating product and technical goals into implementation plans, making architectural calls, and taking ownership of the outcome. You'll partner closely with Product and Design to solve genuinely complex problems, and you'll use AI tools pragmatically — not as a novelty, but as part of how you get more done, faster, without sacrificing quality.

This is not a plug-and-play role. It's an opportunity to shape architecture, influence engineering practices, and take ownership of meaningful technical outcomes as we scale.

What you'll do

System design & architecture

• Own and deliver outcomes related to building scalable, event-driven systems and services.

• Design and evolve architectures that support AI-augmented and agentic workflows.

• Take ownership of a key system or service area, improving its scalability and performance over time.

Engineering practices

• Continuously improve engineering practices through testing, observability, and experimentation.

• Maintain solid CI/CD and observability practices as systems and data volumes grow.

AI & automation

• Apply AI and automation thoughtfully to increase development speed and impact.

• Experiment with AI coding tools and agentic workflows, and help evolve how the team uses them.

Cross-functional collaboration

• Translate product and technical goals into clear implementation plans and measurable results.

• Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Design, and other teams to solve complex problems.

• Partner closely with Product and Design to deliver meaningful features end-to-end.

What success looks like

The outcomes this role moves: scalable, resilient systems → faster, AI-augmented development → stronger engineering foundations.

Success is measured by results, learning, and progress — not activity alone.

In your first 3–6 months, you can expect to:

• Take ownership of a key system or service area and improve its scalability or performance.

• Contribute to or lead improvements in architecture, particularly around event-driven or AI-enabled systems.

• Partner closely with Product and Design to deliver meaningful features end-to-end.

• Experiment with AI coding tools and workflows to improve efficiency and quality.

We aim to be transparent about where you can make a difference — and where your ideas are expected.

What we're looking for

Experience & skills

• Strong experience with event-driven architectures and distributed systems.

• Experience with high-volume data (streaming and/or batch) and performance optimisation.

• Comfortable building scalable services and evolving system architecture.

• Solid testing, CI/CD, and observability practices.

• Experience with a modern tech stack such as Node.js, Kafka, PostgreSQL, React.

• Experience in SaaS or large-scale distributed systems.

• Bonus points: mentorship or technical leadership experience; hands-on experience building AI-augmented or agentic workflows, not just using AI tools day to day.

Mindset & ways of working

• Systems thinker. You design for scale and failure, not just the happy path.

• Pragmatic with AI. You reach for AI tools to move faster and improve quality — not as a novelty, but as part of how you work.

• Clear communicator. You can translate ambiguous goals into a concrete plan, and explain a complex design clearly to non-engineers.

• Adaptable and always learning. The stack, the scale, and the tooling will keep changing — you treat that as something to figure out, not a reason to stall.

• You act like an owner. You bring your own structure, close gaps before anyone asks, and set the standard others build from.

What we offer

• A competitive, market-aligned salary and employee stock options.

• Opportunity to have a real impact at a global growth company and own a domain that directly drives revenue.

• Work with a talented, highly committed, global team across marketing, product, sales, and beyond — distributed and hybrid, with one office in Tallinn, Estonia.

• Flexible, remote-first work (we are a results-driven team).

• Time off that's genuinely encouraged: statutory annual leave aligned with local requirements, with a global minimum of 4 weeks, 3 paid health days annually, 4 days of time off in lieu, and your birthday off.

• Fully paid 1-month sabbatical + EUR 1,000 travel budget after every four years at Katana.

• Home office stipend.

• Health & wellness stipend.

• Modern tools and tech, including AI-enabled tools that help you work smarter and stay focused on high-impact work.

Automated Screening & AI Disclosure: We use automated tools including AI to help review applications and filter candidates. Final decisions are always made by people. If you're in a place that requires it, we'll ask your consent. Ask us anytime about what this means.