Job Description
Java Engineer - Backend Platform
Hawk-Eye Innovations - Budapest
Salary: HUF 1M - 1.5M per month
Contract: Full-Time, Permanent
Location: Hybrid - minimum 2 days per week in office, Budapest
About the Role
We are looking for a Java Engineer to join a backend squad at Hawk-Eye Innovations. You will be working on a platform that delivers real-time athlete performance data to sports organisations globally. This is a hands-on engineering role where you will contribute to core backend systems from day one, in a fast-paced, collaborative team that values ownership and quality.
What You’ll Build
You will be a core contributor to a new backend platform being built from scratch. The work spans the full data journey - from ingestion at the edge through to storage, transformation, and delivery to end users. Key areas of focus include:
Low-latency data pipelines that ingest and process live sports tracking data, with strict latency requirements for time-critical outputs delivered to coaches and analysts in near real-time.
Event-driven processing using Kafka for streaming data and control messages between on-site devices and cloud services, handling both fast-path live outputs and asynchronous post-processing workflows via SQS and AWS Batch.
Cloud infrastructure on AWS, including Greengrass for edge-to-cloud orchestration, S3 for video and data storage, and Lambda for lightweight processing tasks.
Data transformation and aggregation layers that normalise tracking outputs, store them in a data lake, and make them available to downstream consumers via clean API contracts.
REST and WebSocket APIs that serve both a live data product for immediate consumption and an insights portal for historical analysis and performance comparison.
Observability and reliability - instrumentation, logging, and tracing are built in from the start, not bolted on. The platform needs to run 24⁄7 without on-site support.
Key Responsibilities
Design, build, and maintain backend services and data pipelines using Java
Implement and evolve event-driven architectures to handle high-volume, real-time data streams
Deploy and operate cloud-native services on AWS, ensuring scalability and reliability in production
Define and maintain API schemas in close collaboration with front-end engineers to ensure clean data contracts
Build observability into services from the start - metrics, structured logging, distributed tracing
Contribute to CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code practices to support continuous delivery
Work closely with DevOps, computer vision, and product engineers across the squad
Participate in architectural decisions, particularly around data flow, storage strategies, and service boundaries
Skills and Experience
Required
Strong Java experience - Java 11 or later preferred, with a focus on clean, performant code
Hands-on experience with AWS in a production environment - S3, Lambda, SQS, and related services
Experience building and operating microservices and distributed systems at scale
Solid understanding of data pipeline design, including transformation, normalisation, and storage patterns
Familiarity with observability tooling - Datadog, Prometheus, OpenTelemetry, or equivalent
Experience designing or consuming REST APIs, with an understanding of schema management and versioning
Comfortable working in an agile, fast-moving environment with evolving requirements
Nice to Have
Experience with Kafka or other message brokers - directly relevant to our stack
Familiarity with stream processing frameworks such as Apache Flink, Kafka Streams, or Spark Streaming
Experience with AWS Greengrass or edge-to-cloud IoT patterns
Knowledge of data lake architectures and columnar storage formats such as Apache Iceberg or Parquet
Experience with WebSocket-based APIs or other real-time data delivery patterns
CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code experience - GitHub Actions, Terraform, or similar
Exposure to low-latency or real-time data systems in any domain
Benefits and Perks
Annual leave in line with Hungarian labour law
Hybrid working - minimum 2 days per week in office
Sony Group perks - discounted tickets and events
Cafeteria allowance: SZEP Card, nursery/kindergarten support, MOL Bubi Pass
Private medical, life and accident insurance, dental discounts
Seniority awards and Employee Assistance Programme
All You Can Move fitness pass option
Equal Opportunity Employer
Hawk-Eye is committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. We ensure all employees are treated fairly, regardless of gender, marital status, race, nationality, religion, age, disability, or union membership. We value diversity and strive to create an environment where everyone can reach their full potential.
Apply Today
If you are passionate about building high-performance backend systems and want to work on real-time data products at scale, we would love to hear from you.
