At a Glance
- Tasks: Develop and enhance Grafana's core architecture for a scalable observability app platform.
- Company: Join Grafana Labs, a remote-first, open-source powerhouse with a global collaborative culture.
- Benefits: Enjoy competitive salary, stock options, 30 days annual leave, and modern AI tools.
- Other info: Dynamic environment with clear career growth pathways and a supportive team culture.
- Why this job: Make a real impact on innovative projects while working with cutting-edge technology.
- Qualifications: Experience in SaaS platforms, strong coding skills, and excellent communication abilities.
The predicted salary is between 103958 - 124750 £ per year.
Grafana Labs is a remote-first, open-source powerhouse. There are more than 20M users of Grafana, the open source visualization tool, around the globe, monitoring everything from beehives to climate change in the Alps. The instantly recognizable dashboards have been spotted everywhere from a NASA launch and Minecraft HQ to Wimbledon and the Tour de France. Grafana Labs also helps more than 3,000 companies – including Bloomberg, JPMorgan Chase, and eBay – manage their observability strategies with the Grafana LGTM Stack, which can be run fully managed with Grafana Cloud or self‑managed with the Grafana Enterprise Stack, both featuring scalable metrics (Grafana Mimir), logs (Grafana Loki), and traces (Grafana Tempo).
We’re scaling fast and staying true to what makes us different: an open‑source legacy, a global collaborative culture, and a passion for meaningful work. Our team thrives in an innovation‑driven environment where transparency, autonomy, and trust fuel everything we do.
Remote position – Candidates must be located in the UK, Germany, Spain, Sweden, or Ireland.
The Opportunity
As our Cloud / Grafana‑as‑a‑service business continues to grow, we've started to change Grafana's core architecture to be fully multi‑tenant and scalable, as well as a solid platform for our opinionated Cloud apps. We're looking for someone with a lot of experience with SaaS platforms at scale. We are turning Grafana into a proper observability app platform where OSS and proprietary apps can directly tap into dashboards, alerts, incidents, and telemetry and deliver even more integrated experiences. To get there, we need to refactor a big part of Grafana so that it’s simpler and standardized. Planning and rolling out changes safely to avoid service disruptions is crucial; we are looking for someone who is excited about this sort of work.
What You’ll Be Doing
- Coding new features, enhancing the operational experience of the systems you develop, and iteratively improving them based on production insights.
- Authoring, contributing to and reviewing design documents.
- Taking an active role in shaping the roadmap.
- Mentoring and supporting other team members and collaborating with different teams across the organization.
- Owning the experience of our customers by participating in weekday 12h × 5d and a separate weekend 24h × 2d on‑call rotations.
We invest heavily in developer productivity. You can use modern AI coding assistants as part of your daily workflow (your choice of tools, within security guidelines), backed by a company‑funded usage budget so you can iterate quickly without unnecessary friction. We encourage pragmatic AI‑assisted development: faster prototyping, test generation, refactors, documentation, and incident follow‑ups—always paired with strong code review and quality standards. You’ll also have access to frontier models (e.g., GPT‑Codex 5/3, Claude Opus 4.7, Gemini 3 Pro).
What Makes You a Great Fit
- You have strong coding skills and operational experience; you were responsible for operating the software you have built.
- You have worked on a SaaS platform and dealt with common distributed systems problems (e.g., scalability, multi‑tenancy, data isolation, HA, …).
- You have excellent communication skills. You can express your ideas with great clarity in writing and during meetings.
- You are willing to work across teams. Your work has to be aligned with the needs of other squads and external stakeholders.
- You are pragmatic; you prioritize progress over perfection; you can handle ambiguity.
- We are using Golang on the backend; you are either already familiar with Golang or are excited to learn the language.
In the UK, the compensation range for this role is £103,958 – £124,750. Actual compensation may vary based on level, experience, and skillset as assessed throughout the interview process. All of our roles include Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), giving every team member ownership in Grafana Labs' success.
Why You’ll Thrive at Grafana Labs
- 100% Remote, Global Culture – As a remote‑only company, we bring together talent from around the world, united by a culture of collaboration and shared purpose.
- Scaling Organization – Tackle meaningful work in a high‑growth, ever‑evolving environment.
- Transparent Communication – Expect open decision‑making and regular company‑wide updates.
- Innovation‑Driven – Autonomy and support to ship great work and try new things.
- Open Source Roots – Built on community‑driven values that shape how we work.
- Empowered Teams – High trust, low ego culture that values outcomes over optics.
- Career Growth Pathways – Defined opportunities to grow and develop your career.
- Approachable Leadership – Transparent execs who are involved, visible, and human.
- Passionate People – Join a team of smart, supportive folks who care deeply about what they do.
- In‑Person Onboarding – We want you to thrive from day 1 with your fellow new ‘Grafanistas’ to learn all about what we do and how we do it.
- Balance is Key – We operate a global annual leave policy of 30 days per annum. 3 days of your annual leave entitlement are reserved for Grafana Shutdown Days to allow the team to really disconnect.
Equal Opportunity Employer
We will recruit, train, compensate and promote regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, disability, age, veteran status, and all the other fascinating characteristics that make us different and unique. We believe that equality and diversity builds a strong organization and we’re working hard to make sure that’s the foundation of our organization as we grow.
Staff Backend Engineer - Grafana App Platform | UK | Remote New United Kingdom (Remote) employer: Grafana Labs
Contact Detail:
Grafana Labs Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Staff Backend Engineer - Grafana App Platform | UK | Remote New United Kingdom (Remote)
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to folks in your industry on LinkedIn or other platforms. A friendly chat can lead to opportunities that aren’t even advertised yet.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for those interviews! Research the company, understand their products, and be ready to discuss how your skills can help them scale their Grafana platform. Show them you’re not just another candidate!
✨Tip Number 3
Practice makes perfect! Do mock interviews with friends or use online resources. The more comfortable you are talking about your experience and skills, the better you’ll perform when it counts.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, we love seeing candidates who take that extra step!
We think you need these skills to ace Staff Backend Engineer - Grafana App Platform | UK | Remote New United Kingdom (Remote)
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Your Passion: When writing your application, let your enthusiasm for the role shine through! We want to see why you're excited about working with Grafana and how you can contribute to our mission. A little personality goes a long way!
Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV is tailored to the job description. Highlight your experience with SaaS platforms and any relevant coding skills, especially if you've worked with Golang. We love seeing how your background aligns with what we do!
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Your cover letter is your chance to tell us your story. Use it to explain why you're a great fit for the Staff Backend Engineer role and how your past experiences have prepared you for this opportunity. Keep it concise but impactful!
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply directly through our website. It’s the best way to ensure your application gets into the right hands. Plus, it shows us that you’re serious about joining our team at Grafana Labs!
How to prepare for a job interview at Grafana Labs
✨Know Your Stuff
Make sure you brush up on your coding skills, especially in Golang, as it's a key part of the backend. Familiarise yourself with SaaS platforms and distributed systems problems like scalability and multi-tenancy. Being able to discuss these topics confidently will show that you're ready for the challenges ahead.
✨Show Your Collaborative Spirit
Grafana Labs values teamwork, so be prepared to talk about your experiences working across different teams. Share examples of how you've communicated effectively and brought stakeholders on board with your plans. This will demonstrate that you can thrive in their collaborative culture.
✨Be Pragmatic, Not Perfect
In your interview, highlight your ability to prioritise progress over perfection. Discuss situations where you've handled ambiguity and made decisions that led to positive outcomes. This aligns perfectly with Grafana's innovation-driven environment.
✨Ask Thoughtful Questions
Prepare some insightful questions about Grafana's future projects or their approach to developer productivity. This shows your genuine interest in the role and helps you understand if the company is the right fit for you. Plus, it opens up a dialogue that can make you more memorable!