Senior Backend Engineer - Acquisiton

We’re looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to join our team to build and optimise high-performing e-commerce experiences that help new families discover, understand, and confidently become part of the Yoto family.

Yoto is a screen-free interactive audio platform for kids. We make carefully connected audio players that kids control, with no microphones, cameras or ads. We have a catalogue of audio that inspires creative play and learning with 1,000+ titles in our card store from top creators, publishers and labels. We also create Yoto Originals like BrainBots.

The Family Acquisition team is one of the mission-based teams at Yoto that work on our core product. These are cross-functional teams designed to work as autonomously as possible. The team brings new families to Yoto by improving how people discover our products and how confidently they can purchase. We focus on conversion-driving experiences across the storefront - Player pages, Bundles, the Homepage, Basket and Discounts - plus the purchasing journey all the way through to an integrated Shopify checkout. We’re highly iterative and data-informed, running CRO initiatives and A/B tests to reduce friction, sharpen clarity, and increase conversion.

You’ll collaborate day-to-day with other engineers, product and design, and partner closely with QA and wider teams (including Data/Analytics and Brand/Content) to ship improvements quickly, safely, and with a high bar for craft. The current team is made up of 3 frontend engineers, a QA engineer, designer, and product manager.

What you’ll be doing

• Build and maintain a modern headless e-commerce storefront using Node.js and Typescript, integrated with Shopify (including Shopify checkout).
• Help maintain a custom Shopify App and custom integrations.
• Writing clean, simple and robust code and deploying safely multiple times a day. We test-drive our code and heavily rely on test automation.
• Collaborate closely with design and product to translate intent into reliable, performant experiences—balancing speed of iteration with quality.
• Maintain a high engineering bar through code review, testing, documentation, and thoughtful technical decisions (performance, SEO, maintainability).

What you’ll bring

• Essential
• Experience building production stores with Shopify and the Storefront API (Shopify Functions/Discounts, checkout integration, themes/headless patterns).
• Hands-on experience with Node.js stack - TypeScript and ESM.
• The ability to work independently with maturity. Knowing when to take initiative, collaborate, seek help or feedback. And how to reach a decision, unblock yourself, influence others.
• Experience working in a cross-functional team, collaborating closely with different people, skillsets and roles (Other types of Engineers, QA, Product). Being open to different perspectives. Supporting and mentoring others around you.
• A pragmatic, collaborative mindset: you communicate clearly, take ownership, and enjoy iterating based on feedback and data.
• Nice to have
• Experience using tools like MongoDb, DynamoDb, S3.
• Some experience with at least one of the following: Event-driven architecture and AWS managed services; IoT devices and communication using MQTT; Authentication/Authorisation (security, access management and controls).
• Experience with React.js, Next.js or other headless frontend frameworks.

Salary: £80,000 - £90,000 based on experience

What you can expect from Yoto

• Flexibility: Hybrid working - expectation of 1 day a week on average in our London office, but you are welcome to come in more than this. How you meet the minimum expectation is up to you, to ensure you’re happy and productive in your role whilst also getting that vital face time with your colleagues. Take advantage of our ‘work from anywhere’ policy to work from a different location for up to 6 weeks every year. Summer Hours policy to use between the months of June and August.
• Financial: Receive Income Protection, covering long term sickness for up to 2 years and company sick pay that increases with length of service. Life Assurance cover from day one of your service. Workplace Pension offering up to 3% employer contributions, following probation. Generous employee referral bonus scheme.
• Health & Wellness: Private Medical Insurance via Aviva, or a Wellbeing Allowance to be used for memberships, subscriptions, treatment or therapy. Access to 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) through WeCare and unlimited access to Dental advice and guidance via Toothfairy. Bike to work scheme to promote healthier lifestyles.
• Time Off: 25 days of holiday per year, plus bank holidays. On top of this, you also receive your birthday off, plus 1 extra day of holiday for every year worked after you hit your 2 year anniversary, up to 5 extra days. After 4 years of service, you are also eligible for our sabbatical policy offering up to 3 months' of unpaid sabbatical.
• Helping Families: Variety of family-friendly leave, including enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption, fertility, pregnancy loss and carers leave. Unlock savings with our workplace nursery scheme, designed to support parents of preschool-aged children.
• People & Planet: Up to 2 volunteer days per year. A Book Allowance of up to £50 a year to contribute to your professional development.
• Fun Perks: You receive your very own Yoto player and starter pack of cards! Regular company socials and celebrations, including our annual YotoFest!

At Yoto, we love creating a world where childhood is rich with discovery and joy. We’re also passionate about building a workplace where everyone can thrive - both professionally and personally. We value flexibility and give our team the freedom to balance life and work in ways that suit them. We’re committed to fostering a safe, diverse, and inclusive environment where all individuals, regardless of their background, feel valued and supported. Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion group holds bi-monthly forums to elevate diverse voices and perspectives, ensuring everyone at Yoto feels heard, respected, and appreciated. We don’t just embrace differences - we celebrate them. We share audio content from a vibrant and diverse community of creators. We are building a team that reflects that same diversity. We invite candidates from all walks of life to explore opportunities with us and join a company that champions flexibility, equity, and inclusion.