Senior Product Backend Engineer - Search (Remote - United Kingdom)

What you'll be doing:

• Collaborate with product managers and ML engineers to define and iterate on MVPs for new search capabilities.
• Design and build backend systems that power intelligent search features such as contextual annotations, generative query auto-complete, and dynamic SERP structuring.
• Drive product and technical decisions by bringing a strong point of view to user experience, feasibility, and scalability.
• Contribute to the long-term roadmap for next generation Yelp Search.
• Partner with other engineering teams — such as Ads and Core Content — to build cohesive backend systems that support shared product goals.

What it takes to succeed:

• Strong product sense and a track record of working closely with PMs to shape product direction.
• Fluency in an object-oriented programming language (e.g., Python or Java).
• Experience with AWS services, databases (SQL and NoSQL), Unix-based systems, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience with prompt engineering, or a strong interest in learning and applying LLM-based techniques.
• Comfortable with rapid prototyping, experimentation, and iterating based on user feedback and product signals.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to advocate for both user needs and technical feasibility.
• Familiarity with search, ranking systems, or similar problem spaces (e.g., recommendations, NLP, information retrieval) is a plus.

What you'll get:

• Full responsibility for projects from day one, a collaborative team, and a dynamic work environment.
• Competitive salary, a pension scheme, and an optional employee stock purchase plan.
• 25 days paid holiday (rising to 29 with service), plus one floating holiday.
• £150 monthly reimbursement to help cover remote working expenses.
• £81 caregiver reimbursement to support dependent care for families.
• Private health insurance, including dental and vision.
• Flexible working hours and meeting-free Wednesdays.
• Regular 3-day Hackathons, bi-weekly learning groups, and productivity spending to support and encourage your career growth.
• Opportunities to participate in digital events and conferences.
• £81 per month to use toward qualifying wellness expenses.
• Quarterly team offsites.