About Us

At Hiya, we're making calls safe, useful, and human again.

Voice is the most human form of communication, yet it's become one of the least trusted. Spam, scams, and AI manipulation have eroded what was once a simple way to connect. Hiya is changing that.

Each month our AI voice technology analyzes 28+ billion calls, protecting over 550 million users and 800+ businesses worldwide. Partnering with a growing global network including, AT&T, Samsung, British Telecom EE, Rogers, MasOrange,Bell Canada, MasMovil, and Virgin Media O2, we're not just stopping bad actors, we're helping people feel good and confident about picking up the phone again.

This is a pivotal moment for voice. As new threats and technologies accelerate, so does demand for trusted voice communication. Hiya is growing 40%+ year over year, expanding globally, and defining what voice becomes next.

Join us. You won't just work on what voice is today, you'll shape what it becomes tomorrow: smarter, safer, and genuinely worth answering again.

About the Position

The Medior Backend Engineer is an Individual contributor position responsible for designing, coding and operating high performance data processing systems and backend services on the JVM platform (primarily Scala) for our phone call processing pipeline and customer facing web applications. Our ideal candidate would have the skills and desire to understand our entire stack, from our cloud platform (AWS) through data storage technologies (such as DynamoDB, Redshift) and stream processing (Kafka) all the way to Scala/Typelevel stack based components.

What You’ll Do

• Work at a supportive and fast-growing startup with a fantastic team.

• Make an impact in the lives of tens of millions of consumers.

• Collaborate and learn from other great team members.

• Support in developing your skills and accelerating your career

• Fully own the systems developed by your team, taking part in deployment and operations (on-call rotations where applicable)

Qualities that will make you successful:

• Experience or interest in functional programming in a typed setting;

• BSc or MSc degree in a relevant field;

• 2-3+ years relevant work experience - please note that this is a medior role;

• Familiar with data storage -and processing systems (such as Postresql, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Redshift, Apache Spark); we don't need you to have in-depth knowledge of them

• Proficient at collaborating and communicating with both local and remote team members in English and Hungarian

• Understanding customer needs first and providing solutions primarily based on that

• A desire to own design and architecture end to end;

• A philosophy of iteration and continuous improvement.

The requirements listed in the job descriptions are guidelines. You don’t have to satisfy every requirement or meet every qualification listed. If your skills are transferable we would still love to hear from you.

How We Work

Hiya is not a passive environment. We expect people to take ownership, form opinions, and engage directly with hard problems.

We work with a high degree of transparency and autonomy. Context is shared openly, and decisions are discussed, challenged, and then made. Once a call is made, we commit and move forward.

You’ll be expected to work through ambiguity, weigh tradeoffs, and take responsibility for results—while keeping a high bar for quality and customer trust.

Every team member at Hiya is expected to live our core values:

• Serve, our customers and partners by holding a high bar for trust and quality

• Own, share in success and open up to failures

• Lead, listen, show up with a point of view but commit entirely once a decision has been made

• Improve, even if it means changing course or contradicting ourselves

• Do, rather than observe

Our Interview Process

At Hiya, our interview process is designed to evaluate candidates through real, experience-based work. We focus on understanding how you think, exercise judgment, use leverage (including AI), and collaborate, rather than how well you perform in traditional interviews.

Process Overview

Our standard interview process follows this sequence:

• Initial Screen: We confirm baseline alignment, role interest, relevant experience, and logistics.

• Hiring Manager (HM) Screen: We evaluate role fit, expectations, and execution readiness.

• Take Home Working Assignment: You'll complete a take-home, role-relevant assignment designed to reflect the kind of work you would do at Hiya. The assignment focuses on how you think, prioritize, and explain your approach. You'll review your work and discuss your reasoning with the interview panel

• Onsite Interview Loop: Each interviewer focuses on specific competencies, evaluating how you make decisions, navigate tradeoffs, and collaborate in real time. You’ll participate in a live, role-relevant working session as part of an interview loop with multiple interviewers. This experience is designed to reflect how work is done at Hiya and focuses on your real-time problem-solving and collaboration skills. During the session, you’ll work through your take-home assignment live and walk interviewers through your thinking as you go. Interviewers will explore how you structure problems, communicate your reasoning, respond to questions and feedback, and adapt your approach in the moment. Part of this loop also includes our Hiya Future Values Interview; an independent conversation focused on your long-term potential, judgment under ambiguity, and ability to create sustained value as scope and complexity increase.

• Reference Check: As a final step, we connect with 2–3 past supervisors to gain additional perspective on your experience and working style, and to further understand how you align with Hiya’s values.

How We Invest in You

When determining compensation, a number of factors will be considered: skills, experience, job scope, location, and competitive compensation market data.

Benefits

• Private Retirement/Pension program through Erste Bank

• Generali Private Health Care

• Donation Matching for a charity of your choice (up to $500/ year)

• WFH equipment stipend (up to $500 in your first year)

• $1,000/year in Professional Development funds

• Online English Classes

• Gym membership

• Flexible working model (2 days a week, Tuesdays and Thursday is required in the office. In the rest of the month you decide whether you are working from home or from the office.)

This position is based in Budapest, Hungary.

We are building a team with a variety of perspectives, identities, and professional experiences. We evaluate great candidates through a business lens and we strongly believe that diversity and unique perspectives make our company stronger, more dynamic, and a great place to build a career.

Our team has won various awards over the last 4 years from Built-in Seattle and Seattle Business Week to #86 on Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and Forbes #1 Startup Employer. Here at Hiya, we are a people-centric company focused on helping each and every one of our employees grow both personally and professionally.

We feel that creating a team culture of support and empowerment to challenge the status quo results in an energized and passionate team that is continuously challenged and passionate about the work they are doing. You'll love working here if you are looking for an innovative challenge that is disrupting an industry.

Come join us!