Jan Bezdicek

Jan Bezdicek

Senior Backend Engineer

I build reliable distributed systems and cloud-native architectures that scale.

Vienna, Austria · Remote

About

Backend engineer with 10+ years of experience designing and shipping reliable distributed systems. I gravitate towards Domain-Driven Design and Hexagonal Architecture and care about clean APIs, observable infrastructure, and pragmatic engineering. No unnecessary complexity.

Currently at Alma Media (AlmaCareer), working on job board platform solutions out of the Czech branch. My team owns several backend microservices that sit at the core of the platform. Strong background in the PHP/Symfony ecosystem with broad experience across the full backend stack: message queues, search indices, container orchestration.

Based in Vienna, Austria. Open to fully remote opportunities.

Skills

Languages

PHP · TypeScript · Go · Python · Java · Kotlin

Frameworks

Symfony · API Platform · Nette · Sylius · Next.js · React · React Native

Databases

PostgreSQL · MySQL · Aurora · Redis · Aerospike · Elasticsearch

Messaging

EventBridge · SQS · RabbitMQ · Apache Kafka

Cloud & Infra

AWS ECS Fargate · Lambda · AWS CDK · Docker · Kubernetes · Nomad · Ansible · Jenkins · Linux

Observability

Sentry · Datadog · Prometheus · Grafana · ELK · Graylog

Testing

PHPUnit · Jest · Selenium · Cypress · Playwright

Tooling

Git · AI-assisted development

Work History

2024 – present

Senior Backend Engineer · Alma Media

Started by taking on accumulated tech-debt across microservices of Jobs.cz, the biggest Czech job board, working through it solo. Upgraded the platform's PHP and Symfony versions across multiple services to bring them up to date. Now part of a broader team working on a full-stack platform solution for job boards, with shared ownership across backend microservices and a shared Next.js/TypeScript frontend.

PHP 8.xSymfonyTypeScriptNext.jsAWS ECSEventBridgeSQSAWS CDK
2022 – 2023

Senior Backend Engineer · ZOOT

Played a key role in the backend modernization of a high-traffic e-commerce platform. Migrated legacy services to a domain-driven architecture, improved search performance with Elasticsearch, and reduced queue processing latency significantly.

SymfonyRabbitMQElasticsearchPostgreSQLRedis
2021 – 2022

Senior Backend Engineer · Alma Media

Worked on Atmoskop.cz, a relatively new product within AlmaCareer, essentially a startup inside a larger company. Built new features and helped prepare the platform for expansion into the Polish market. Deployments ran on on-prem infrastructure using Jenkins, Nomad, and Narwhal (an internal deployment tool).

PHPSymfonyApache KafkaAerospikeDockerJenkinsNomad
2016 – 2020

Backend Engineer · Freelance

Worked across tens of projects for clients in Czech Republic, Slovakia, and beyond. Most were custom e-commerce builds on Symfony and Sylius. The largest engagement was with DefendInsurance, contributing heavily to the backend of their internal platform for managing insurance policies, claims, and client records.

SymfonySyliusPHPMySQLDockerKubernetes
2014 – 2016

PHP Developer · Reality IQ

Web application development for a real estate platform.

PHPMySQLMVC

Projects

Jobs.czJob Portal

Czech Republic's leading job board, part of Alma Media. Cleared accumulated tech debt across multiple PHP/Symfony microservices and upgraded the platform's PHP and Symfony versions across services. Now part of a broader team building a shared full-stack platform powering job boards across Central Europe, the Adriatic, and the Balkans.

Prace.czJob Portal

A major Czech job portal with a strong focus on blue-collar and entry-level positions. The first job board to run on our platformized solution, serving as the pilot for the full-stack platform now rolling out across the Alma Media portfolio.

Atmoskop.czEmployer Reviews

Czech workplace culture and employer review platform, similar to Glassdoor. Joined early when it was still a startup inside AlmaCareer. Built new features and helped prepare the platform for expansion into the Polish market.

Zoot.czFashion E-commerce

Czech fashion e-commerce platform with a curated selection of brands. Part of an external team brought in to improve engineering processes and raise the technical bar, working alongside the internal team on backend architecture and search performance.

Lekarna.czOnline Pharmacy

One of the Czech Republic's largest online pharmacies, operated by Pears Health Cyber. Maintaining their DevOps infrastructure and Kubernetes clusters across all company projects, including CI/CD pipelines, Helm charts, and cluster configuration, making sure everything is set up exactly as each project needs it.

Alove.czJewellery E-commerce

Czech jewellery e-commerce brand, part of Alo Diamonds. Built and maintained their Sylius-based e-commerce site for the CZ/SK market, including a custom K2 ERP bridge to keep product and order data in sync between K2 and Sylius.

DefendInsuranceInsurance

Slovak insurance and extended warranty platform. Largest freelance engagement, part of a new team brought in to rebuild their internal system from scratch after the original became unmaintainable due to bugs and tech debt. Contributed heavily to the backend covering the full claims and policy management lifecycle.

Palmknihy.czDigital Publishing

Czech digital bookstore for e-books and audiobooks, part of Albatros Media. One of my first freelance projects, where I was technically responsible for delivering the whole e-commerce site.

...and many other ones along the way.

Contact

Interested in working together or just want to say hello? Feel free to reach out.

Built with Next.js · Designed by hand