Kantar is the world’s leading AI-native marketing data and analytics business and an indispensable brand partner to the world’s top companies. We combine the most meaningful attitudinal and behavioural data with deep expertise and advanced analytics to uncover how people think and act. We help clients understand what has happened and why and how to shape the marketing strategies that shape their future.

Our $4bn business is undergoing our largest tech transformation yet. We’re evolving into a global data/analytics powerhouse, providing innovative insights to giants like Google and Unilever. Since our acquisition by Bain Capital in 2019, we’ve been expanding and modernizing our tech platforms and infrastructure. We’re looking for top talent in Tech and DevOps to help us solve long-term problems with innovative solutions. Our collaborative global tech community offers excellent training resources to support your growth as we continue to grow.

Why this job is important

As a Senior Software Engineer in our Digital Twins Division, you’ll help build the systems behind one of Kantar’s most ambitious AI products. Your work will enable thousands of AI‑driven “digital twins” to simulate real‑world consumer behaviour in real time, giving brands powerful insight into complex decisions.

This isn’t a traditional full‑stack role. You’ll focus on scalable backend systems, event‑driven architectures, and AI‑enabled platforms, working closely with product, data science and platform teams to turn advanced AI capabilities into reliable, production‑ready systems. Your work will directly shape how clients interact with data and insights at scale.

What you’ll be doing

You’ll spend your time designing and building technology that can grow with our ambition, including:

• Creating scalable, distributed backend services for AI‑driven applications
• Building event‑driven systems that process large volumes of behavioural data in real time
• Developing services in Node.js/TypeScript and/or Python
• Designing APIs that support high‑throughput, low‑latency workloads
• Helping orchestrate and optimise AI agent‑based systems running at scale

You’ll also contribute to technical direction, mentor others, and help us continuously improve how we build and operate our platforms.

The skills & experience you’ll bring

You don’t need to tick every box, but experience in several of the following will set you up for success:

• Strong backend engineering experience with cloud‑based systems (Azure, AWS or GCP)
• Experience designing distributed or event‑driven architectures (Kafka or similar)
• Proficiency in TypeScript/Node.js and/or Python
• Experience building scalable APIs and microservices
• Working knowledge of containers and cloud‑native delivery approaches
• Curiosity about AI‑enabled systems and how they scale responsibly

Experience with LLMs, AI agent orchestration, or tools such as RAG, vector databases or LangChain is a bonus, but not essential.

What’s in it for you

• Flexible hybrid working
• 25 days leave, 2 days paid for volunteering and life event leave
• Competitive salary and bonus (bonus dependent on role)
• Company pension
• Enhanced parental leave
• Healthcare options
• Wide range of flexible benefits

We are not able to offer visa sponsorship or assist with relocation support for this role. Please ensure you have the right to work in the country where this role is located before applying.

Why join Kantar?

We shape the brands of tomorrow by better understanding people everywhere. By understanding people, we can understand what drives their decisions, actions, and aspirations on a global scale. And by amplifying our in-depth expertise of human understanding alongside ground-breaking technology, we can help brands find concrete insights that will help them succeed in our fast-paced, ever shifting world.

And because we know people, we like to make sure our own people are being looked after as well. Equality of opportunity for everyone is our highest priority and we support our colleagues to work in a way that supports their health and wellbeing. While we encourage teams to spend part of their working week in the office, we understand no one size fits all; our approach is flexible to ensure everybody feels included, accepted, and that we can win together. We’re dedicated to creating an inclusive culture and value the diversity of our people, clients, suppliers and communities, and we encourage applications from all backgrounds and sections of society. Even if you feel like you’re not an exact match, we’d love to receive your application and talk to you about this job or others at Kantar.