Lead Software Engineer

Accountabilities:

As the technical leader for an established software product, you will be responsible for delivering meaningful improvements while building stronger engineering capabilities and aligning technical decisions with business objectives.

• Lead hands-on development: Work directly in the codebase from day one, learn the existing technology stack, and deliver working software to customers frequently.

• Modernize software delivery: Improve the software development lifecycle through continuous integration, automated testing, staging environments, feature flags, reliable deployment processes, and AI-assisted development tools.

• Mentor and develop engineers: Coach existing team members, improve code quality, share engineering best practices, and help the team become more effective and independent.

• Shape the product roadmap: Partner with the general manager to prioritize initiatives, evaluate trade-offs, and determine which features and improvements deliver the greatest business value.

• Accelerate engineering with AI: Introduce and optimize coding-agent workflows that reduce development time, improve productivity, and enable teams to accomplish more with available resources.

• Integrate AI into products: Build production-ready AI capabilities involving retrieval, tool use, evaluation frameworks, and appropriate guardrails.

• Improve legacy systems: Identify technical bottlenecks, strengthen existing architectures, and modernize codebases without relying on unnecessary full rewrites.

• Operate with autonomy: Make sound technical decisions, take ownership of outcomes, and collaborate directly with business operators and customers.

Requirements:

The ideal candidate is an experienced, adaptable software engineer who combines strong technical execution with sound judgment, coaching ability, and a practical approach to improving established products and teams.

• At least 7 years of software engineering experience, including experience as a technical lead, founding engineer, CTO of a small company, or the primary engineer responsible for maintaining and developing a product.

• Proven ability to work across multiple technology stacks, with production experience in at least three different stacks and the ability to learn unfamiliar technologies quickly.

• Strong hands-on development skills and a track record of delivering production software in established codebases.

• Experience taking over complex or poorly maintained codebases and helping teams regain momentum and improve engineering practices.

• Daily use of AI coding agents, with the ability to explain and demonstrate your development workflows and setup.

• Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers, improve code quality, and establish effective software development processes.

• Strong independent judgment, ownership, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to work effectively without close day-to-day supervision.

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, including the ability to work directly with general managers, business stakeholders, and customers.

Bonus Qualifications:

• Experience serving as the first engineering leader in an organization without an established engineering function.

• Background in vertical SaaS or B2B SaaS, particularly products where the buyer and end user are different stakeholders.

• Experience modernizing legacy software systems while maintaining continuity and avoiding unnecessary rewrites.

Benefits:

• Fully remote work arrangement.

• Opportunity to lead engineering at an established software business with a product and customer base already in place.

• Significant technical ownership and autonomy over engineering practices, architecture, and product delivery.

• Hands-on exposure to AI-assisted software development, coding agents, and production AI applications.

• Opportunity to work with varied technology stacks, including .NET, Ruby on Rails, Python, TypeScript, Oracle, PHP, and other technologies.

• Ability to influence product strategy and collaborate directly with business leadership.

• Opportunity to mentor engineers, strengthen existing teams, and create measurable improvements in software delivery.

• Long-term professional growth through technical leadership, product ownership, and exposure to diverse software businesses.