Lead Software Engineer (Backend Platform & APIs)
Job Summary
A client of mine is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to provide senior technical leadership for a team responsible for core backend services and APIs that power a large scale SaaS platform. This is a senior individual contributor role focused on architecture, technical strategy, mentorship, and hands-on development rather than people management.
The ideal candidate has deep experience designing and scaling distributed backend systems, driving complex technical initiatives, influencing architecture decisions, and partnering with engineering leadership to deliver long-term platform improvements.
Key Responsibilities
• Own and evolve the technical architecture of core backend services and APIs, ensuring scalability, reliability, security, and maintainability.
• Lead the design and delivery of complex, cross-functional technical initiatives from concept through production deployment.
• Establish and promote engineering best practices, coding standards, and system design principles.
• Review architecture, designs, and code to maintain long-term system quality and consistency.
• Mentor engineers through technical coaching, design discussions, and collaborative problem-solving.
• Partner closely with engineering leadership to align technical roadmaps with business objectives.
• Collaborate with other engineering teams to drive architectural alignment and shared technical solutions.
• Break down complex and ambiguous challenges into clear, actionable technical plans.
• Remain hands-on with development, contributing to high-impact and high-priority initiatives.
• Foster a collaborative, supportive, and solutions-oriented engineering culture.
Required Qualifications
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• 8+ years of software engineering experience with increasing technical ownership and scope.
• Proven experience leading the design and delivery of large-scale, distributed backend systems.
• Strong understanding of computer science fundamentals, system design, and API architecture.
• Demonstrated success mentoring engineers and influencing technical direction without formal management responsibilities.
• Experience evaluating and communicating architectural trade-offs and driving engineering decisions.
• Strong background building scalable web services and API-driven platforms.
• Experience with cloud-native SaaS environments and modern CI/CD practices.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and balance competing business and technical priorities.
Preferred Qualifications
• Experience with authentication and identity frameworks such as OAuth, SAML, SCIM, or similar technologies.
• Experience with object-oriented programming languages such as Ruby, Python, Java, C#, or similar.
• Experience with containerization and orchestration technologies including Docker and Kubernetes.
• Experience with observability and monitoring tools such as Datadog, New Relic, or similar platforms.
• Experience working within Agile development environments, including distributed or remote teams.
What They're Looking For
This team is looking for a highly technical backend engineering leader who can drive architecture decisions, improve platform scalability, mentor other engineers, and serve as a trusted technical partner across multiple teams while remaining hands-on in development.
This role is ideal for someone who enjoys solving complex systems challenges, influencing technical strategy, and building scalable API-driven platforms at enterprise scale.