Description

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Serve as the lead developer and technical authority for the initiative(s).
• Design resilient, cloud-native system architectures and define technical roadmaps.
• Decompose ambiguous problem spaces into clear, actionable technical plans.
• Define, document, and negotiate service and API contracts with partner teams.
• Ensure solutions meet enterprise standards for security, resiliency, and maintainability.
• Identify technical dependencies, risks, sequencing, and trade-offs across backend and cloud systems.
• Promote a “Security First” mindset, emphasizing the constant need to consider security with every change.

Hands-On Engineering

• Remain heavily hands-on in backend development (~60-70% focus) while stepping in to support UI development when needed.
• Architect and build services using TypeScript and Node.js (with the potential to support apps written in Java).
• Review code and enforce engineering best practices and quality standards across both frontend and backend repos.
• Support complex technical problem-solving across the stack.

Collaboration & Planning

• Work closely with product, partner teams, and stakeholders to shape scope and priorities.
• Help determine which initiative to start first based on technical readiness and risk.
• Inform decisions on future team composition and required skillsets.

Team & Delivery Model

• Work within a single cross-functional team supporting multiple initiatives (initially not in parallel).
• Support a flexible staffing model with engineers rotating in or out based on phase and needs.
• Contribute to APIs that are primarily internal-facing, with some UI components potentially external-facing.
• Influence when and how additional engineers are added as scope and priorities become clearer.

Core Technical Skills (Priority Order)

Required

• TypeScript: Strong, expert-level proficiency across the software stack.
• Backend Architecture: Deep experience building APIs and services using TypeScript and Node.js.
• Frontend Development: Working experience with React for occasional UI enhancements and integration.
• Cloud Infrastructure (AWS): Hands-on experience with services such as Lambda, ECS, and S3.
• Databases: Practical experience with DynamoDB.
• Authentication & Authorization: Solid understanding of common auth patterns including JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) and OAuth.

Preferred / Nice-to-Have

• Support-level proficiency with Java and/or Angular.
• Experience with GraphQL (primarily as a consumer but potentially as a producer of a sub-graph).
• Experience with cross-language migrations (e.g., Java to TypeScript/Node.js or vice versa).
• Experience with additional NoSQL or SQL databases.
• Experience with Kong, Lambda Authorizers, and/or Glue.
• Experience with Security and Monitoring tools.
• Experience with GitHub Actions.

Ideal Candidate Profile

• Strong technical depth with a solution-oriented, modern software architecture mindset.
• Proven experience providing technical leadership while remaining actively hands-on.
• Strong background in resilient system, cloud-native, and API-first design.
• Ability to work effectively across backend services (~60–70%), AWS infrastructure, and frontend/UI concerns (~30–40%).
• Comfortable operating in environments with high ambiguity and evolving requirements.
• Passion for writing and supporting secure, high quality applications while instilling that mindset in others

Key Skills

Education

Bachelor's degree