Our client is the Middle Easts leading on-demand grocery delivery platform connecting millions of customers with supermarkets dark stores and specialty retailers across the UAE and beyond. Our backend powers a complex real-time operation: inventory availability order lifecycle logistics coordination and third-party integrations that have to work in concert at scale every day. The Role
We are looking for a Lead Backend Engineer who measures their impact not by how much they personally write but by how much gets built reviewed and shipped while they are thinking about the next architectural decision.
This is a pure IC role. No people management no meetings for the sake of meetings. What you will have instead is deep ownership: of a Rails codebase evolving from a monolith into a well-decomposed system of a suite of AI coding agents already in use at elGrocer that you will sharpen and extend and of the craft of backend engineering at a level where architecture and delivery are inseparable.
You will work directly with our Staff Engineer translating architectural direction into systems that are clean robust and built to outlast the sprint that created them.
What Youll Do: Backend Architecture & Engineering
Own the design and delivery of complex backend systems within our Rails platform from API contracts and data modeling to service decomposition and async patterns
Lead the ongoing evolution of our monolith: identifying seams proposing decomposition strategies and executing incrementally without disrupting live operations
Set the technical standard for backend code quality through design review and the kind of feedback that makes engineers better
Collaborate with the Staff Engineer on architectural decisions bringing implementation-level insight that shapes strategy from the ground up
Diagnose and resolve performance bottlenecks scalability constraints and systemic issues in a production system that does not sleep
AI Agent Orchestration & Productivity
Take ownership of elGrocers AI coding agent setup Cursor Claude Copilot and custom workflows already in use and make them sharper faster and more deeply embedded in how we deliver software
Build and refine agent workflows that handle the repeatable: boilerplate generation test coverage documentation code review scaffolding so human attention goes where it matters most
Develop judgment around AI-generated output that the wider team can learn from: when to accept when to push back when to rewrite entirely
Treat your agent setup as part of your engineering toolkit something you tune continuously not something you configure once
Contribute to a culture where the question is not should we use AI here but how do we use it well here
What Were Looking For Must Have
6-9 years of backend engineering experience with meaningful time spent in Ruby on Rails production codebases
Strong architectural instincts you have designed systems not just built features and you can articulate why one approach ages better than another
Hands-on experience working with or inside a monolith-to-services migration you understand the pragmatism required to do this without breaking things
Real daily familiarity with AI coding tools you have moved past novelty into workflow and you have opinions about what works and what does not
The ability to hold two things at once: shipping with urgency and building with care
Clear written communication your design docs PR descriptions and async messages are as considered as your code Nice to Have
Experience in e-commerce marketplace or on-demand delivery platforms
Exposure to building or customizing AI agent pipelines beyond off-the-shelf tooling
Familiarity with event-driven architectures background job patterns and API design at scale
How We Think About This Role
There is a version of this job where you close twelve tickets a week and call it a good sprint. That is not the version we are hiring for.
We are hiring for the version where your agents handle the scaffolding your architecture decisions reduce future tickets from ever being created and your code review raises the floor of what the team considers acceptable. The output is not measured in lines it is measured in what the system can do six months from now that it cannot do today.
If you have already started thinking about your AI tools as a junior engineer who needs direction context and the occasional correction you will feel at home here.
Our Stack
Backend: Ruby on Rails (primary)
Infrastructure: Azure Kubernetes
Data: PostgreSQL Redis event-driven patterns
AI Tooling: Cursor Claude Copilot custom agent workflows (already in use)
A codebase with real architectural problems worth solving not greenfield abstraction but production complexity that requires taste and judgment
An AI tooling culture that is already moving you are joining to lead it forward not to convince anyone it is worth trying
Direct line to architectural decision-making through a Staff Engineer who values implementation insight
Remote-first high-trust async-friendly your output matters more than your timezone
A platform used by millions across the Middle East where backend decisions have visible real-world consequences
You will work with a great team
Lot of learning opportunities and experience of lifetime
You will part of great culture
Congenial Atmosphere
Excellent and Market competitive Gross salary (Depends upon experience skillset and interview). The salary is taxable (500k to 600k)
Medical Insurance
Gratuity
Annual Leave
Annual Bonus
Causal Leave
Sick Leave
Birthday Leave
Weekly Team Lunch
.Monthly Team Building Activities
Paid Training
About Our client Our client is the Middle Easts leading on-demand grocery delivery platform connecting millions of customers with supermarkets dark stores and specialty retailers across the UAE and beyond. Our backend powers a complex real-time operation: inventory availability order lifecycle logi...
About Our client
Our client is the Middle Easts leading on-demand grocery delivery platform connecting millions of customers with supermarkets dark stores and specialty retailers across the UAE and beyond. Our backend powers a complex real-time operation: inventory availability order lifecycle logistics coordination and third-party integrations that have to work in concert at scale every day. The Role
We are looking for a Lead Backend Engineer who measures their impact not by how much they personally write but by how much gets built reviewed and shipped while they are thinking about the next architectural decision.
This is a pure IC role. No people management no meetings for the sake of meetings. What you will have instead is deep ownership: of a Rails codebase evolving from a monolith into a well-decomposed system of a suite of AI coding agents already in use at elGrocer that you will sharpen and extend and of the craft of backend engineering at a level where architecture and delivery are inseparable.
You will work directly with our Staff Engineer translating architectural direction into systems that are clean robust and built to outlast the sprint that created them.
What Youll Do: Backend Architecture & Engineering
Own the design and delivery of complex backend systems within our Rails platform from API contracts and data modeling to service decomposition and async patterns
Lead the ongoing evolution of our monolith: identifying seams proposing decomposition strategies and executing incrementally without disrupting live operations
Set the technical standard for backend code quality through design review and the kind of feedback that makes engineers better
Collaborate with the Staff Engineer on architectural decisions bringing implementation-level insight that shapes strategy from the ground up
Diagnose and resolve performance bottlenecks scalability constraints and systemic issues in a production system that does not sleep
AI Agent Orchestration & Productivity
Take ownership of elGrocers AI coding agent setup Cursor Claude Copilot and custom workflows already in use and make them sharper faster and more deeply embedded in how we deliver software
Build and refine agent workflows that handle the repeatable: boilerplate generation test coverage documentation code review scaffolding so human attention goes where it matters most
Develop judgment around AI-generated output that the wider team can learn from: when to accept when to push back when to rewrite entirely
Treat your agent setup as part of your engineering toolkit something you tune continuously not something you configure once
Contribute to a culture where the question is not should we use AI here but how do we use it well here
What Were Looking For Must Have
6-9 years of backend engineering experience with meaningful time spent in Ruby on Rails production codebases
Strong architectural instincts you have designed systems not just built features and you can articulate why one approach ages better than another
Hands-on experience working with or inside a monolith-to-services migration you understand the pragmatism required to do this without breaking things
Real daily familiarity with AI coding tools you have moved past novelty into workflow and you have opinions about what works and what does not
The ability to hold two things at once: shipping with urgency and building with care
Clear written communication your design docs PR descriptions and async messages are as considered as your code Nice to Have
Experience in e-commerce marketplace or on-demand delivery platforms
Exposure to building or customizing AI agent pipelines beyond off-the-shelf tooling
Familiarity with event-driven architectures background job patterns and API design at scale
How We Think About This Role
There is a version of this job where you close twelve tickets a week and call it a good sprint. That is not the version we are hiring for.
We are hiring for the version where your agents handle the scaffolding your architecture decisions reduce future tickets from ever being created and your code review raises the floor of what the team considers acceptable. The output is not measured in lines it is measured in what the system can do six months from now that it cannot do today.
If you have already started thinking about your AI tools as a junior engineer who needs direction context and the occasional correction you will feel at home here.
Our Stack
Backend: Ruby on Rails (primary)
Infrastructure: Azure Kubernetes
Data: PostgreSQL Redis event-driven patterns
AI Tooling: Cursor Claude Copilot custom agent workflows (already in use)