Lead Backend Engineer

Title: Lead Backend Engineer
Location: Remote

Pay Range: $75/hr. to $80/hr. on w2

JOB DESCRIPTION

Profile: Lead engineer with both leadership and hands-on development skills.
Team: BigFuture This team is working on Student facing products/programs Both New and redesign of legacy Java applications into modern AWS based React/ Node applications. Most dev teams work in a poly skilled manner working on automation and improving frameworks for testing in addition to core development.


In this role you will:
Design and Development (60%)

• Design and deliver high-quality software that is scalable secure and reusableleveraging modern technologies proven design patterns and cloud-native practices to power BigFutures core tools.

• Collaborate with product owners architects and stakeholders to uphold the highest engineering standards and translate big ideas into impactful student-facing solutions.

• Break down new product capabilities into actionable verifiable technical changes that move quickly from concept to reality.

• Design and implement solutions to allow rapid testing of innovative concepts using the latest technologies typically React web apps

• Create sharable documentation both technical and non-technical

• Exercise discretion in prototyping: investing time to make sure the most important things work well and working with the team to mock or minimize less important features

• Maintain clean code and strong engineering standards such that when prototypes are greenlit for further development the project is easy to build upon

• Continuously develop the skills required to work with this rapidly developing technology

• Participate in or lead Agile SCRUM ceremonies (Sprint Planning Grooming Daily SCRUM Demo) by contributing to team deliverables and driving alignment focus and momentum across sprints.

• Elevate team performance by giving and receiving thoughtful code reviews mentoring peers and helping solve complex technical challenges.

• Assist in resolving production issues with urgency and precision ensuring a smooth and reliable user experience.

• Model discipline in adhering to development standards security practices and CI/CD principles while helping the team move fast without compromising quality.

• Continuously grow your skills and embrace a poly-skilled environment where everyone contributes beyond their specialty.

• Serve as an organizational Subject Matter Expert on implementing Generative AI applications

• Work with our Enterprise Architecture team to review and/or establish implementation patterns involving Generative AI tools

• Advise on and where feasible create tools and infrastructure that will enable teams to safely deploy Generative AI tools

• Keep abreast of developments in GenAI capabilities and implementations

• Share knowledge of new developments with the team via chats meetings and presentations when appropriate

• Serve as an advisor to internal teams developing staff education around Generative AI

• 7 years of professional experience designing building testing and managing scalable web applications in AWS-hosted environments

• 3 years experience building back-end applications using Node(with TypeScript)

• Experience with relational and NoSQL databases (e.g. PostgreSQL MySQL Redshift DynamoDB)

• Experience building observability for your products: Set up CloudWatch X-Ray for logging metrics and alerts.

• Hands-on experience implementing Generative AI applications (e.g. RAG chatbots model fine-tuning or other LLM-powered tools)

• Enthusiasm for learning new technologies especially in the fast-moving GenAI space

• Strong knowledge and hands-on experience with back-end technologies such as

• Experience with asynchronous programming and event-driven messaging patterns

• Strong knowledge of AWS services (e.g. Lambda SNS SQS S3 Step Functions IAM KMS API Gateway CloudWatch DynamoDB)

• Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments

• Proven ability to mentor and coach less experienced teammates in new technologies

• Strong analytical thinking structured problem-solving and practical decision-making skills

• Effective communication and documentation skills

• Proficiency in reviewing and improving code structure and architecture for testability maintainability and scalability with hands-on experience in JavaScript/TypeScript React APIs and AWS Serverless technologies (Lambdas DynamoDB S3 CloudWatch etc.).

• Leadership in the end-to-end design and implementation of user interfaces from architectural planning and component strategy through to polished execution including accessibility performance optimization and mentoring peers on building intuitive scalable and user-centric front-end solutions.

• Strong problem-solving skills working collaboratively with team members to identify and resolve issues and partnering with Product Owners to prioritize backlog.

• Proven ability to pitch new ideas and implement improved systems and processes delivering excellent results.

• Effective communicator and team lead able to provide actionable feedback mentor team members and participate in interviews to evaluate engineering talent.

• Bachelors degree in computer science or related engineering fields preferred