Lead Engineer – Platform & Architecture

Quest Alliance; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 7,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Quest Alliance seeks a Lead Engineer to own the technical integrity, reliability, and scalability of the Quest platform. This player-coach role is hands-on: you will write and review code, solve complex problems directly, and ensure engineering (internal + vendors) meets high quality and architectural standards.

You will own core platform code, define architecture, and set governance while preventing over-engineering and promoting real reliability improvements.

Qualifications

• Hands-on engineering ownership of core platform code (backend, APIs, components).
• Ability to review and write code and solve complex problems directly.
• Focus on high quality, architectural standards and vendor code.
• Experience with root cause analysis and reliability improvements.
• Leadership in defining platform architecture and governance.

Responsibilities

• Actively contribute to core platform code (backend, APIs, system components).
• Take ownership of complex, high-risk, or poorly understood problem areas.
• Address critical bugs such as save failures and concurrency issues.
• Build reference implementations that set standards for vendors.
• Define and evolve platform architecture and ensure module/service coherence.
• Prevent over-engineering while ensuring scalability.
• Lead deep debugging of critical issues and ensure clear root-cause understanding.
• Design and review external integrations with security and consistency in mind.
• Work with DevOps to fix cache, deployment, and infra issues.

Skills

Hands-on coding

Critical problem solving

Code review

Root cause analysis

Platform architecture

Job description

The Lead Engineer owns the technicalintegrity, reliability, and scalability of the Quest platform, while also beingdirectly hands-on in building critical systems.

This is a player-coach role:

• You will write and review code
• Solve complex technical problemsdirectly
• And ensure that all engineering(internal + vendors) meets high quality and architectural Standards

Key Responsibilities:

Hands-on EngineeringOwnership (Critical)

• Actively contribute to core platformcode (backend, APIs, system components)
• Take ownership of complex, high-risk,or poorly understood problem areas
• Critical bugs (e.g., save failures,concurrency issues)
• Build reference implementations thatset standards for vendors
• Step in when:
• Root cause is unclear
• Issues are repeatedly reopened
• Define and evolve platform architecture
• Ensure system coherence across modules,services, and integrations
• Make pragmatic architecture decisionsgrounded in real constraints
• Prevent over-engineering while ensuringscalability

Thisrole is not advisory — you get into the code and fix things

3. Code Quality &Engineering Standards

• Define and enforce:
• Personally review critical PRs andvendor code
• Set clear expectations for:
• Multi-developer handoffs
• Ownership of modules
• Ensure Dev, QA, UAT, and Prodenvironments are aligned
• Server configs (file size limits,caching, infra)
• Work hands-on with DevOps to fix:
• Cache inconsistencies
• Deployment issues
• Define and enforce:
• Unit testing standards (all successcriteria must be covered)
• Scenario-based QA expectations
• Boundary conditions (e.g., file sizelimits)
• Edge cases (state handling, retries,failures)

6. Root Cause Analysis& Reliability

• Lead deep debugging of criticalissues
• Ensure:
• No issue is closed without clear rootcause understanding
• 1. Whathappened
• 2. Whyit happened
• 3. Howwe prevent it

Eliminate "guess fixes" and repeated reopens

7. Integration &Platform Governance

• Design and review:
• External integrations (e.g., SIDH,partners)
• Ensure consistency in:
• Security practices

8. Performance &Real-World Reliability

• Ensure systems are tested for:
• Low bandwidth / throttling
• Fix issues like:
• Save failures
• Race conditions (auto-save conflicts)
• Cache inconsistencies

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