Software Development Engineer - II

Zeronow; Hyderabad; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 8,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Zeronow is a stealth-mode startup building deeply technical products using Kotlin, React, AWS, and GCP. We seek engineers who can own and ship end-to-end systems, design high-performance backends, and craft scalable UIs. Expect a fast-paced, equity-driven environment with minimal process.

Ideal candidates have 4+ years shipping production systems, strong DSA/system design skills, and a proven ability to learn domain quickly and outperform peers in chaos.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of hands-on engineering with shipped production systems.
• Elite CS fundamentals: advanced DSA and distributed system design.
• Mastery of Kotlin/Java and modern React; real AWS experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end ownership of complex systems from design to deployment.
• Architect high-performance backends in Kotlin/ JVM langs for real-time routing.
• Craft scalable React UIs powering ops dashboards and apps.
• Drive cloud decisions across AWS and GCP to optimise costs.
• Shape the engineering roadmap with founders and mentor juniors.

Skills

Kotlin/Java

React

AWS

GCP

System design

DSA

Job description

We're a high-agency startup solving real-world problems with elegant tech. Our mission: build world-class systems from scratch that are lean, fast, and intelligent. We’re currently operating in stealth mode, crafting deeply technical products involving Kotlin, React, AWS, GCP, Google Maps, and algorithmically intense backends. If you’re tired of working as a ticket taker and want to build, lead, and own your work end-to-end — we’re your people.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end ownership of complex systems: design, build, deploy, monitor, and iterate at scale.
• Architect high-performance backends in Kotlin (or JVM langs) that handle real-time routing and IoT data.
• Craft scalable React UIs that power ops dashboards and parent-facing apps.
• Drive cloud decisions across AWS, Azure/GCP—optimising costs for our bootstrap runway.
• Apply DSA/system design to solve hard problems like dynamic route optimization and predictive scaling.
• Shape the engineering roadmap: propose, prioritise, and ship features with founders.
• Mentor juniors while executing solo on high-impact bets—no layers, just results.

Requirements

• 4+ years of hands-on engineering where you've owned and shipped production systems (prove it with code/stories).
• Elite CS fundamentals: advanced DSA, system design (distributed systems a must), design patterns.
• Mastery of Kotlin/Java + modern React; real AWS experience (EC2, IAM, CLI—you know our stack).
• Proven leap-taker: startup grit, side projects, or open-source that screams hunger.
• Figure-it-out velocity: you thrive in chaos, learn our domain overnight, and deliver 10x faster than peers.
• This Role Is Not For You If…
• You need structured roadmaps, PM hand-holding, or big-tech process.
• Comfort > impact: stable salary over equity upside and chaos.
• You've never worn all hats (dev, ops, product) in a resource-constrained environment.

From operations to engineering, we're looking for people who want to make student transportation safer and more reliable.