Lead Engineer

elockers; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary €70k-€110k

Tech ownership of platform

Job summary

Elockers is seeking an exceptionally strong Lead Engineer to own our platform where software, payments, and hardware converge. You will design architecture, write and review code, and uplift the team with your hands-on leadership across a high-availability environment.

You’ll own Node.js microservices, deploy on DigitalOcean, ensure zero downtime during live events, and connect payments and hardware with reliable software systems.

Qualifications

• Deep, hands-on technical seniority with distributed systems.
• Strong Node.js and microservices expertise.
• Clear communicator who improves teammates, not a lone operator.
• Ownership mindset and ability to step up during critical moments.
• Experience introducing engineering processes and AI-assisted development.
• Cloud/platform engineering experience, ideally DigitalOcean.
• Payments or marketplace background with high-peak systems.
• Coaching and knowledge transfer in a small team.
• IoT/hardware integration experience is a genuine plus.

Responsibilities

• Own the microservices platform architecture and delivery.
• Design, code, review, and solve hard problems hands-on.
• Ensure real-time payments and uptime during live events.
• Bridge commercial priorities with engineering delivery.
• Spread critical knowledge across the team and raise the bar on discipline.

Skills

Node.js expertise

Microservices

Hands-on leadership

Cloud platforms

Payments / marketplace experience

AI-assisted development

IoT / hardware integration

Communication / teamwork

Event-driven architecture

Tools

DigitalOcean App Platform

Kafka

ClickHouse

Metabase

React Native/Expo

Jira

Sentry

New Relic

Job description

Elockers runs the smart-locker platform that festivals, venues, and events across six countries rely on for real-time payments and marketplace-style payouts — including on-sale moments where a large share of a site's lockers can sell out within a minute. We're live in six countries, with further international expansion and two acquisitions underway.

Our platform is genuinely strong: microservices architecture (~30 services), event-driven data flow, and a payments stack built for a real marketplace. This isn't a role about fixing something broken — it's about taking technical ownership of a platform that already works well, and pushing it further.

The Role

We're looking for an exceptionally strong, hands-on Lead Engineer to take technical ownership of a platform where software, payments, and physical hardware come together. You'll match our current technical level and raise it — through your own hands-on work, and by making the people around you better. This is not a pure management role: you'll design architecture, write and review code, and solve genuinely hard problems yourself.

What you'll own

• Technical ownership of our microservices platform, with Node.js and modern architecture patterns at the core
• Cloud-native engineering on DigitalOcean App Platform — deployment, scaling, monitoring, and production reliability
• Reliability at peak: real-time payments and traffic spikes during live events, with zero tolerance for downtime
• Our Adyen-based payments and marketplace systems, and how our software connects to physical locks and hardware
• Spreading critical knowledge across the team so no single person is a single point of failure
• Setting the bar on engineering discipline — CI/CD, documentation, AI-assisted development — as we raise an already-strong platform further
• Being the clear, dependable bridge between commercial priorities and engineering delivery

What you'll bring

• 1. Deep, hands-on technical seniority — you independently design, build, and debug complex distributed systems
• 2. Strong, current Node.js and microservices expertise — a core requirement
• 3. Real soft skills and team fit — a clear communicator who makes the people around you better, not a lone operator
• 4. Genuine ownership and event mentality — you step up when something business-critical is on the line
• 5. Experience introducing engineering process and AI-assisted development in a fast-moving team
• 6. Cloud/platform engineering experience, ideally DigitalOcean App Platform
• 7. Payments or marketplace experience (Adyen, PSPs, split payments, KYC) and comfort with high-peak, mission-critical systems
• 8. A track record of coaching and knowledge transfer in a small team
• 9. IoT / hardware integration experience is a genuine plus — our software talks to physical lockers
• Nice to have: product/business sense, React Native/Expo experience, multi-country scaling with GDPR awareness, background in events or ticketing.

Our stack today

Microservices (~30 services), moving toward Node.js at the core. Adyen for payments. Kafka, ClickHouse, Metabase for data. React Native/Expo for mobile. DigitalOcean, Sentry, New Relic, Jira for infra and tooling.

What we offer

• €70,000 – €110,000 gross per year, depending on experience
• Real technical ownership of a platform where software, payments, and hardware genuinely come together