Engineering Team Lead for AI-Driven Product (Remote)

Optimal Workshop; Wellington; Hybrid; NZD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

ESOP

Wellbeing allowance

Home office setup

4 weeks annual leave

Birthday day off

Remote-first with NZ/AU options

Job summary

Optimal Workshop is seeking an Engineering Team Lead to steer a small engineering team while staying hands‑on and shaping product delivery. You’ll influence architecture, collaborate with our CTPO, and mentor engineers to build scalable, reliable systems.

You’ll drive the engineering strategy, partner with Product and Design, and champion the use of AI to accelerate delivery. A remote‑first role with hybrid flexibility from Wellington, NZ, or anywhere in NZ/Australia is offered.

Qualifications

• Entrepreneurial mindset with impact‑driven approach.
• Proven people management experience mentoring engineers.
• Product mindset focused on outcomes and collaboration with design.
• Bias for action, pragmatic decisions, and delivery focus.
• Excitement for applying AI to improve developer productivity.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and shape direction.
• Experience with React, Ruby on Rails, AWS, IaC, and CI/CD.

Responsibilities

• Build and ship features while staying hands‑on with code.
• Shape engineering strategy, architecture, and platform foundations.
• Manage a small team, support their growth and foster ownership.
• Explore AI tools to accelerate delivery and quality.
• Own delivery by partnering with Product and Design.
• Unblock the team, maintain momentum and clear goals.
• Lead reliability practices across the team for observability and resilience.

Skills

Leadership

People management

Product mindset

Decision making

Ambiguity tolerance

Delivery excellence

AI literacy

Tools

React

Ruby on Rails

AWS

Infrastructure as Code

CI/CD

Job description

Optimal Workshop is seeking an Engineering Team Lead to steer a small engineering team while staying hands‑on and shaping product delivery. You’ll influence architecture, collaborate with our CTPO, and mentor engineers to build scalable, reliable systems.

You’ll drive the engineering strategy, partner with Product and Design, and champion the use of AI to accelerate delivery. A remote‑first role with hybrid flexibility from Wellington, NZ, or anywhere in NZ/Australia is offered.