Lead Software Engineer (Mobile/App)

Searce Inc; Manila; On-site; PHP 150,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Searce Inc. is seeking a Lead Software Engineer with deep mobile expertise to architect, code, and mentor a small team. You will sit with clients, turn business goals into working software, and own the outcomes.

Expect involvement across mobile, backend, and cloud layers, with hands-on leadership and a focus on delivery and quality. The role requires 5–8 years of professional software experience, strong Swift/Kotlin skills, and proven ability to ship production code.

Qualifications

• 5–8 years of professional software engineering experience.
• Deep mobile expertise in Swift or Kotlin, with production apps.
• End-to-end product engineering experience with recent hands-on work.
• Ability to lead features or a small team as technical lead.
• Experience with backend services, web front ends, and REST/gRPC APIs.
• Strong client-facing communication and delivery focus.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end design and build of native mobile apps, writing production code.
• Own architecture decisions and trade-offs for the team.
• Contribute across the stack when needed (backend, frontend, APIs).
• Deploy services on GCP or AWS and ensure reliability.
• Mentor engineers, run code reviews, and raise testing standards.
• Collaborate with client to translate goals into working software.

Skills

Technical ownership

Mobile depth

Team leadership

AI workflow

Client facing

Cloud delivery

Full-stack coding

Code reviews

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering/STEM

Tools

AWS

GCP

Azure

Node.js

Python

Go

Java

React/Angular/Vue

Job description

A Directly Responsible Individual (DRI) for turning ambiguous business problems into production-grade, AI-native software and owning the outcomes it delivers.

About the job

Your Mission: The Role

solving for better.

Most engineering teams ship features. This one is accountable for what the software changes for the client once it is live: a number they can baseline at the start and verify at the end.

We are looking for a Lead Software Engineer with deep mobile expertise. Someone who still writes Swift or Kotlin every day, is comfortable working across backend services, APIs, and cloud infrastructure when the product needs it, and can lead a small team

This is a hands‑on lead role. You will architect, code, review, and mentor in the same week. You will sit with the client, turn a business goal into working software, and own the outcome.

What you will do

• Lead the end‑to‑end design and build of native mobile apps (Swift for iOS, Kotlin for Android) that ship to real users, while writing production code yourself.
• Own the team’s technical decisions: architecture, trade‑offs, and what to build now versus later.
• Contribute across the stack when the product needs it: backend microservices (Node.js, Python, Go, Java), web front ends (React, Angular, Vue), and REST/gRPC APIs.
• Deploy stateless, loosely coupled services on GCP or AWS (Cloud Run, Lambda, ECS).
• Use AI coding tools in your daily workflow and build AI features into apps where they change something for the user.
• Mentor junior and mid‑level engineers. Run code reviews. Set the team’s bar for testing, secure coding (OWASP), and CI/CD, and keep raising it.
• Be the client’s technical partner: listen, explain decisions in plain terms, manage expectations, and tie each engineering choice to what the client is trying to change.
• Build reusable components and libraries so the next project starts further ahead.

Functional Skills

• The Technical Owner: owns the design from first sketch to production. Breaks ambiguous business goals into clear technical decisions, makes the hard calls early, and lives with the consequences.
• The Player-Coach: leads from the front by writing exemplary code and raises the skill of everyone around you. Your success is measured by the team’s output, not only your own.
• The Pragmatic Innovator: uses new tools where they add value and picks stable, proven ones when a deadline or maintainability says so.
• The Client‑Facing Technologist: the bridge between the squad and the client. Builds trust by listening, explaining complex things simply, and showing how engineering decisions serve the client’s goals.
• The Quality Craftsperson: treats software as a craft. Sets and holds the team’s standards for testing, secure coding, and clean, maintainable code.

Experience

• Around 5 to 8 years in professional software engineering, with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related STEM field.
• Mobile Depth: Strong in Swift (iOS) or Kotlin (Android), with apps you have taken all the way to real users. You can point to what you shipped and what it did.
• Software Engineering Foundation: Solid end‑to‑end product engineering experience, with recent hands‑on work. You have written and shipped production code in the last 18 months, not just reviewed it.
• Beyond One Platform: You are not boxed into a single stack. Alongside your primary mobile platform, you have worked on the other one, on backend services, or on web front ends.
• AI in the Workflow: AI coding tools are part of how you work every day, or you have built AI features into apps users rely on.
• Technical Leadership: You have owned features or led a small team as the technical lead. You know what it takes to set direction and still carry your share of the build.
• Client Acumen: Direct experience working with clients or business stakeholders. You translate what they need into what gets built and manage expectations along the way.
• Cloud Delivery: Hands‑on experience designing, building, and deploying on at least one of AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Business Impact: A track record of solving hard problems and delivering results the business could measure, with a portfolio to back it up.

This is not for everyone. But if you look at how an app is built, question why, and can name three better ways to do it, let’s talk.