Lead Software Engineer (100% Onsite)

Vertical Institute Pte Ltd; Singapore; On-site; SGD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Vertical Institute is seeking a Senior Lead Engineer to own the tech direction of a lean, high-output team building the systems powering our learning platform and internal operations. This hands-on role demands strong architectural judgment, coding activity, and a culture of excellence in design and reviews.

You will partner with the CEO and cross-functional teams across admissions, sales, finance, and operations to translate business priorities into a clear technical roadmap and then drive the

Qualifications

• Proven experience operating at a Lead or Principal level.
• Strong full-stack or backend background building production-grade web systems.
• Solid foundation in architecture, database design, API design, and performance optimization.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and ship reliable software iteratively without over-engineering.
• Excellent ability to explain technical trade-offs to business stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Architecture & Direction: Set technical standards, choose scalable architectures, and maintain system security and reliability.
• Roadmap & Trade-offs: Partner with the CEO to turn business goals into an actionable engineering roadmap while managing technical debt.
• Engineering Quality: Raise the team’s standard through thoughtful design and code reviews.
• Core Systems: Stay actively coding to build and maintain the core learning platform.
• Operations & Tooling: Build internal automations and tools to streamline sales, admissions, finance, and support.
• SaaS Integrations: Connect LMS, CRM, payment systems, and third‑party tools for long‑term maintainability.
• Practical AI Integration: Proactively identify and build AI features, agents, and workflows to improve efficiency and decision‑making across the business.
• Mentorship: Coach engineers, enforce best practices (testing, docs, CI/CD), and foster an ownership-driven culture.
• Bridge Technical & Business: Translate complex tech concepts clearly for the CEO and non-technical teams, building cross-functional trust.

Skills

Lead/Principal level

Full-stack/backend

System design

Leadership

Clear communication

Tools

Ruby on Rails

Job description

Tech Lead Engineer (Onsite)

at Singapore’s leading AI training provider

Full-time | Singapore | Technology | Onsite

The opportunity

Vertical Institute is looking for a Senior Lead Engineer to own the technical direction of a small, high-output engineering team building the systems that power our learning platform and internal operations. This is a hands-on leadership role - you will still write and review code, but your primary contribution is making the team's technical decisions sound, the architecture scalable, and the engineering culture strong.

You will work closely with the CEO and cross-functional stakeholders across admissions, sales, finance, and operations to translate business priorities into a technical roadmap - and then lead the team to execute against it. The systems you design and the standards you set will shape how the company's technology function grows from here.

This is not a role for someone who wants to step back from the code and into meetings. We are looking for a lead who is credible in both directions - technical enough to make the right architecture calls and lead by example, and clear-headed enough to set priorities, unblock the team, and communicate trade-offs to non-technical leadership. If you have done this before in a lean, fast-moving environment, we want to talk.

What You Will Own1. Technical Leadership & Strategy

• Architecture & Direction: Set technical standards, choose scalable architectures, and maintain system security and reliability.

• Roadmap & Trade-offs: Partner with the CEO to turn business goals into an actionable engineering roadmap while managing technical debt.

• Engineering Quality: Raise the team’s standard through thoughtful design and code reviews.

2. Hands-On Engineering & Integrations

• Core Systems: Stay actively coding to build and maintain the core learning platform.

• Operations & Tooling: Build internal automations and tools to streamline sales, admissions, finance, and support.

• SaaS Integrations: Connect LMS, CRM, payment systems, and third‑party tools for long‑term maintainability.

3. AI & Automation Innovation

• Practical AI Integration: Proactively identify and build AI features, agents, and workflows to improve efficiency and decision‑making across the business.

4. Team Culture & Growth

• Mentorship: Coach engineers, enforce best practices (testing, docs, CI/CD), and foster an ownership-driven culture.

5. Stakeholder Communication

• Bridge Technical & Business: Translate complex tech concepts clearly for the CEO and non-technical teams, building cross-functional trust.

What We Are Looking For

Essential Experience

• Proven Track Record: Proven experience operating at a Lead or Principal level (not a first-time leader).

• Engineering Background: Strong full-stack or backend background building production-grade web systems.

• System Design: Solid foundation in architecture, database design, API design, and performance optimization.

• Leadership & Delivery: Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and ship reliable software iteratively without over-engineering.

• Clear Communication: Excellent ability to explain technical trade-offs to business stakeholders.

Nice-to-Haves

• Ruby on Rails experience.

• Background in EdTech / Learning Management Systems (LMS).

• Hands-on experience building with modern AI APIs or automation tools.

• Experience integrating CRM, payment, and analytics platforms.

• Prior startup or scale-up experience.

Why this role

Genuine technical authority

Direct CEO access

• You work directly with the CEO on the technical roadmap. Your input shapes business decisions, not just engineering backlogs.

AI at the core

• You are building AI-powered systems for an AI training company. The subject matter and the tools are genuinely aligned in a way most tech roles cannot offer.

Build the function

• The engineering team is lean and the scope is large. What you build here - technically and culturally - will define how technology operates at Vertical Institute as the company scales.

ABOUT VERTICAL INSTITUTE

Vertical Institute is Singapore's leading AI and technology training provider. We are a Skills and Workforce Development Agency (SWDA) Registered Training Provider and IBF-accredited institution. Over 50,000 professionals have trained with us across individual programmes and enterprise engagements, including partnerships with government agencies, MNCs, and financial institutions. We are headquartered at the Lifelong Learning Institute.