Technical Director

TIYA PTE. LTD.; Singapore; On-site; SGD 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A technology firm in Singapore is looking for a Tech Director to oversee the technical strategy and architecture of high-scale distributed systems. This role involves both hands-on architectural decisions and leading senior engineers to promote engineering excellence, stability, and AI adoption. Applicants should have over 5 years of backend experience, strong Java skills, and expertise in distributed architectures. The ideal candidate will have a deep understanding of cloud-native technologies and the ability to drive AI integration within the organization.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of backend development experience with strong expertise in Java and high-concurrency systems.
• Proven experience designing and leading distributed system architectures at scale.
• Deep mastery of Spring Cloud Alibaba and cloud-native technologies.

Responsibilities

• Own and lead the end-to-end system architecture for large-scale, high-concurrency distributed systems.
• Drive AI-powered refactoring and modernization of core business modules.
• Lead, mentor, and grow senior engineers and tech leads.

Skills

Backend development

Java expertise

Distributed systems architecture

Cloud-native technologies

Network programming

Tools

Spring Cloud Alibaba

Kubernetes

Docker

Job description

We are seeking a Tech Director to lead the technical strategy, architecture, and engineering execution of high‑scale, AI‑enabled distributed systems. Based in Singapore, this role will drive platform stability, engineering excellence, and AI adoption while leading senior engineers and partnering closely with product and business stakeholders.

You will be accountable for both hands‑on architectural decisions and people/technical leadership, ensuring systems can reliably support 10M+ traffic workloads while evolving towards AI‑powered, cloud‑native architectures.

What You Will Do

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Own and lead the end‑to‑end system architecture for large‑scale, high‑concurrency distributed systems (10M+ traffic).

• Design and evolve high‑availability, cloud‑native platforms using Kubernetes, Docker, and Spring Cloud Alibaba.

• Define and enforce resilience strategies including circuit breaking, rate limiting, degradation, and fault tolerance.

• Solve complex high‑concurrency, low‑latency, and stability challenges across services.

• Drive distributed storage and messaging optimization, including Redis, Kafka, and microservice governance.

AI & Engineering Innovation

• Lead AI‑powered refactoring and modernization of core business modules.

• Integrate AI capabilities at the application layer, including LLM APIs, RAG pipelines, and recommendation systems.

• Champion the adoption of AI coding and productivity tools (e.g. Cursor, Copilot, JetBrains AI) to improve code quality, development velocity, and CI/CD pipelines.

• Establish and scale an engineering efficiency system covering standards, tooling, automation, and best practices.

Team & Organizational Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and grow senior engineers and tech leads; set a strong engineering culture and technical bar.

• Provide technical direction across multiple projects and teams, ensuring alignment with business goals.

• Partner with Product, Data, and Business leaders to translate requirements into scalable technical solutions.

• Support hiring, technical interviews, and succession planning for the engineering organization.

What We’re Looking For

Core Competencies

• 5+ years of backend development experience, with strong expertise in Java and high‑concurrency systems.

• Proven experience designing and leading distributed system architectures at scale.

• Deep mastery of Spring Cloud Alibaba (Nacos, Sentinel) and cloud‑native technologies (Kubernetes, Docker).

• Strong foundation in network programming (TCP/IP, HTTP/HTTP2), multithreading, JVM internals, and performance tuning.

• Track record of leading multiple mid‑to‑large‑scale projects with clear business impact.

• Excellent ability in business abstraction, system decomposition, and long‑term technical planning.

Preferred / Bonus Skills

• Hands‑on experience with AI‑enabled application development, including LLM integration, RAG systems, or recommendation engines.

• Familiarity with AI‑assisted engineering practices (Copilot, Cursor, JetBrains AI) and modern CI/CD automation.

• Background in intelligent systems, such as recommendation engines, risk control, search, or voice/RTC interaction.

• Experience working with regional or global teams, ideally within Southeast Asia or APAC.