Lead Backend Developer, Distributed Systems (Remote)

Movable Ink; Toronto (OH); Remote; USD 104,000 - 136,000; Full time

Job summary

Movable Ink is expanding its Orchestration team to build the next-generation AI decisioning layer coordinating messages across channels. We seek a Lead Engineer to set technical direction, design and implement the system from prototype to production, and mentor engineers.

This deeply technical role reports to the Engineering Manager of the Orchestration team. The role emphasizes highly scalable, fault-tolerant distributed systems, real-time decisioning, and strong leadership.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of software engineering with distributed systems focus.
• Experience designing and operating large-scale fault-tolerant, highly concurrent systems.
• Backend services experience in a modern cloud environment (GCP) with Kubernetes.

Responsibilities

• Set the technical direction for the orchestration platform from prototype to production.
• Build a scalable, event-driven distributed system for real-time messaging decisions.
• Own components end-to-end: architecture, deployment, monitoring, incident response.
• Drive architectural decisions and maintain high standards for design, code quality, testing, and ops.
• Collaborate with Product, ML, Data Platform, and adjacent teams to translate requirements into designs.
• Drive observability and on-call practices to ensure reliable operations.
• Mentor engineers and model strong engineering practices.

Skills

Distributed systems design

Python

Elixir

Problem solving

System leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related

Tools

Kubernetes

gRPC

Kafka

Docker

Google Cloud Platform

Job description

Movable Ink scales content personalization for marketers through data-activated content generation and AI decisioning. The world’s most innovative brands rely on Movable Ink to maximize revenue, simplify workflow and boost marketing agility. Headquartered in New York City with close to 600 employees, Movable Ink serves its global client base with operations throughout North America, Central America, Europe, Australia, and Japan.

Movable Ink is standing up a new Orchestration team to build the next-generation AI decisioning layer that coordinates every message a brand sends across email, mobile, and other channels. We are looking for a Lead Engineer to set the technical direction for this platform, partner closely with the team's Engineering Manager and senior technical stakeholders to shape its architecture, and lead the hands-on design and implementation of the system from prototype to production. This is a deeply technical, high-ownership role at the intersection of distributed systems and machine learning, with high executive visibility and the opportunity to shape one of the most strategic engineering investments at the company.

This role will be reporting to the Engineering Manager of the Orchestration team.

Responsibilities

• Set the Technical Direction: lead the architecture, design, and critical implementation decisions that take the orchestration platform from prototype to production
• Build the Platform: design and build a scalable, event-driven, fault-tolerant distributed system that processes high-volume real-time messaging decisions across workflows and channels
• Own Key System Components End-to-End: from architecture and implementation through deployment, monitoring, and incident response
• Drive Hard Technical Decisions: conduct design reviews, resolve architectural tradeoffs, and hold the team to high standards for system design, code quality, testing, and operational rigor
• Partner Across the Platform: collaborate closely with Product, Machine Learning, Data Platform, and adjacent engineering teams to translate complex requirements into clear technical designs with realistic paths to production
• Drive Operational Excellence: ensure the platform operates reliably at scale through strong observability, metrics, incident response practices, and shared on-call responsibilities for business-critical services
• Mentor and Model: serve as the senior technical voice on the team, mentoring engineers and modeling strong engineering practices

Qualifications

• 7+ years of software engineering experience with a focus on distributed systems
• Deep experience designing, building, and operating large-scale distributed systems that are fault tolerant, highly available, and highly concurrent
• Strong systems thinking, with sound architectural judgment around event-driven, stateful, real-time decisioning systems
• Skill at building complex systems: identifying core primitives, making sound architectural choices under uncertainty, and adapting designs as requirements evolve
• Experience building and operating backend services in a modern cloud environment (we use Google Cloud Platform), including proficiency with container orchestration (we use Kubernetes)
• Hands-on experience with microservice and service-oriented architectures, including the inter-service communication patterns that compose them — synchronous, event-sourced, orchestrated, and asynchronous (we use gRPC and Kafka)
• Strong foundation in Python
• Experience with Elixir — which we use for building concurrent, fault-tolerant services — is a strong plus. Experience with Erlang, Scala/Akka, Go, or Clojure also transfers well
• Practical experience evaluating and designing for distributed systems fundamentals: consensus, partitioning, replication, back-pressure, idempotency, and failure handling
• Exemplary software engineering practices (system design, code review, testing, CI/CD)
• Strong focus on operational excellence, including observability, incident response, and healthy on-call practices
• Strong technical leadership skills, with the ability to drive architectural decisions, lead design reviews, and mentor other engineers
• Exceptional problem-solving skills, including the ability to efficiently identify, analyze, and resolve complex issues in production systems
• Clear communicator who can translate technical tradeoffs into practical decisions with product and engineering stakeholders
• (Nice to have) Experience with workflow orchestration systems (e.g. Prefect, Airflow, Dagster, Temporal)
• (Nice to have) Experience building, operating, or integrating with ML-driven decisioning or scoring systems

The base pay range for this position is $147,300 - $192,000 CAD/year, which can include additional bonus depending on the position ultimately offered, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits. The base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Studies have shown that women, communities of color, and historically underrepresented people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive culture where all Inkers can thrive. If you’re excited about the role but don’t meet all of the abovementioned qualifications, we encourage you to apply. Our differences bring a breadth of knowledge and perspectives that makes us collectively stronger.

We welcome and employ people regardless of race, color, gender identity or expression, religion, genetic information, parental or pregnancy status, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, ethnicity, family or marital status, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, disability, Veteran status, or other protected characteristics. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.