Lead Engineer

Sharpe Recruiting Ventures; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare coverage

Hybrid work model

Flexible PTO

Job summary

Sharpe Recruiting Ventures in New York, NY, is seeking a Lead Engineer to scale the engineering organization and the platforms that power the business. This is a highly visible leadership role combining technical execution, team leadership, and cross-functional collaboration.

You will remain a hands-on contributor while helping lead a growing backend engineering team and working with Head of Engineering, Product, Data, Research, and business stakeholders to deliver critical initiatives.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• 1+ years leading or managing engineering teams.
• Experience in high growth startup environments, ideally Series B/C/D.
• Production systems experience at scale.
• Proven track record delivering projects end-to-end.

Responsibilities

• Own delivery of critical engineering initiatives across multiple product areas.
• Translate business objectives into engineering plans and milestones.
• Partner with Product and Engineering leadership to define priorities.
• Ensure on-time delivery with high quality and observability.
• Lead complex technical initiatives while mentoring the team.

Skills

Python

API design

Cloud AWS

Kubernetes

Docker

Terraform

CI/CD

System design

Relational databases

Job description

New York, NY | Engineering / Full Time / Hybrid

About the Company:

Our client is redefining how independent creators monetize and grow their careers. The company partners with creators to unlock the value of the intellectual property they own through flexible, straightforward deals, while also offering top tier portfolio management, distribution, and marketing services. Since launching a few years ago, the company has partnered with over a thousand creators across dozens of countries, helping them monetize their work on their own terms and reach new audiences.

The company is backed by leading institutional and strategic investors, and has raised substantial capital dedicated to funding independent creators. Fueled by a belief in independence and financial empowerment, the team is building a more sustainable future for creators everywhere.

With offices across several major markets in the US and Europe, the company offers a competitive benefits package including healthcare coverage, flexible paid time off, and a hybrid work model. This is an ambitious, high ownership environment where your work will have an immediate, tangible impact.

Role Overview:

We are looking for a Lead Engineer to help scale both the engineering organization and the platforms that power the business.

This is a highly visible leadership position that combines technical execution, team leadership, operational excellence, and cross functional collaboration.

You will remain a hands on contributor while also helping lead a growing backend engineering team. You will work closely with the Head of Engineering, Product, Data, Research, and business stakeholders to ensure the successful delivery of critical initiatives across the company.

The ideal candidate is a strong technical leader who enjoys solving difficult engineering problems, developing engineers, improving processes, and driving execution. You understand how to balance engineering quality with business needs, can navigate ambiguity, and know how to align teams around shared objectives.

This role is ideal for someone who wants direct impact on both the technology and the growth of the engineering organization.

You Will:

• Own delivery of critical engineering initiatives across multiple product areas.
• Translate high level business objectives into clear engineering plans and milestones.
• Partner closely with Product and Engineering leadership to define technical priorities.
• Help ensure projects are delivered on time and with a high standard of quality.
• Proactively identify risks, dependencies, and execution challenges before they impact delivery.

Remain a Strong Individual Contributor

• Actively contribute to architecture, design, implementation, and code reviews.
• Build scalable services and platform capabilities.
• Participate in debugging, troubleshooting, and production support.
• Lead complex technical initiatives and serve as a technical resource for the broader team.
• Establish and promote engineering best practices across the organization.

Grow and Develop the Team

• Help recruit, interview, and onboard engineers.
• Mentor engineers through technical guidance and career development.
• Create an environment focused on accountability, collaboration, learning, and execution.
• Help define responsibilities, expectations, and growth paths for team members.
• Lead by example through both technical excellence and professionalism.
• Establish consistent engineering standards and development practices.
• Improve sprint planning, estimation, prioritization, and release management processes.
• Help create scalable operating procedures as the team continues to grow.
• Drive improvements around testing, code quality, observability, documentation, and reliability.
• Ensure alignment across engineers, teams, and initiatives.

Partner Across the Business

• Work closely with Product Managers to refine requirements and scope initiatives.
• Communicate project status, risks, and tradeoffs to leadership.
• Collaborate with Data, Research, Operations, and other business teams to understand needs and deliver solutions.
• Help balance short term business objectives with long term platform investments.

Contribute to Organizational Planning

• Partner with the Head of Engineering on roadmap planning and resource allocation.
• Help establish team OKRs and measurable success criteria.
• Track execution against goals and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Participate in defining the future structure and growth of the engineering organization.

Requirements:

Experience

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• 1+ years leading or managing engineering teams.
• Experience operating in high growth startup environments, ideally Series B, C, or D companies.
• Experience building and maintaining production systems at scale.
• Demonstrated success leading engineering projects from planning through delivery.

Technical Skills

• Expert level backend development experience using Python.
• Strong experience designing APIs and distributed systems.
• Deep understanding of cloud native architectures and AWS services.
• Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, CI/CD, and modern infrastructure practices.
• Strong understanding of system design, scalability, reliability, security, and performance optimization.
• Experience working with relational databases and data intensive systems.

Leadership

• Proven ability to lead technical teams while remaining hands on.
• Ability to build trust and alignment across teams.
• Comfortable making decisions and driving accountability.
• Leads through influence, collaboration, and example.

Communication

• Exceptional communication skills.
• Ability to explain complex technical concepts in a concise and structured manner.
• Comfortable communicating with executives, engineers, product managers, and non technical stakeholders.
• Strong written communication and documentation skills.

Problem Solving

• Highly organized and execution oriented.
• Able to break large initiatives into manageable milestones.
• Strong prioritization skills and business judgment.
• Focused on finding solutions rather than simply identifying problems.
• Comfortable balancing speed, quality, and long term maintainability.