Lead Engineer

Atlas Search; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Atlas Search in New York is seeking an Engineering Lead who will supervise a distributed team while remaining hands-on with architecture, coding, debugging, reviews, and production support.

The ideal candidate has 10+ years in software engineering, strong Java/Node.js expertise, and experience with cloud-native AWS systems, microservices, APIs, and serverless architectures, plus a background in payments.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with strong hands-on backend development in Java or Node.js.
• 5+ years of technical leadership experience, including leading distributed engineering teams.
• Experience designing and operating cloud-native systems on AWS.
• Strong understanding of microservices, APIs, event-driven architecture, serverless systems, and resilient transaction processing.
• Experience in payments, financial services, transaction processing, or a related regulated environment.
• Experience mentoring engineers and improving engineering standards through code reviews, design reviews, and technical coaching.
• Hands-on experience with Git, CI/CD, release management, and modern software delivery practices.
• Professional experience using AI-assisted development tools or agentic engineering workflows.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor engineers while remaining hands-on with architecture, coding, debugging, reviews, and production support.
• Design and build scalable services using Java, AWS, APIs, microservices, event-driven architecture, and serverless technologies.
• Improve engineering practices across planning, testing, code review, CI/CD, release readiness, and production reliability.
• Partner with Product, QA, DevOps, and Architecture to drive platform modernization and delivery.
• Introduce practical AI-assisted development practices across requirements, coding, testing, documentation, and code review.
• Help the team improve estimation, technical decision-making, and delivery ownership.

Skills

Java

Node.js

Technical leadership

Cloud architecture

AI-assisted development

Mentoring

Distributed teams

Serverless

Microservices

APIs

Payments domain

Tools

AWS

Git

CI/CD

Job description

This hands-on Engineering Lead will help advance a cloud-based payments platform while improving how a distributed engineering team builds and delivers software. The role combines active Java development, technical leadership, mentoring, cloud architecture, and practical adoption of AI-assisted engineering practices.

The ideal candidate is a strong senior engineer who still codes, has led distributed teams, and brings experience with modern payments technology and AWS-based systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor engineers while remaining hands‑on with architecture, coding, debugging, reviews, and production support.
• Design and build scalable services using Java, AWS, APIs, microservices, event‑driven architecture, and serverless technologies.
• Improve engineering practices across planning, testing, code review, CI/CD, release readiness, and production reliability.
• Partner with Product, QA, DevOps, and Architecture to drive platform modernization and delivery.
• Introduce practical AI‑assisted development practices across requirements, coding, testing, documentation, and code review.
• Help the team improve estimation, technical decision‑making, and delivery ownership.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with strong hands‑on backend development experience in Java or Node.js.
• 5+ years of technical leadership experience, including leading distributed engineering teams.
• Experience designing and operating cloud‑native systems on AWS.
• Strong understanding of microservices, APIs, event‑driven architecture, serverless systems, and resilient transaction processing.
• Experience in payments, financial services, transaction processing, or a related regulated environment.
• Experience mentoring engineers and improving engineering standards through code reviews, design reviews, and technical coaching.
• Hands‑on experience with Git, CI/CD, release management, and modern software delivery practices.
• Professional experience using AI‑assisted development tools or agentic engineering workflows.