Lead Engineer / Tech Lead, Applications

Darwin Recruitment; California (MO); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Darwin Recruitment is seeking a Tech Lead – Applications to own the architecture and engineering strategy behind our platform. You will guide backend and client‑side design, mentor engineers and drive technical excellence in a fast‑moving environment.

You will stay close to code, shape scalable architectures, and ensure production systems are reliable, observable and performant as we grow. Strong leadership and hands‑on delivery are essential.

Qualifications

• Significant experience leading application engineering for complex software systems.
• Hands-on experience building and deploying backend systems in production.
• Experience developing intelligent software products or systems with AI/ML.
• Strong technical judgement and ownership with delivery focus.

Responsibilities

• Own the application engineering strategy across backend and client platforms.
• Design reliable systems supporting automated workflows, including orchestration and state management.
• Build APIs and abstractions connecting AI capabilities with user-facing experiences.
• Lead a small team of senior engineers and raise engineering standards through reviews and mentoring.
• Make high‑impact technical decisions balancing performance, reliability, cost, security and user experience.
• Establish strong production foundations covering observability, monitoring, testing and operational excellence.

Skills

Leadership of engineering teams

Backend systems design

AI/ML technologies

Technical decision‑making

Mentoring engineers

Job description

Tech Lead – Applications

About the Role

We are working with a technology company developing intelligent software products designed to simplify everyday digital tasks and improve how users interact with applications.

The organisation is focused on building reliable, scalable products that can automate complex workflows, maintain context over time, and deliver practical outcomes with minimal user input.

They are looking to hire a Tech Lead – Applications to take ownership of the engineering layer behind their application platform. You will help shape the architecture across backend services, APIs and client applications while leading a small team of experienced engineers.

This is a hands‑on technical leadership role. You will remain close to the code, make key architectural decisions and help ensure the platform remains fast, reliable, maintainable and scalable as it develops.

What You’ll Own

• Own the application engineering strategy and execution across backend and client platforms.
• Design reliable systems supporting intelligent, automated workflows, including orchestration, state management, integrations, retries, fallbacks and failure handling.
• Build APIs and technical abstractions connecting intelligent software capabilities with user-facing product experiences.
• Lead a small team of senior engineers and raise engineering standards through design reviews, code reviews and hands‑on mentoring.
• Make high‑impact technical decisions balancing performance, reliability, cost, security and user experience.
• Establish strong production foundations covering observability, monitoring, testing and operational excellence.
• Work closely with technical and data‑focused teams to translate advanced software capabilities into robust, production‑ready features.
• Move quickly while maintaining a simple, maintainable architecture capable of supporting future growth.

What We’re Looking For

• Significant experience leading application or product engineering for complex software systems.
• Strong hands‑on experience building and deploying backend systems in production environments.
• Experience developing intelligent software products or systems incorporating modern AI/ML technologies.
• Strong technical judgement and the ability to make effective decisions with incomplete information.
• Comfortable working across backend and client‑side platforms, with deep expertise in at least one area.
• A strong sense of ownership and a track record of delivering products and learning from real‑world usage.
• High standards for code quality, reliability and engineering fundamentals.
• Experience leading and mentoring experienced software engineers.

Expected Outcomes

• Production systems are observable, monitored and stable under real-world workloads.
• Engineering decisions appropriately balance delivery speed, cost, reliability and user experience.
• Features across backend and client platforms operate smoothly and reliably.
• System performance, reliability and scalability improve continuously over time.
• The engineering team operates with strong technical ownership and clear architectural direction.

How We Work

You will join a small, highly capable engineering team where individuals are given significant ownership and are expected to exercise strong technical judgement.

The environment is hands‑on and fast‑moving, with engineers working closely together and taking responsibility for delivering high‑quality software.

The organisation values pragmatic decision‑making, technical excellence, independent execution and building products that provide genuine value to users.