Tech Lead - Ruby on Rails

Avenue Code; United States; On-site; USD 90,000 - 96,000; Full time

Job summary

Avenue Code is seeking a seasoned Tech Lead and full-stack engineer with deep Ruby expertise to guide a scalable web app team in the United States. You will own architecture across Rails, Java, and React, while mentoring engineers and delivering across multiple workstreams.

You will drive coding standards, oversee CI/CD, and ensure performance, security, and quality. A strong leadership mindset and collaborative approach are essential.

Qualifications

• Ruby on Rails: production-level expertise for large Rails apps.
• Full-stack with React.js (TypeScript preferred) and modern frontend tooling.
• Java / Spring Boot: working knowledge to guide decisions.
• Microservices, RESTful APIs, and service-to-service communication.
• Relational databases: PostgreSQL/MySQL and ORMs: ActiveRecord/Hibernate.
• Frontend stack: HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript/TypeScript (ES6+), state management.
• DevOps: CI/CD and cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP).
• Ability to manage multiple workstreams with leadership and clear direction.
• Strong problem-solving, debugging, and performance optimization skills.
• Leadership and communication, mentoring engineers to drive outcomes.
• Experience with testing frameworks: RSpec/Minitest, JUnit, Jest.

Responsibilities

• Lead and oversee the development team across multiple parallel workstreams, ensuring quality and delivery velocity.
• Define and evolve the tech architecture across Rails services, Java/Spring Boot backends, and React frontends.
• Balance long-term scalability with near-term delivery needs and establish coding standards.
• Own architectural patterns and guidelines across the full stack.
• Coordinate work across feature development, platform hardening, bug triage, and tech debt reduction.
• Blockers triage, decompose work, and set clear direction for each stream.
• Balance hands-on coding with strategic coaching and guidance.
• Act as primary technical contact for stakeholders, translating business needs into technical plans.
• Collaborate with product managers, designers, and cross-functional teams to align delivery with business goals.
• Conduct thorough code reviews focusing on maintainability, performance, and security.
• Troubleshoot complex issues and champion automated testing, CI/CD, and observability.
• Mentor engineers across backend, frontend, and system design; foster ownership and learning.

Skills

Ruby on Rails

React.js

Java / Spring Boot

Microservices architecture

PostgreSQL

MySQL

ActiveRecord / Hibernate

CI/CD

Cloud platforms

Leadership & mentoring

Testing frameworks

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science/Software Engineering

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Jira

Job description

About The Opportunity

We are looking for a seasoned Tech Lead and full-stack engineer with deep Ruby expertise to lead our development team in building high-quality, scalable web applications. This role demands someone who can manage multiple concurrent workstreams — from backend platform development to front-end feature delivery — while providing hands‑on technical guidance, architecting solutions, and mentoring engineers across the stack. You will be the technical anchor for the team, driving quality and delivery across Ruby on Rails, Java, and React codebases.

Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture:

• Lead and oversee the development team across multiple parallel workstreams, ensuring consistent quality and delivery velocity.
• Define and evolve the technical architecture across Ruby on Rails services, Java/Spring Boot backends, and React frontends.
• Make pragmatic technology decisions that balance long-term scalability with near-term delivery needs.
• Own technical standards, coding conventions, and architectural patterns across the full stack.

Multi-Stream Management:

• Coordinate and prioritize work across concurrent tracks (e.g., new feature development, platform hardening, bug triage, technical debt reduction).
• Unblock engineers proactively — triage technical blockers, decompose ambiguous work into actionable tasks, and set clear technical direction for each stream.
• Balance hands‑on coding with delegation; know when to dive in and when to guide from above.

Team Collaboration & Stakeholder Communication:

• Act as the primary technical point of contact for stakeholders, translating business requirements into technical plans and providing transparent progress updates.
• Partner with product managers, designers, and cross‑functional teams to align delivery with business goals.

Code Quality & Technical Excellence:

• Conduct thorough code reviews with a focus on maintainability, performance, and security.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex technical issues across the stack.
• Champion automated testing, CI/CD best practices, and observability.

Mentorship & Team Development:

• Mentor and coach engineers at varying experience levels, accelerating their growth across backend, frontend, and system design skills.
• Foster a culture of ownership, continuous learning, and constructive feedback.
• Identify skill gaps and create development pathways for team members.

Project Oversight & Delivery:

• Plan and manage development timelines across workstreams, ensuring predictable and timely delivery.
• Evaluate and integrate emerging technologies where they demonstrably improve outcomes.

Required Qualifications

• Ruby on Rails (must-have): Deep, production‑level expertise — you’ve built and maintained large‑scale Rails applications, understand the framework’s internals, and can make informed decisions about when Rails conventions apply and when to diverge.
• Fullstack proficiency: Strong hands‑on experience with React.js (TypeScript preferred) and modern frontend tooling (state management, bundlers, testing).
• Java / Spring Boot exposure: Working knowledge sufficient to review code, guide architectural decisions, and contribute when needed.
• Strong understanding of microservices architecture, RESTful API design, and service‑to‑service communication patterns.
• Proficiency in relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and ORMs (ActiveRecord, Hibernate).
• In‑depth knowledge of frontend technologies: HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript/TypeScript (ES6+), and state management (Redux, Zustand, or similar).
• Hands‑on experience with DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Proven ability to manage multiple workstreams simultaneously — prioritizing, delegating, and context‑switching without dropping quality.
• Exceptional problem‑solving, debugging, and performance optimization skills.
• Strong leadership and communication abilities with a demonstrated track record of mentoring engineers and driving team outcomes.
• Knowledge of testing frameworks (RSpec/Minitest, JUnit, Jest/React Testing Library).
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent experience.

Nice To Have Skills

• Experience leading teams of 5+ engineers across concurrent projects or squads.
• Familiarity with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and infrastructure‑as‑code.
• Experience with Agile/Scrum methodologies and tools like Jira.
• Exposure to message brokers (Kafka, RabbitMQ) or event‑driven architectures.
• Experience with visual regression testing (e.g., Applitools, Percy) or component‑driven development (Storybook).
• Prior experience managing cross‑functional teams in a client‑services or embedded‑contractor model.

Avenue Code discloses salary range information based on our commitment to fairness and transparency. We consider a wide range of factors such as internal equity, geographic location, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, business or organizational needs, and others. At Avenue Code, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range for a Tech Lead is from $65 to $70 hourly.

Avenue Code reinforces its commitment to privacy and to all the principles guaranteed by the most accurate global data protection laws, such as GDPR, LGPD, CCPA and CPRA. The Candidate data shared with Avenue Code will be kept confidential and will not be transmitted to disinterested third parties, nor will it be used for purposes other than the application for open positions. As a Consultancy company, Avenue Code may share your information with its clients and other Companies from the CompassUol Group to which Avenue Code’s consultants are allocated to perform its services.