Technical Lead, Applications

Protingent; Washington; Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Protingent is seeking a Technical Lead, Applications to own the core architecture connecting AI systems to real-world experiences. This hands-on leadership role oversees backend, mobile, and desktop integration, driving reliability, performance, and scalable design.

You will mentor a senior team, guide API and microservice development, ensure production readiness with observability and cost controls, and partner with ML leadership to translate model capabilities into shipped features.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of software engineering experience with 5+ years in engineering leadership.
• Hands-on background reviewing architecture, code, and system design.
• Deep understanding of cloud-based systems, APIs, microservices, data pipelines, and modern infra.
• Proven track record building and scaling internal tools or platforms for cross-functional teams.
• Experience making build-vs-buy decisions and managing multi-tool portfolios.
• Strong product thinking: success tied to user outcomes and business impact.
• Experience navigating full SDLC from ideation to deprecation.
• Excellent communication translating tech to executives and roadmaps.

Responsibilities

• Own the application engineering strategy across backend, mobile, and desktop.
• Lead and grow a senior applications team.
• Ensure production reliability: observability, monitoring, retries, fallbacks, and failure handling.
• Set architectural direction for AI-powered workflows, APIs, and integrations.
• Integrate AI capabilities with clear abstractions and predictable behavior.
• Collaborate with ML leadership to translate model capabilities into features.
• Make high-impact decisions on latency, cost, reliability, and UX.
• Establish a strong execution culture with code/design reviews.

Skills

Leadership

Cloud architecture

API design

Microservices

Backend systems

Communication

SDLC

Product thinking

AI integration understanding

Team building

Tools

AWS

GCP

Azure

Kubernetes

Docker

Job description

Job Title

Technical Lead, Applications

Position Description

Protingent Staffing has an exciting direct hire Technical Lead, Applications with our client that is fully remote.

Job Description

As Technical Lead, Applications, you directly own the core application architecture that connects AI systems to real‑world user experiences. You are responsible for the design, reliability, and evolution of backend services, APIs, and client integrations across mobile and desktop. This is a hands‑on leadership role. You stay close to the code, make critical architectural decisions, and ensure the system remains fast, reliable, and coherent as it scales.

Responsibilities

• Own the application engineering strategy and execution across backend, mobile, and desktop.
• Lead and grow a small, senior applications team, including backend, mobile, and desktop engineers.
• Ensure production‑grade reliability: observability, monitoring, retries, fallbacks, and failure handling.
• Set the architectural direction for AI‑powered product workflows, APIs, and client integrations.
• Ensure AI capabilities are integrated into the product with clear abstractions, predictable behavior, and graceful failure modes.
• Partner closely with Machine Learning leadership to translate model capability into shippable product features.
• Make high‑impact decisions across latency, cost, reliability, security, and user experience.
• Establish a strong execution culture through code reviews, design reviews, and hands‑on technical leadership.
• Ensure production readiness: observability, monitoring, retries, fallbacks, privacy, and cost controls.
• Balance speed and discipline – shipping quickly without compromising long‑term system quality.
• Production systems are observable, monitored, and stable under real‑world load.
• Decisions consistently balance speed, cost, reliability, and user experience.
• Features across backend, mobile, and desktop work smoothly and reliably.
• Latency and reliability improve measurably over time.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 5 years in engineering leadership (managing teams or managing managers).
• Strong hands‑on technical background: you’ve built production systems and can still credibly review architecture, code, and system design.
• Deep understanding of cloud‑based systems (AWS, GCP, or Azure), APIs, microservices, data pipelines, and modern infrastructure.
• Proven track record of building and scaling internal tools or platforms that serve cross‑functional business teams — not just engineering.
• Experience making build‑vs‑buy decisions and managing a portfolio of custom‑built and third‑party tools.
• Strong experience designing and building internal platforms and automation systems.
• Strong product thinking: you define success in terms of user outcomes and business impact, not technical output.
• Experience navigating the full SDLC from ideation through deprecation — you know when to build, iterate, and retire.
• Excellent communication skills: you can articulate complex technical concepts to non‑technical executives and translate business problems into engineering roadmaps.

Nice to Have

• Significant experience leading application or product engineering for complex systems.
• Strong hands‑on background building and shipping backend systems used in production.
• Experience delivering AI‑powered products, with a deep understanding of model integration trade‑offs.
• Excellent system design skills across services, APIs, clients, and data flows.
• Comfort operating across platforms (backend, mobile, desktop), even if your depth is in one.
• Proven ability to make high‑impact technical decisions under ambiguity.
• A strong bias toward shipping, iteration, and learning from real‑world usage.
• Move fast without breaking fundamentals.

Job Details

Job Type: Direct Hire Pay Range: Market Rate Location: Fully Remote.

About Protingent

Protingent is an Award‑Winning provider of top‑tier Engineering and IT talent, trusted by companies at the forefront of innovation — from Software and Aerospace to AI, Clean Tech, Medical Devices, and Connected Technologies. We’re passionate about making a positive impact by connecting exceptional talent with meaningful opportunities and helping our clients build the future.