Lead Engineer-Backend

Role: Lead Engineer - Backend

Experience: >= 8+ years

Location: Bengaluru/Remote within India

Compensation: 38-40 LPA

Role Overview:

We are seeking an experienced and dynamic Lead Engineer - Backend to lead our backend engineering team in building and scaling robust, high-performance systems. This role is pivotal in driving technical excellence, architectural innovation, and strategic scalability for India's largest early childhood education organization. The ideal candidate has hands-on expertise in Node.js, Python, MySQL, MongoDB, and cloud technologies (AWS preferred), along with proven leadership skills to mentor and guide a high-performing engineering team.

Key Areas of Responsibility

1. Team Leadership and Management

• Inspire and lead multiple backend engineering teams to deliver on high-impact, organization-wide goals.
• Mentor engineers across roles and levels, shaping a culture of technical excellence, ownership, and continuous learning.
• Align stakeholders and cross-functional partners toward a unified vision and strategy.

1. Technical Excellence and Scalability

• Architect robust, large-scale backend solutions ensuring high reliability, security, and fault tolerance.
• Solve systemic technical challenges and implement best-in-class backend architecture aligned with long-term product vision.
• Lead efforts in system integration and advanced backend design across services.

1. Strategic Backend Innovation

• Pioneer backend technology strategies that align with organizational goals and product evolution.
• Drive initiatives to continuously improve system reliability, performance, and scalability using modern technologies.
• Evaluate and integrate emerging backend trends to maintain technological leadership.

Responsibilities in Detail

• Lead the design, development, and deployment of backend services and APIs.
• Establish best practices for code quality, testing, and system maintainability.
• Optimize database performance (MySQL, MongoDB) and manage efficient data storage solutions.
• Implement and manage cloud infrastructure (AWS or other cloud platforms) for scalability and cost-efficiency.
• Collaborate with frontend, product, and DevOps teams to deliver seamless platform features.
• Stay updated with emerging technologies and advocate for their adoption where beneficial

Critical Success Factors

• Technical Expertise:
• Deep expertise in backend languages like Node.js and Python.
• Proven experience in architecting high-availability, distributed backend systems.
• Advanced proficiency in MySQL, MongoDB, and other modern data systems.
• Hands-on knowledge of AWS, serverless frameworks, microservices architecture, and system design at scale.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, Docker, Kubernetes, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles..
• Leadership and Management:
• Proven ability to lead backend teams (minimum 5 developers) and maintain high-performance engineering standards..
• Drives alignment across stakeholdersproduct, tech, and businessthrough strong vision and communication.
• Coaches leaders and engineers alike, ensuring a high-performing and cohesive engineering function.
• Champions psychological safety and a culture of ownership, experimentation, and accountability..
• Innovation & Vision:
• Shapes long-term backend strategy to support rapid scaling and innovation.
• Continuously evaluates new technologies and frameworks to ensure the tech stack stays ahead of the curve.
• Solves not just technical issues, but systemic process and collaboration challenges within the engineering org.
• Collaboration Skills:
• Strong communication skills to work effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.