Lead Software Engineer (Platform Services) - Remote, United States

A client of mine is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to provide senior technical leadership for a team responsible for core backend services and APIs that power a large scale SaaS platform. This is a senior individual contributor role focused on architecture, technical strategy, mentorship, and hands-on development rather than people management., * Own and evolve the technical architecture of core backend services and APIs, ensuring scalability, reliability, security, and maintainability.

• Lead the design and delivery of complex, cross-functional technical initiatives from concept through production deployment.
• Establish and promote engineering best practices, coding standards, and system design principles.
• Review architecture, designs, and code to maintain long-term system quality and consistency.
• Mentor engineers through technical coaching, design discussions, and collaborative problem-solving.
• Partner closely with engineering leadership to align technical roadmaps with business objectives.
• Collaborate with other engineering teams to drive architectural alignment and shared technical solutions.
• Break down complex and ambiguous challenges into clear, actionable technical plans.
• Remain hands-on with development, contributing to high-impact and high-priority initiatives.
• Foster a collaborative, supportive, and solutions-oriented engineering culture.

The ideal candidate has deep experience designing and scaling distributed backend systems, driving complex technical initiatives, influencing architecture decisions, and partnering with engineering leadership to deliver long-term platform improvements., * Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field (or equivalent practical experience).

• 8+ years of software engineering experience with increasing technical ownership and scope.
• Proven experience leading the design and delivery of large-scale, distributed backend systems.
• Strong understanding of computer science fundamentals, system design, and API architecture.
• Demonstrated success mentoring engineers and influencing technical direction without formal management responsibilities.
• Experience evaluating and communicating architectural trade-offs and driving engineering decisions.
• Strong background building scalable web services and API-driven platforms.
• Experience with cloud-native SaaS environments and modern CI/CD practices.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and balance competing business and technical priorities., * Experience with authentication and identity frameworks such as OAuth, SAML, SCIM, or similar technologies.
• Experience with object-oriented programming languages such as Ruby, Python, Java, C#, or similar.
• Experience with containerization and orchestration technologies including Docker and Kubernetes.
• Experience with observability and monitoring tools such as Datadog, New Relic, or similar platforms.
• Experience working within Agile development environments, including distributed or remote teams.

What They’re Looking For This team is looking for a highly technical backend engineering leader who can drive architecture decisions, improve platform scalability, mentor other engineers, and serve as a trusted technical partner across multiple teams while remaining hands-on in development.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys solving complex systems challenges, influencing technical strategy, and building scalable API-driven platforms at enterprise scale.