Backend Engineering Lead

Founding Technical Role | Build from Scratch | Direct Impact

Location Mumbai (Goregaon East) , Work from Office

Experience 8+ years in backend engineering (Java preferred)

Must-Have : Stack Java (Spring Boot), PostgreSQL, AWS

Reports To : Founder / Product & Business Leadership

Team : You will be the first engineering hire; build the team

Industry : HealthTech / E-Pharmacy

About Akidha :

Akidha is Indias first medicine education platform, we dont just sell generic medicines, we teach India why theyre identical to branded ones at a fraction of the cost. Were live, revenue is flowing, and growth is our focus.

Were a bootstrapped team at an early but high-potential stage. Our product is live on Android and iOS, orders are being fulfilled daily, and were scaling aggressively. What we need now is someone to take full technical ownership and build the engineering foundation in-house.

This is not a join an existing team role. This is a build the entire engineering function role. If you want to be the person who defines how a fast-growing healthtech company is built technically, this is it!

Why This Role Exists :

Our current backend was built by an external vendor. We own the AWS account but not the backend source code. The first mandate of this role is to bring technical sovereignty back in-house, audit, understand, and either extend or rebuild the backend so Akidha controls its own destiny.

Current System Landscape :

- Mobile App : Flutter (frontend only , separate from this roles scope)

- Backend : Java (vendor-developed, your primary domain)

- Database : PostgreSQL

- Infrastructure : AWS (EC2, VPC, S3, etc.)

- Admin Panel : Vendor-built internal order management system

- Integrations : Zoho CRM, Zoho Inventory, Shipping partners

- Event Tracking : Not implemented (you will set this up)

- Automation : Largely manual (you will automate)

What You Will Do :

1. Technical Ownership & Vendor Transition :

- Audit existing Java backend architecture, PostgreSQL schema, and AWS infrastructure

- Create a clear roadmap for reducing vendor dependency over 3-6 months

- Make the rebuild vs. extend decision with a documented rationale

- Ensure system reliability, uptime, and performance during and after transition

- Take full ownership of the codebase, deployment pipeline, and infrastructure

2. Backend Architecture & Platform Engineering :

- Own and evolve the Java/Spring Boot backend architecture

- Optimise PostgreSQL schema, queries, indexing, and data integrity

- Design and implement event tracking and analytics pipelines (Firebase, Mixpanel, or equivalent)

- Build automation systems for : order management, warehouse ops, sales workflows, and procurement

- Improve API structure, documentation, and developer experience

- Implement monitoring, alerting, and incident response processes

3. Engineering Culture & Team Building :

- Hire 1-2 engineers within first 6 months; mentor and lead them

- Establish coding standards, CI/CD pipelines, code review culture, and testing practices

- Introduce proper development workflows (Git, branching strategy, deployment processes)

- Build internal documentation and runbooks so the team isnt dependent on one person

4. Product & Growth Collaboration :

- Work directly with Founder and Product team to translate business needs into technical execution

- Enable rapid experimentation : A/B testing, feature flags, quick iterations

- Ensure tech is a growth enabler, not a bottleneck , ship weekly, not monthly

- Collaborate with performance marketing and content teams on tracking and attribution

What Were Looking For :

Must Have :

- 8+ years of hands-on backend engineering experience

- Strong Java expertise (Spring Boot strongly preferred)

- Deep PostgreSQL knowledge : schema design, indexing, query optimisation, migrations

- AWS infrastructure experience : EC2, S3, RDS, VPC, IAM, CloudWatch (or equivalent)

- Experience building scalable systems from 0-1 or 1-10

- Experience working in early-stage or fast-growing startups (not just large enterprises)

- Strong system design capability , you can whiteboard an architecture and then build it

- Vendor transition or system migration experience (taking over someone elses code)

Good to Have :

- HealthTech or e-commerce domain experience

- Experience building admin dashboards or internal tools

- Flutter familiarity (app frontend is Flutter , not your primary scope, but helpful for context)

- Experience implementing analytics (Firebase, Mixpanel, Segment, etc.)

- Microservices architecture experience

- Familiarity with Zoho ecosystem (CRM, Inventory) or similar integrations

What Success Looks Like (First 6 Months) :

Month 1-2 Complete technical audit and documented roadmap. Access to all systems. First quick wins shipped (bug fixes, performance improvements).

Month 3-4 Internal systems replacing vendor dependency. Event tracking implemented. CI/CD pipeline live. First hire onboarded.

Month 5-6 Automation reduces manual ops by 50%+. Backend docs structured. Engineering hiring plan ready. Full technical sovereignty achieved.

Who Will Thrive Here :

- Thinks long-term but ships short-term, perfect is the enemy of live

- Can work in ambiguity and make decisions without complete information

- Is comfortable inheriting messy codebases and making them clean

- Wants ownership, not just a job, this is a founding engineering role

- Is excited about solving real healthcare cost problems in India

- Has built systems that scale under pressure with limited resources

Why Join Akidha :

- Direct healthcare impact : Every system you build helps Indians access affordable medicines

- Maximum ownership : You define the engineering culture, stack decisions, and team from day one

- Build from scratch : Not maintaining legacy, creating the foundation

- Leadership trajectory : Clear path to Head of Engineering / CTO as the company scales

- Rapid growth stage : Revenue is live, product-market fit is proven, engineering is the next unlock

How to Apply :

Send your resume with a short note covering :

1. A backend system you architected end-to-end (what it did, how it scaled)

2. A complex technical problem you solved under constraints (time, budget, team)

3. Your experience in early-stage or resource-constrained environments

If building from scratch excites you, ownership motivates you, and fast pace energises you , youll feel right at home at Akidha!