Lead Engineer - Backend Development

Role : Lead Engineer - Backend

Experience : >= 8+ years

Location : Bengaluru/Remote within India

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 :

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.

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.

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