remote (EU), remote (EU)

Europe (remote) Full-time / Contractor Salary: EUR 100,000 gross base + potential bonus/equity

We are seeking a Senior Technical Lead to drive engineering execution and technical quality within a small, high-impact team. This role combines hands-on software development with technical leadership and platform ownership.

You will actively contribute to the codebase while guiding architectural decisions, ensuring system reliability, and establishing strong engineering practices. The team will initially consist of 1–3 engineers and grow to a maximum of approximately five.

This is not a pure management position. Continued hands-on development and production ownership are core expectations.

Technology Environment

Backend: Python (service-oriented APIs)
Databases: PostgreSQL (primary), Redis (caching and lightweight messaging/queues)
Frontend: Modern JavaScript frameworks (e.g., React, Vue, or similar)
Infrastructure: Scaleway (compute, networking, storage), containerized deployments
CI/CD: Automated build, test, and deployment pipelines

Architectural Direction (Pragmatic, Loosely Coupled Services)

We aim for a pragmatic microservice architecture: services are introduced where they provide clear benefits (team autonomy, isolation of change, scaling hotspots), while avoiding unnecessary complexity.

You will help shape and implement this direction by:

Defining service boundaries around business capabilities (domain-driven where useful).
Establishing stable API contracts (REST/JSON or similar), versioning, and backward compatibility.
Designing data ownership patterns (service-owned schemas, clear integration boundaries).
Implementing asynchronous integration where appropriate (Redis-backed queues/events, idempotency, retries).
Standardizing cross-cutting concerns (auth, observability, configuration, secrets) without heavy bureaucracy.
Setting a path for migration from a simpler initial structure (modular monolith) to services where justified.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Delivery and System Ownership

Design, implement, and operate production-grade Python services.
Own API design, database schema evolution, and service integration patterns.
Build reliable inter-service communication patterns (sync and async where appropriate).
Optimize PostgreSQL queries and data models; manage migrations and data lifecycle.
Use Redis appropriately for caching, rate limiting, distributed locks, and lightweight messaging/queues.
Contribute to frontend consistency and integration where required.
Maintain high standards of code quality, testing, and maintainability.

Architecture and Platform Design

Design scalable and maintainable service architecture on Scaleway.
Define and document service boundaries, interfaces, and operational responsibilities.
Balance rapid delivery with long-term maintainability; avoid overengineering.
Maintain architectural documentation and decision records (ADRs).

Engineering Leadership (Team up to 5)

Lead and mentor a small team of engineers.
Establish development standards, review practices, and engineering guardrails.
Support hiring and onboarding as the team grows.
Foster accountability, clarity, and pragmatic decision-making.

Infrastructure and Operations

Own deployment pipelines and release processes for multiple services.
Ensure production stability through monitoring, logging, tracing/metrics, and alerting.
Maintain separation of environments (development, staging, production).
Introduce sensible reliability practices (health checks, timeouts, circuit breakers where needed).
Manage infrastructure and tooling costs within agreed budgets.

Security Fundamentals

Implement baseline security controls: IAM, secret management, dependency scanning, patching.
Ensure secure service-to-service communication patterns (authentication/authorization, least privilege).
Maintain documentation required for customer or security reviews.
Coordinate external support for advanced compliance initiatives if required.

Planning and Roadmap Execution

Translate product objectives into structured technical initiatives.
Break down initiatives into realistic milestones across services.
Communicate trade-offs between speed, quality, reliability, and technical debt.
Maintain predictable delivery cadence and clear progress reporting.

Reporting Line

Reports to: Founder/CEO (technical background)

Works closely with Product/Marketing/Sales and other stakeholders.

Required Qualifications

7+ years of professional software engineering experience.
Strong backend development experience in Python.
Experience designing and operating service-oriented systems (microservices or modular monoliths).
Solid knowledge of PostgreSQL (schema design, indexing, performance tuning).
Experience using Redis (caching and/or messaging/queues).
Experience operating services in a cloud environment (preferably Scaleway or comparable providers).
Experience leading or mentoring engineers in small teams.
Strong understanding of API design, distributed system fundamentals, and production operations.
Demonstrated ownership of production systems (including incident handling and post-incident improvements).

Bonus Qualifications and Certifications

The following are considered advantageous but not required.

Cloud & Infrastructure

AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Associate or Professional)
Google Professional Cloud Architect
Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert
Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
HashiCorp Terraform Associate Certification

Security

Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP)
Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)
Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP)
CompTIA Security+
ISO 27001 Lead Implementer or Lead Auditor

DevOps & Engineering Practices

DevOps Institute certifications
Professional Scrum Master (PSM) or Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)
ITIL Foundation certification

Architecture / Distributed Systems

Experience with event-driven patterns, idempotency, and resilience design
Familiarity with service discovery, API gateways, or contract testing

Academic Background

Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field (or equivalent practical experience).

What Success Looks Like (First 3 to 6 Months)

A clear, documented service architecture with stable interfaces and ownership boundaries.
Stable and observable production systems on Scaleway (monitoring, logs, actionable alerts).
Predictable feature delivery across one or more services.
Controlled database evolution and migration discipline (with service ownership clarity).
Improved developer onboarding and CI/CD reliability.
Security fundamentals demonstrably in place (access control, secrets, scanning, patching).

Lead Engineer, Trusted Carrier Logistik GmbH