Lead Backend Engineer

Title: Lead Backend Engineer
Location: Remote

Pay Range: $75/hr. to $80/hr. on w2

JOB DESCRIPTION

Profile: Lead engineer with both leadership and hands-on development skills.
Team: BigFuture This team is working on Student facing products/programs – Both New and redesign of legacy Java applications into modern AWS based React/ Node applications. Most dev teams work in a poly skilled manner working on automation and improving frameworks for testing in addition to core development.


In this role, you will:
Design and Development (60%)

• Design and deliver high-quality software that is scalable, secure, and reusable—leveraging modern technologies, proven design patterns, and cloud-native practices to power BigFuture’s core tools.

• Collaborate with product owners, architects, and stakeholders to uphold the highest engineering standards and translate big ideas into impactful, student-facing solutions.

• Break down new product capabilities into actionable, verifiable technical changes that move quickly from concept to reality.

• Design and implement solutions to allow rapid testing of innovative concepts using the latest technologies, typically React web apps

• Create sharable documentation, both technical and non-technical

• Exercise discretion in prototyping: investing time to make sure the most important things work well, and working with the team to mock or minimize less important features

• Maintain clean code and strong engineering standards such that when prototypes are greenlit for further development, the project is easy to build upon

• Continuously develop the skills required to work with this rapidly developing technology

• Participate in, or lead Agile SCRUM ceremonies (Sprint Planning, Grooming, Daily SCRUM, Demo) by contributing to team deliverables and driving alignment, focus, and momentum across sprints.

• Elevate team performance by giving and receiving thoughtful code reviews, mentoring peers, and helping solve complex technical challenges.

• Assist in resolving production issues with urgency and precision, ensuring a smooth and reliable user experience.

• Model discipline in adhering to development standards, security practices, and CI/CD principles while helping the team move fast without compromising quality.

• Continuously grow your skills and embrace a poly-skilled environment where everyone contributes beyond their specialty.

• Serve as an organizational Subject Matter Expert on implementing Generative AI applications

• Work with our Enterprise Architecture team to review and/or establish implementation patterns involving Generative AI tools

• Advise on, and where feasible, create tools and infrastructure that will enable teams to safely deploy Generative AI tools

• Keep abreast of developments in GenAI capabilities and implementations

• Share knowledge of new developments with the team via chats, meetings, and presentations when appropriate

• Serve as an advisor to internal teams developing staff education around Generative AI

• 7+ years of professional experience designing, building, testing, and managing scalable web applications in AWS-hosted environments

• 3+ years’ experience building back-end applications using Node(with TypeScript)

• Experience with relational and NoSQL databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redshift, DynamoDB)

• Experience building observability for your products: Set up CloudWatch, X-Ray, for logging, metrics, and alerts.

• Hands-on experience implementing Generative AI applications (e.g., RAG chatbots, model fine-tuning, or other LLM-powered tools)

• Enthusiasm for learning new technologies, especially in the fast-moving GenAI space

• Strong knowledge and hands-on experience with back-end technologies such as Node.js

• Experience with asynchronous programming and event-driven messaging patterns

• Strong knowledge of AWS services (e.g., Lambda, SNS, SQS, S3, Step Functions, IAM, KMS, API Gateway, CloudWatch, DynamoDB)

• Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments

• Proven ability to mentor and coach less experienced teammates in new technologies

• Strong analytical thinking, structured problem-solving, and practical decision-making skills

• Effective communication and documentation skills

• Proficiency in reviewing and improving code structure and architecture for testability, maintainability, and scalability, with hands-on experience in JavaScript/TypeScript, React, Node.js, Next.js, APIs, and AWS Serverless technologies (Lambdas, DynamoDB, S3, CloudWatch, etc.).

• Leadership in the end-to-end design and implementation of user interfaces, from architectural planning and component strategy through to polished execution, including accessibility, performance optimization, and mentoring peers on building intuitive, scalable, and user-centric front-end solutions.

• Strong problem-solving skills, working collaboratively with team members to identify and resolve issues, and partnering with Product Owners to prioritize backlog.

• Proven ability to pitch new ideas and implement improved systems and processes, delivering excellent results.

• Effective communicator and team lead, able to provide actionable feedback, mentor team members, and participate in interviews to evaluate engineering talent.

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, or related engineering fields preferred