Lead Software Engineer - L1 (Full Stack)

Job purpose:

Manage and ensure the execution of software development life cycle of applications and programs (installation; configuration; deployment; analyzing; documenting; coding/development; and unit testing) as well as leading junior and senior engineers assigned to projects

Key accountabilities and decision ownership:

• Lead the full lifecycle design and development of web applications (backend & frontend).
• Define and enforce scalable architecture, coding standards, and software best practices.
• Build, integrate, and maintain APIs and external system integrations.
• Conduct code reviews; ensure high-quality deliverables with tests, documentation, and clean code.
• Collaborate with product managers, designers, and other stakeholders throughout the development process.
• Mentor and support team members, fostering growth, knowledge sharing, and technical ownership.

• Must have professional qualifications:
• Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent.
• 5+years of relevant experience.
• Strong experience using Node.js frameworks such as Express.js, Nest.js (middleware, dependency injection, modular structure).
• Deep working knowledge of both SQL and NoSQL databases, data modeling, and transaction handling.
• Skilled in designing and consuming REST APIs; GraphQL experience is a plus.
• Solid understanding of authentication & authorization patterns (e.g. JWT, session-based auth, OAuth2, RBAC/ABAC).
• Experience building WebSocket / real-time applications for streaming or low-latency data.
• Strong skills in data validation and sanitization to guard against injections, XSS, and schema violations.
• Familiarity with caching strategies (Redis, in-memory, distributed) to optimize performance.
• Ability to optimize Node.js performance: profiling, identifying bottlenecks, memory leaks, CPU usage.
• Experience in designing Node.js solution architecture and scalable systems.
• Knowledge of Clean Code principles, SOLID design principles, and common design patterns.
• Deep experience with React; Next.js is preferred.
• Experience with payment integrations and payment systems.
• Advanced error handling and debugging: async stack traces, monitoring, logging.
• Proficiency in unit testing (Jest, Mocha, or equivalent), including mocks and test coverage.
• Strong version control practices (Git workflows, branching/merging, pull-requests).
• Familiarity with at least one major cloud platform (AWS / Azure) and cloud-based solution design.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, Docker containerization, and scalable deployments (e.g. Kubernetes).
• Comfortable working in Agile / Scrum methodologies.