Engineering Lead

Strong Engineering Manager / Lead Profiles

2

Mandatory (Experience 1) – Must have minimum 8+ years of overall Software Engineering / Development experience with a strong IC foundation.

3

Mandatory (Experience 2) – Must have 2+ years of formal Engineering Manager experience with direct people-management responsibility (informal Senior Engineer / Tech Lead experience managing a team does not count)

4

Mandatory (Experience 3) – Must have directly managed 4–6+ engineers, including 1:1s, performance management, growth plans, promotions, mentoring, and team development.

5

Mandatory (Experience 4) – Must own technical direction and delivery for an engineering team/pod, including architecture, system design, code/PR reviews, execution planning, and engineering quality.

6

Mandatory (Experience 5) – Must have strong backend/software engineering experience with hands-on technical depth in building APIs, services, integrations, and scalable systems; specific language/framework can vary.

7

Mandatory (Experience 6) – Must have experience owning production operations, including on-call, incident management, debugging, and postmortems for their area.

8

Mandatory (Experience 7) – Must have experience driving cross-functional alignment with Product and Design and translating ambiguous business/product requirements into scalable technical solutions.

9

Mandatory (Company) – Must be from a Product Company / Startup, particularly B2B SaaS, Fintech, Payments, or similar technology product environments. (Refer Target Company List)

10

Mandatory (Role Fit) – Role is 80% people/team management and 20% technical/IC involvement;

11

Preferred (Education) - Tier 1 engineering college

Strong Engineering Manager / Lead Profiles

2

Mandatory (Experience 1) – Must have minimum 8+ years of overall Software Engineering / Development experience with a strong IC foundation.

3

Mandatory (Experience 2) – Must have 2+ years of formal Engineering Manager experience with direct people-management responsibility (informal Senior Engineer / Tech Lead experience managing a team does not count)

4

Mandatory (Experience 3) – Must have directly managed 4–6+ engineers, including 1:1s, performance management, growth plans, promotions, mentoring, and team development.

5

Mandatory (Experience 4) – Must own technical direction and delivery for an engineering team/pod, including architecture, system design, code/PR reviews, execution planning, and engineering quality.

6

Mandatory (Experience 5) – Must have strong backend/software engineering experience with hands-on technical depth in building APIs, services, integrations, and scalable systems; specific language/framework can vary.

7

Mandatory (Experience 6) – Must have experience owning production operations, including on-call, incident management, debugging, and postmortems for their area.

8

Mandatory (Experience 7) – Must have experience driving cross-functional alignment with Product and Design and translating ambiguous business/product requirements into scalable technical solutions.

9

Mandatory (Company) – Must be from a Product Company / Startup, particularly B2B SaaS, Fintech, Payments, or similar technology product environments. (Refer Target Company List)

10

Mandatory (Role Fit) – Role is 80% people/team management and 20% technical/IC involvement;

11

Preferred (Education) - Tier 1 engineering college

Strong Engineering Manager / Lead Profiles

2

Mandatory (Experience 1) – Must have minimum 8+ years of overall Software Engineering / Development experience with a strong IC foundation.

3

Mandatory (Experience 2) – Must have 2+ years of formal Engineering Manager experience with direct people-management responsibility (informal Senior Engineer / Tech Lead experience managing a team does not count)

4

Mandatory (Experience 3) – Must have directly managed 4–6+ engineers, including 1:1s, performance management, growth plans, promotions, mentoring, and team development.

5

Mandatory (Experience 4) – Must own technical direction and delivery for an engineering team/pod, including architecture, system design, code/PR reviews, execution planning, and engineering quality.

6

Mandatory (Experience 5) – Must have strong backend/software engineering experience with hands-on technical depth in building APIs, services, integrations, and scalable systems; specific language/framework can vary.

7

Mandatory (Experience 6) – Must have experience owning production operations, including on-call, incident management, debugging, and postmortems for their area.

8

Mandatory (Experience 7) – Must have experience driving cross-functional alignment with Product and Design and translating ambiguous business/product requirements into scalable technical solutions.

9

Mandatory (Company) – Must be from a Product Company / Startup, particularly B2B SaaS, Fintech, Payments, or similar technology product environments. (Refer Target Company List)

10

Mandatory (Role Fit) – Role is 80% people/team management and 20% technical/IC involvement;

11

Preferred (Education) - Tier 1 engineering college

Strong Engineering Manager / Lead Profiles

2

Mandatory (Experience 1) – Must have minimum 8+ years of overall Software Engineering / Development experience with a strong IC foundation.

3

Mandatory (Experience 2) – Must have 2+ years of formal Engineering Manager experience with direct people-management responsibility (informal Senior Engineer / Tech Lead experience managing a team does not count)

4

Mandatory (Experience 3) – Must have directly managed 4–6+ engineers, including 1:1s, performance management, growth plans, promotions, mentoring, and team development.

5

Mandatory (Experience 4) – Must own technical direction and delivery for an engineering team/pod, including architecture, system design, code/PR reviews, execution planning, and engineering quality.

6

Mandatory (Experience 5) – Must have strong backend/software engineering experience with hands-on technical depth in building APIs, services, integrations, and scalable systems; specific language/framework can vary.

7

Mandatory (Experience 6) – Must have experience owning production operations, including on-call, incident management, debugging, and postmortems for their area.

8

Mandatory (Experience 7) – Must have experience driving cross-functional alignment with Product and Design and translating ambiguous business/product requirements into scalable technical solutions.

9

Mandatory (Company) – Must be from a Product Company / Startup, particularly B2B SaaS, Fintech, Payments, or similar technology product environments. (Refer Target Company List)

10

Mandatory (Role Fit) – Role is 80% people/team management and 20% technical/IC involvement;

11

Preferred (Education) - Tier 1 engineering college

Strong Engineering Manager / Lead Profiles

2

Mandatory (Experience 1) – Must have minimum 8+ years of overall Software Engineering / Development experience with a strong IC foundation.

3

Mandatory (Experience 2) – Must have 2+ years of formal Engineering Manager experience with direct people-management responsibility (informal Senior Engineer / Tech Lead experience managing a team does not count)

4

Mandatory (Experience 3) – Must have directly managed 4–6+ engineers, including 1:1s, performance management, growth plans, promotions, mentoring, and team development.

5

Mandatory (Experience 4) – Must own technical direction and delivery for an engineering team/pod, including architecture, system design, code/PR reviews, execution planning, and engineering quality.

6

Mandatory (Experience 5) – Must have strong backend/software engineering experience with hands-on technical depth in building APIs, services, integrations, and scalable systems; specific language/framework can vary.

7

Mandatory (Experience 6) – Must have experience owning production operations, including on-call, incident management, debugging, and postmortems for their area.

8

Mandatory (Experience 7) – Must have experience driving cross-functional alignment with Product and Design and translating ambiguous business/product requirements into scalable technical solutions.

9

Mandatory (Company) – Must be from a Product Company / Startup, particularly B2B SaaS, Fintech, Payments, or similar technology product environments. (Refer Target Company List)

10

Mandatory (Role Fit) – Role is 80% people/team management and 20% technical/IC involvement;

11

Preferred (Education) - Tier 1 engineering college

Roles & Responsibilities

We’re looking for an Engineering Manager who treats engineering management as a systems problem, not a career milestone.

You’ll lead engineers while staying close to the technical core—owning architecture, modeling decisions, and execution quality in a domain where correctness matters as much as velocity.

Technical & Product Ownership

• Build and evolve core platform features
• Design and ship APIs, services, and integrations that power billing automation, usage metering, invoicing, revenue recognition, and financial reporting.
• Model complex financial workflows
• Work deeply on pricing logic, proration, true-ups, multi-currency handling, approval workflows, and event-driven billing pipelines—where small decisions have long-term consequences.
• Make architectural trade-offs
• Balance “ship it now” against “live with it forever” while scaling systems that process high-volume usage data and real-time financial calculations.
• Stay technically fluent
• You won’t write code every day, but you’ll review PRs, catch subtle bugs, and guide design discussions with confidence.

Team Leadership & Management

• Lead and grow the engineering team
• Mentor and manage engineers across experience levels, setting clear expectations and raising the bar on ownership, execution, and quality.
• Create high-output systems
• Establish clear problem definitions, focused execution cycles, code reviews that actually catch issues, and enough slack for engineers to think—not just ship.
• Debug team dynamics like software
• Observe signals, form hypotheses, intervene deliberately, and measure outcomes—whether the issue is delivery, alignment, or collaboration.
• Build the team intentionally
• Design interviews that surface real problem-solving ability, not just pattern matching. At this stage, every hire shifts the average.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Product, Finance, and Customer Success to translate real-world contract terms into correct, scalable systems
• Partner with stakeholders to solve ambiguous problems where requirements evolve and trade-offs are unavoidable
• Ensure systems remain accurate, auditable, and compliant as the product scales

Ideal Candidate

1Strong Engineering Manager / Lead Profiles

2Mandatory (Experience 1) – Must have minimum 8+ years of overall Software Engineering / Development experience with a strong IC foundation.

3Mandatory (Experience 2) – Must have 2+ years of formal Engineering Manager experience with direct people-management responsibility (informal Senior Engineer / Tech Lead experience managing a team does not count)

4Mandatory (Experience 3) – Must have directly managed 4–6+ engineers, including 1:1s, performance management, growth plans, promotions, mentoring, and team development.

5Mandatory (Experience 4) – Must own technical direction and delivery for an engineering team/pod, including architecture, system design, code/PR reviews, execution planning, and engineering quality.

6Mandatory (Experience 5) – Must have strong backend/software engineering experience with hands-on technical depth in building APIs, services, integrations, and scalable systems; specific language/framework can vary.

7Mandatory (Experience 6) – Must have experience owning production operations, including on-call, incident management, debugging, and postmortems for their area.

8Mandatory (Experience 7) – Must have experience driving cross-functional alignment with Product and Design and translating ambiguous business/product requirements into scalable technical solutions.

9Mandatory (Company) – Must be from a Product Company / Startup, particularly B2B SaaS, Fintech, Payments, or similar technology product environments. (Refer Target Company List)

10Mandatory (Role Fit) – Role is 80% people/team management and 20% technical/IC involvement;

11Preferred (Education) - Tier 1 engineering college

As the Digital Product Manager, you will be responsible for defining product requirements, managing the product roadmap, coordinating software development, and ensuring the successful delivery of new features and enhancements. In addition, you will own the day-to-day management of the Open Axis website, including content updates, UI improvements, deployments, maintenance, and performance optimization.

You will work closely with business stakeholders, external technology partners, and internal teams to build digital solutions that enhance customer experience and support the company's long-term growth.

Key Responsibilities

Product Strategy & Management

Own and manage the product roadmap in alignment with business objectives and strategic priorities.

Gather, analyze, and document business requirements from internal and external stakeholders.

Translate business requirements into user stories, functional specifications, workflows, and detailed acceptance criteria.

Manage and prioritize the product backlog based on business value and customer needs.

Coordinate feature planning, sprint execution, testing, bug resolution, and production releases.

Conduct User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and ensure all releases meet business and quality standards.

Identify opportunities to improve user experience, operational efficiency, automation, and overall platform performance.

Maintain comprehensive product documentation, workflows, release notes, and functional specifications.

Website & Digital Platform Management

Own the day-to-day maintenance, administration, and continuous improvement of the Open Axis corporate website built using Node.js and React.

Independently implement website content updates, UI enhancements, bug fixes, and minor-to-medium complexity feature improvements.

Monitor website performance, uptime, responsiveness, security, SEO, and overall user experience.

Troubleshoot website issues and ensure minimal downtime through proactive monitoring and timely resolution.

Manage website deployments, version control, backups, hosting infrastructure, SSL certificates, DNS records, and domain administration.

Coordinate with marketing and leadership teams to publish landing pages, announcements, product updates, and new website content.

Ensure the website follows modern SEO practices, accessibility guidelines, performance optimization techniques, and security standards.

Maintain technical documentation for deployments, configurations, updates, and website infrastructure.Technical Coordination & Vendor Management

Serve as the primary point of contact between Open Axis and external technology partners.

Coordinate software development activities, feature implementation, bug fixes, testing, and production deployments.

Minimum 4 to 5 years of experience in Product Management, Digital Product Management, Business Analysis, or a similar role.

Proven experience managing web-based products or digital platforms throughout the complete product lifecycle.

Hands-on experience maintaining and supporting websites built using Node.js and React.

Experience working with software development teams and external technology vendors.

Strong experience coordinating website maintenance, deployments, feature releases, bugtracking, and enhancements.

Experience working in Agile environments using tools such as Jira, Confluence, or similar projectmanagement platforms.

Experience troubleshooting and implementing minor-to-medium complexity websiteenhancements independently.

Experience managing website hosting, SSL certificates, DNS records, cloud infrastructure,backups, and production deployments.

Experience with B2B marketplaces, e-commerce, SaaS, logistics, supply chain, or fintechplatforms will be an advantage.

Experience with cloud hosting platforms such as AWS, Azure, DigitalOcean, or similar ispreferred.

Educational Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline.

An MBA in Product Management, Technology Management, Operations, Information Systems, or a related field will be an added advantage.

Strong understanding of:

Modern web application architecture

REST APIs

Databases

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Agile development methodologies

Hands-on experience with Node.js and React is mandatory for this role. Technical Skills

JavaScript (ES6+)

HTML5

CSS3

Git / GitHub

REST APIs

SQL / NoSQL databases

Jira / Confluence

Website deployment and hosting

Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, DigitalOcean, or similar)

SEO fundamentals and website performance optimization

Core Competencies

Strong business analysis and requirement gathering skills.

Excellent stakeholder and vendor management capabilities.

Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities.

Experience writing user stories, acceptance criteria, and functional specifications.

Excellent communication, documentation, and presentation skills.

Strong understanding of Agile software development practices.

Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced startup environment.

High ownership mindset with the ability to work independently.

Strong cross-functional collaboration and decision-making skills.

Attention to detail and commitment to delivering high-quality digital products.

About us

EDMO is an AI-powered company that provides enrollment-centric solutions to universities,

colleges, and higher education institutions. By streamlining repetitive tasks—such as document verification, transcript evaluation, SOP/essay reviews, and applicant matching.

EDMO enables its clients to process student applications faster and more accurately. Its intelligent workflows

not only reduce administrative workload but also empower admission advisors to focus on personalized guidance and student engagement.

With features like AI-powered chatbots, Photo ID verification, GPA calculator, and transfer credit evaluation, EDMO ensures transparency and efficiency across the enrollment journey. Institutions using EDMO services report significant time savings, improved decision-making, and

enhanced student satisfaction.

At its core, EDMO is built to reimagine & streamline admissions—making them smarter, quicker, and more human-centric.

Website - https://goedmo.com/

Position Overview

We're seeking an exceptional Lead Software Engineer / Senior Tech Lead who can energize and guide a team of brilliant engineers while driving rapid, high-quality product development using AI and innovative technologies. The ideal candidate brings deep full-stack and backend

engineering expertise combined with strong leadership capability and a hands-on approach to architecture and delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of 5–8 senior engineers across AI, Salesforce, and full-stack development

• Drive technical strategy and architectural decisions — including backend, API design, and system design — for EDMO's product portfolio

• Own and evolve backend architecture using Node.js / NestJS and front-end solutions in React or Angular

• Define and implement telemetry, observability, and monitoring standards (logging,tracing, alerting) across services

• Foster a culture of innovation, continuous learning, and technical excellence

• Manage sprint planning, code reviews, and technical delivery timelines

• Collaborate closely with product management and design teams

• Guide technical hiring and team scaling decisions

• Ensure code quality, security, and performance standards

• Lead technical discussions with university clients and stakeholders

• Drive adoption of best practices, tools, and development methodologies

Required Qualifications

Experience & Leadership

• 8+ years of software development experience with 3+ years in technical leadership roles

• Must have: Proven track record of leading high-performing technical teams

• Must have: Experience energizing and motivating senior engineers to achieve exceptional results

• Experience with Agile/Scrum methodologies and DevOps practices

• Excellent communication skills with ability to translate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders

• Experience with performance management, career development, and team building

• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to make decisions under pressure

Technical Stack — Must Have

• Node.js and NestJS — production-grade backend services, microservices, and API design

• TypeScript — Good Have

• React or Angular — front-end development and component architecture

• Backend and system architecture — designing scalable, maintainable, distributed

systems

• Telemetry & monitoring — hands-on experience with logging frameworks, distributed tracing (e.g. OpenTelemetry, Datadog, New Relic, or similar), and alerting pipelines

• Cloud platforms — GCP preferred; AWS or Azure acceptable

• Databases — PostgreSQL, MongoDB, or equivalent; Redis for caching/queuing

• CI/CD — GitHub Actions, Cloud Build, or equivalent pipelines

Additional Technical Background

• Strong background across multiple domains: AI/ML integration, web development, cloud- native architecture• Microservices patterns, API gateway design, event-driven architectures

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in EdTech, SaaS, or B2B technology companies

• Background in AI/ML or emerging technologies

• Experience scaling engineering teams from startup to growth stage

• Knowledge of the Salesforce ecosystem and integrations

• GCP certifications or demonstrated GCP production experience (Cloud Run, Pub/Sub, BigQuery, GKE)

• Experience building and operating observability stacks (dashboards, SLOs, on-call runbooks)

• MBA or advanced degree in technology or business

• Track record of successful product launches and customer implementations

• Experience working with US-based clients and distributed teams

Leadership Philosophy We Seek

• Servant Leadership: Empowering team members to achieve their best work

• Technical Excellence: Setting high standards while maintaining development velocity

• Growth Mindset: Continuously learning and helping others grow

• Results-Oriented: Delivering measurable business outcomes through technology

• Cultural Builder: Creating an inclusive, innovative, and collaborative team environment

Growth Opportunities

• Path to VP of Engineering

• Opportunity to build and scale EDMO's India engineering organization

• Lead major strategic partnerships and technical initiatives

• Drive innovation in AI-powered educational technology

Job Description:

Head of Engineering — Chennai (Onsite)About the Role

Job Details

Position: Head of Engineering

Department: Engineering

Experience: 6–8 Years

Employment Type: Full-time

Location: Chennai, On-site

Salary: Up to ₹24,00,000 per annum

About the Role

We’re looking for a Head of Engineering to take end-to-end ownership of engineering for a fast-moving product. You’ll be responsible for architecture, execution, product quality, engineering culture, and team growth.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You’ll spend approximately 60% of your time coding and reviewing code and 40% on product, people, and engineering leadership.

What You’ll Do

• Own engineering end to end, including architecture, development, delivery, quality, and hiring.
• Stay hands-on with the codebase, spending roughly 60% of your time writing and reviewing code.
• Establish and continuously improve the engineering workflow: how the team plans, builds, reviews, ships, and measures.
• Improve development velocity and reduce cycle time without compromising product quality.
• Drive AI-assisted software development across the engineering team using Claude Code and similar agentic coding tools as a core productivity lever.
• Establish practical systems and workflows that demonstrate measurable improvements in engineering throughput.
• Work closely with the founders on product strategy, technical trade-offs, priorities, and what to build next.
• Build, mentor, and scale a high-performing engineering team.

What We’re Looking For

• 6–8 years of professional software engineering experience.
• Experience taking at least one product from zero to launch.
• Experience building and scaling at least one product to a large user base.
• Strong hands-on expertise in Python and Node.js.
• Comfortable working with React Native / Expo.
• Strong understanding of PostgreSQL and database fundamentals.
• Previous experience leading a small engineering team.
• A leadership style based on ownership and technical example, rather than simply assigning tickets.
• Daily experience with agentic coding tools, with the ability to demonstrate how they have improved development speed and team throughput.
• Strong product instincts and the ability to form opinions about user problems, not just technical implementation.
• Based in Chennai or willing to relocate.

How We Work

We operate with high pace, high ownership, and short feedback loops.

You’ll be expected to get close to the product, understand the users, make decisions quickly, and ship within your first week.

If you enjoy building products from the ground up, staying close to the code, and using AI to fundamentally improve how engineering teams work, we’d love to hear from you.

How to Apply

Join Aura Gold and be part of building a high-performing team from the ground up!

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Chennai, Tamil Nadu (Chennai, Chennai District): Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Preferred)

Education:

• Bachelor's (Preferred)

Language:

• English, Tamil , Hindi (Required)

Location:

• Chennai, Tamil Nadu (Chennai, Chennai District) (Required)

Work Location: In person

Lead Product Engineer - Pod Captain 

A Little Bit About the Role

There is a version of this role that attracts the wrong person: a senior engineer who wants a title upgrade and a slightly bigger scope. That person will struggle here. The Lead PE is not a promotion for being a great individual engineer. It is a fundamentally different job.

Your success at this level is measured entirely by what your Island delivers — not by the quality of your own code. You will still write code, often the hardest and most risk-laden on the project: auth systems, payment integrations, data migrations, the things nobody else should touch. But that is a fraction of the role. The majority is managing delivery, owning the client relationship on the technical side, unblocking engineers before problems compound, and making scope calls under pressure with incomplete information.

You are also the technical and commercial bridge between your Island and the client. You own every piece of technical communication that goes to them — what is being built, what risks exist, what the honest timeline is. When a client pushes for something technically unsound, you push back directly and professionally, always with an alternative. When something breaks in production, you own the post-mortem process and the client receives it within 24 hours. You protect your team from unfiltered client pressure; you translate it into clear, actionable direction instead.

On top of delivery and client management, you are the AI operating standard for your Island. Every engineer on your pod uses Cursor and Claude within the rules you define. You set those rules before the first line of code is written, govern how they evolve, and you are accountable when AI-generated code ships without being understood.

If you are energised by all of that — by the accountability, by owning outcomes rather than tasks, by the combination of technical depth and people management — this role will suit you well. If you want to spend most of your time in code, this is not the right level.

AI Governance Expectation

You set the AI standard for your entire Island. If an engineer on your pod is shipping AI-generated code they do not understand, or underusing AI tools entirely, both are your problem to fix — not theirs alone.

At Lead level, AI governance means:

• Authoring the .cursorrules file before the first PR is opened. This defines how every engineer on the team writes code, uses Cursor, and structures prompts. You update it as the team learns, and you submit it to the Fountane Mainland at the close of every engagement.
• Evaluating new AI tools before they reach client code. You are the gate. A tool that looks useful in a demo can create untraceable technical debt in production. You decide what enters the workflow.
• Governing prompt discipline across the team: scoped prompts, codebase context hygiene, no AI-generated code that the author cannot explain line by line.
• Using Claude for architecture reasoning, sprint planning, risk documentation, and client-facing technical communication — not just Cursor for code generation. AI works at every layer of the Lead role, not just the coding layer.
• Staying ahead of the Golden Stack. You should know what Cursor and Claude can and cannot do at the codebase level better than anyone on your Island. When the Mainland updates the standard toolchain, you integrate the change into your Island’s workflow first.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Architecture & Standards Ownership

Design the full-stack architecture for every engagement before the first sprint starts: service boundaries, API contracts, database schema, state management strategy across web and mobile surfaces, and the security baseline. Author the .cursorrules file that governs how the entire Island writes code and uses AI. Own the highest-risk code personally — auth systems, payment integrations, live data migrations — these are not delegated regardless of workload. Enforce Mainland security standards across the entire codebase: input validation, correct auth scoping, safe data handling. If a security issue reaches production that was visible in a PR, that is a failure you own.

CE Prototype Gatekeeping

Review every Concept Engineer prototype before any engineer touches it. This is not a courtesy review — you have veto authority. If the scope is technically unrealistic for the sprint, the architecture is unbuildable as specified, or the prototype makes promises the codebase cannot keep, the sprint does not start until those are resolved. The time to surface a structural problem is before it is built, not after it is demoed. Produce a written checklist verdict for every prototype review — approved, approved with conditions, or blocked with reasons.

Client Technical Communication & Scope Ownership

Own all technical communication with the client directly. This means: what is being built each sprint, what risks exist and what is being done about them, honest timelines when estimates change, and clear explanations of technical decisions in plain language. Push back on risky or scope-expanding requests professionally and always with an alternative — “we cannot do X because Y; here is what achieves the same outcome.” Manage scope creep actively: every request that expands the engagement goes through you, gets assessed for impact, and is either absorbed, priced, or declined with a rationale. Renewal conversations are yours to lead in coordination with the CE.

Island Integration Audit

When a prospective client wants fractional augmentation — one or two roles rather than a full Island — you conduct the Island Integration Audit. This means evaluating their existing engineering team against Fountane Mainland SOPs: coding standards, AI tool usage, deployment practices, and documentation quality. If they pass, fractional deployment proceeds. If they do not, you produce a written audit report that either recommends full Island deployment or a Mainland upskilling programme. You are protecting your team’s velocity — a fractional deployment into a dysfunctional team destroys it.

Delivery & Velocity Management

Review the work cycle board every morning. Flag anything stuck, stale, or at risk before it becomes a client problem — not after. Communicate risks to the CE proactively with options, not just problems. Track every engineer’s billing hours: a shortfall spotted on Wednesday is a Thursday conversation, not a Friday surprise. If an engineer is consistently under-billing, that is either a workload problem, a capability problem, or a motivation problem — each has a different resolution and you are responsible for diagnosing which one it is.

Production Incident Ownership

When something breaks in production, you own the resolution process end to end: take technical lead, make the call on rollback vs. hotfix, communicate status to the client directly if the incident affects them, and own the post-mortem. The client receives the post-mortem within 24 hours of resolution — this is a hard commitment, not a target. The post-mortem covers: what happened, why it happened, what was done to fix it, and what structural change prevents recurrence. You produce it; it is not delegated to the engineer who caused the issue.

Automation & Infrastructure Boundary Arbitration

The Automation Engineer owns the test gates within the CI/CD pipeline. The Infrastructure Engineer owns the pipeline configuration itself. When these overlap and conflict — which they will — you arbitrate. The resolution must be documented in the Island’s .cursorrules and SOP onboarding document so the boundary does not need to be relitigated every sprint. This is not optional housekeeping; an unresolved boundary between these two roles is one of the most common sources of deployment failures on Islands.

Full Stack Ownership — Web & Mobile

You review and own work across the entire application layer: React / Next.js web frontends, React Native or Flutter mobile apps, Node.js / Python backends, and database schema. You cannot delegate a review of mobile code because you do not know mobile, or backend code because your background is frontend. If there is a gap in your full-stack depth, that is something to resolve before taking this role, not on the job.

People Management & Mentoring

Hold bi-weekly 1:1s with every engineer on the Island — focused on growth, blockers, and career direction, not status updates. Status belongs on the board; 1:1s are for the person. Address performance gaps early, directly, and specifically: a pattern spotted in week two is a conversation in week two, not month three. Protect the team from unfiltered client anxiety — absorb it, process it, and give the team clear direction instead of noise. If an engineer is struggling, that is your problem to solve before it becomes the client’s problem to notice.

Network Contribution

At the close of every engagement, submit to the Fountane Mainland: the .cursorrules file, all prompt templates used, a short retrospective on what worked and what did not, and any reusable patterns or scripts developed during the engagement. This is a Lead-level obligation, not a nice-to-have. The network’s collective capability grows through what Leads bring back from the field. An engagement that ends without a Mainland submission has left the network no smarter than it was before.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering experience, with at least two years in a role where you were accountable for delivery outcomes — not just your own code. You should be able to describe an engagement where something went wrong on your watch, what you did about it, and what you would do differently. If your experience is entirely individual-contributor, this role will be a difficult fit.
• Genuinely full stack across web and mobile: React / Next.js, React Native or Flutter, Node.js or Python, and database architecture including schema design and migrations. You review and own work across all of these surfaces — not just the ones you are most comfortable in.
• Hands-on, daily Cursor and Claude usage with the ability to set and enforce standards for how a team uses them — not just personal proficiency. You should be able to describe the .cursorrules file you would write for a standard SMB engagement and explain the decisions behind it.
• Proven ability to communicate technical risk and decisions directly to non-technical clients — not through a PM, directly, in plain language. You should be able to describe a client pushback you navigated and how you handled it.
• Experience managing scope on a real engagement: a client who wanted more than was in the contract, and how you resolved it without damaging the relationship or the team’s velocity.
• Has conducted security-aware architecture design: auth systems, input validation, safe data handling. You should be able to describe a security decision you made and why.
• Has led or coordinated a small engineering team — run 1:1s, addressed performance gaps, made scope calls under pressure. Management experience at a staffing agency or outsourcing firm counts if the accountability was real.
• Comfortable having direct, specific performance conversations early — not after the situation has compounded. You should be able to describe a time you addressed a performance issue at the first sign rather than waiting.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience.

About Fountane

Fountane is a technology ventures lab - one part product studio, one part startup engine. We build high-quality software and AI products for clients ranging from fast-moving startups to large enterprises, and we co-build and invest in new companies when we see the right opportunity.

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Minneapolis, we have grown to 60+ people across four continents and were recognised as one of America’s fastest-growing companies, ranking No. 699 on the Inc. 5000 with 595% three-year growth.

We are serious about craft, direct about expectations, and operate at the frontier of AI-assisted engineering. Lead PEs here carry real authority and real accountability — over delivery, over people, and over client outcomes. If that combination is what you are looking for, this is the place.