Backend Technical Lead – AI Driven

Job Title: Backend Technical Lead – AI Driven

Location: 100% Remote – CST, EST, MST preferred

Role Type: 8+ month contract with good chance of extensions

US Citizenship required.

A highly respected digital product studio is expanding its backend capabilities and looking for a Backend Technical Lead who thrives in flexible, fast‑moving environments. This company is known for craftsmanship, collaboration, and deep engineering excellence—delivering standout mobile, web, and backend solutions for clients ranging from funded startups to global enterprises. Teams here value autonomy, curiosity, and a builder mindset, and focus on solving real problems with practical, elegant engineering.

This is an opportunity to lead architecture across multiple modern backend projects while shaping the organization’s future direction in agentic development models and AI‑assisted engineering workflows.

The Backend Technical Lead is responsible for driving backend architecture, implementation, and delivery across multiple client and internal projects. You will lead engineering decisions, mentor developers, collaborate with designers/product managers, and help shape our technical direction. This role requires strong experience across multiple backend stacks—including Java, Node.js, and modern relational data stores like Postgre

SQL—plus the ability to learn and adapt quickly. An ideal candidate is excited about new paradigms such as Claude Code’s agentic CLI model and is comfortable incorporating AI‑assisted workflows into engineering processes.

• Own backend architecture design and documentation across multiple concurrent projects.
• Select appropriate languages, frameworks, and infrastructure based on project needs—balancing client preferences with engineering best practices.
• Lead code reviews, enforce coding standards, and promote high‑quality engineering practices.
• Drive adoption of modern development patterns, including AI‑assisted workflows and agentic CLI‑based tooling.

• Design and implement backend services, APIs, and microservices using Java, Node.js, or other relevant stacks.
• Create performant and scalable database schemas, queries, and migrations (Postgre
  
  SQL strongly preferred).
• Develop integration layers for external APIs, cloud services, and third‑party systems.
• Ensure robust unit, integration, and end‑to‑end testing coverage.

• Work closely with frontend/mobile teams to define API contracts and integration points.
• Collaborate with product and design teams to translate requirements into sound engineering solutions.
• Present architectural decisions and trade‑offs clearly to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Support business development efforts through technical discovery and estimation.

• Oversee CI/CD pipelines, deployment automation, and environment configuration.
• Ensure reliability, observability, and operational readiness of backend systems.
• Work with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure) to support scalable and secure deployments.

• 7+ years of backend development experience.
• Proficiency in multiple backend languages/frameworks including Java and Node.js.
• Strong relational database experience, particularly Postgre
  
  SQL.
• Experience designing and scaling REST or Graph
  
  QL APIs.
• Familiarity with microservice architectures and distributed systems.
• Comfort with agentic development models using AI‑assisted tools such as Claude Code CLI.
• Experience leading engineering teams or acting as a senior‑level project owner.
• Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate with cross‑functional teams.

• Familiarity with event‑driven systems (Kafka, SNS/SQS, etc.).
• Experience with infrastructure‑as‑code (Terraform, CDK, Pulumi).
• Background working in consulting or multi‑project environments.
• Experience mentoring developers and shaping engineering processes.

• A builder mindset: practical, curious, and focused on real outcomes.
• Flexibility in solving problems with the right tools—not just one stack.
• A desire to explore emerging development models and incorporate AI effectively.
• Collaborat…