Lead Backend Software Engineer (People Management + Technical)

About You

You bring together strong people management skills with senior-level technical expertise in a multi-cloud, event-driven, microservices-oriented environment. You have experience working with databases such as Postgres and MongoDB. Ideally, you have hands-on coding experience in Go, though proficiency in other languages such as Python or Node.js would also be acceptable for this role.

About the Role

Our client is looking for a Lead Backend Software Engineer who combines strong technical chops with solid leadership experience. This is a hybrid position based in downtown Toronto (Yonge-Dundas area), with three in-office days each week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday). If you’re someone who thrives on translating product roadmaps into scalable systems, enjoys mentoring others, and is comfortable owning technical direction, you’ll fit right in. In this role, you’ll lead a team of backend engineers, report directly to the VP of Engineering, and help shape the future of our client’s platform.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of backend software engineers
• Work closely with the VP of Engineering to translate product plans into scalable technical solutions
• Drive backend architecture decisions and development, especially in Go
• Own the deployment and operation of microservices in Kubernetes
• Collaborate across engineering, product, and design teams to build, test, and deliver features
• Optimize performance and scalability across services
• Promote automation and best practices in CI/CD and observability
• Champion code quality, technical documentation, and security

Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on software development experience focused on backend systems
• 2+ years in a leadership or mentorship role

Required Skills

• Strong background in microservices and cloud-native development
• Proficiency with Kubernetes and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure)
• Solid understanding of Docker, Git, CI/CD practices
• Experience in one or more core backend languages (Go, Python, JavaScript, C/C++)
• Knowledge of both SQL and NoSQL databases
• Experience building and integrating with APIs and message brokers (RabbitMQ, Kafka)

Preferred Skills

• Deep Go expertise, especially with gRPC
• Master’s in Computer Science or related field
• Open-source contributions or involvement in cloud-native projects
• Advanced Kubernetes know-how
• Familiarity with frontend frameworks like React or Vue.js

Pay range and compensation package

$150,000 - 180,000