Lead Software Engineer

iN2L

$135K — $165K *
US-AnywhereRemote in United States
Information Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Deep expertise in full-stack environments (MERN, Java Spring Boot) with cloud platforms (AWS/Azure)
  • Proven leadership in managing complex technical projects from design to delivery
  • Advanced coding and design skills with a focus on scalable solutions
  • Ability to create comprehensive technical specifications for high-complexity work
  • Strong communication skills for conveying technical concepts to varied audiences
  • Experience mentoring without direct authority, fostering team growth
  • Innovative mindset for establishing new engineering standards based on best practices
  • Proficient in AI tools and methodologies to enhance development workflows

Responsibilities

  • Lead development of complex features on the LifeLoop platform
  • Drive adoption of emerging AI tools and enhance development workflows
  • Provide technical coaching to engineering leads and junior engineers
  • Contribute to and evolve the team's engineering playbook
  • Employ a pragmatic, hands-on coaching approach
  • Maintain engineering quality standards across the codebase
  • Collaborate with product and leadership to shape technical direction
  • Ensure clear and actionable technical specifications for projects

Benefits

  • Flexible work environment
  • Opportunities for continuous learning and professional development
  • Access to cutting-edge AI tools and technologies
  • Collaborative team culture
  • Visibility in defining engineering standards and practices
Full Job Description
The Opportunity: Lead Software Engineer

This is a high-level individual contributor engineering role. As the most senior individual contributor on the team, the Lead Software Engineer leads innovation and sets the technical standard for the entire engineering team. This person is deeply AI-native - not just using AI tooling, but actively championing and evolving AI-driven development workflows across the engineering organization.

What can you expect the role to look like:
  • Lead development of the most complex products and features on the LifeLoop platform
  • Identify and drive adoption of emerging AI tools and workflows that improve how the team builds software
  • Serve as a technical coach to both engineering leads and junior engineers - helping the team level up technically and in their use of AI-assisted development
  • Contribute to the engineering playbook and continuously evolve how the team works
  • Operate with a pragmatic coaching style - hands-on, not just advisory
  • Set and uphold engineering quality standards across the codebase
  • Collaborate with product and leadership to shape the technical direction of the platform
  • Drive spec-driven development practices and ensure technical specifications are clear, complete, and actionable

AI Expectations:

This role is expected to be a visible champion of AI-native development. Proficiency with tools like Claude Code, and similar AI coding assistants is required. Willingness to experiment with new AI tooling, document learnings, and raise the entire team's capabilities is essential. The Lead Software Engineer should be the person the team looks to for guidance on how to best leverage AI in their day-to-day workflows.
Notice $135,000 to $165,000 per year Skills & Requirements
What we expect of you:
  • Deep expertise across modern full-stack environments, including MERN, Java Spring Boot, cloud platforms such as AWS and/or Azure, and distributed systems.
  • Proven track record of leading complex technical initiatives from design through delivery.
  • Advanced proficiency in coding, unit testing, and technical design at scale - code should be trusted to scale, with known tipping points at time of authorship.
  • Expert-level functional and technical design skills - ability to define technical specifications for work of high complexity and lead the architectural direction of the most complex strategic initiatives.
  • Strong ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Demonstrated leadership in coaching and mentoring engineering teams without direct management authority.
  • Experience pioneering new engineering standards based on modern best practices and communicating them to the broader team.
  • Ability to lead change and champion new ways of working, including AI-driven development practices.
  • Results-oriented mindset - leads across projects, lending expertise, guidance, and picking up work to ensure broad team objectives are met.
  • Strong collaboration skills - able to form teams and organize efforts ensuring project assignments are equitable and efficient.
  • Deep commitment to spec-driven development, pragmatic execution, and continuous improvement.
Qualifications

Similar Jobs

More Information Technology Jobs

Find similar Lead Software Engineer jobs: