Technical Delivery Lead / Engineering Lead (Remote)

About the Role

We are looking for a hands-on technical leader to coordinate developers, project leads and external partners across several software projects. You will turn business priorities into realistic delivery plans, make sound technical decisions and keep work moving without compromising quality.

This remote role involves working closely with the company owner every day, explaining technical matters clearly and representing agreed priorities responsibly. It is not purely administrative project management: you need a genuine engineering background and the ability to engage directly with architecture, code, testing and production systems.

What You Will Own

• Coordinate frontend and backend developers, project leads and external partners, with clear ownership, expectations and follow-through.
• Own delivery planning, priorities, deadlines, team capacity, resources and dependencies across concurrent projects. Identify risks early, escalate with practical options and challenge unrealistic commitments.
• Translate business requirements into actionable technical tasks and clear acceptance criteria. Explain trade-offs and decisions to non-technical management.
• Challenge proposed architectures, technical estimates and implementation choices. Help resolve blockers and review code, test quality and release readiness.
• Coordinate development, testing, deployment, releases and ongoing support. During production incidents, organise a structured response, clear communication, recovery and follow-up actions.
• Report progress accurately, distinguishing completed implementation, verified test results and actual operational acceptance. Make outstanding defects, unverified claims and unresolved dependencies visible.
• Improve documentation, working processes and accountability. Address delivery problems and team disagreements constructively, without shifting blame.

Essential Experience and Skills

• At least six years of experience in software development, technical delivery or technology operations, supported by substantial hands-on software or systems work.
• Direct experience leading developers or project leads and coordinating several technical projects simultaneously, with clear responsibility for delivery and team performance.
• A record of delivering live business systems from planning through development, testing and release, then supporting them in production.
• Deep professional experience with Node.js, TypeScript, React, modern web architecture, PostgreSQL, APIs, Docker and cloud-based production systems. Strong experience with equivalent technologies is acceptable if you can demonstrate that you learn new stacks quickly.
• Technical depth across frontend and backend development, database design, migrations, transactions, performance, integrations, security, automated testing, code review and production troubleshooting.
• An understanding of web applications and e-commerce or ERP systems, with the ability to discuss architecture, operational risks and delivery trade-offs confidently.
• Strong decision-making, problem-solving, documentation and progress-reporting skills. You should be able to challenge an estimate, explain a complex system in business terms and make decisions without constant supervision.

Preferred Experience

You do not need to know every named tool. Relevant depth and demonstrated delivery matter more than a long list of keywords.

• Familiarity with our wider web stack: Express.js, REST APIs, Next.js, Tailwind CSS, state management and responsive applications; Prisma or comparable database tooling.
• Background processing with Redis, BullMQ or similar queue systems; Linux, Nginx, automated deployment pipelines and monitoring; testing with Jest, Vitest or React Testing Library, including integration tests.
• Commerce integrations involving Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress, Amazon, eBay, payment services, supplier APIs, or CSV and XML product feeds.
• Automation and AI project experience is strongly preferred, including OpenAI or comparable services, automated data-processing workflows, vector search and responsible production use.
• Experience with remote teams or external development partners. Additional useful experience includes Python, Flask, Firebase, Vite, Netlify and PHP/WordPress development.

Personal Qualities

You are proactive, organised, dependable and comfortable taking ownership. You remain calm and practical under pressure, communicate directly and professionally, and focus on solutions rather than blame.

You collaborate without ego while remaining firm when quality standards or commitments are not met. You are comfortable challenging weak technical decisions and unrealistic timelines, and handle sensitive business and technical information with discretion.

Working Hours, Paid Evaluation Period and Long-Term Opportunity

This is a full-time, remote position with 40 working hours per week. We are looking for someone interested in a long-term collaboration.

The role starts with a two-month paid evaluation period. This period gives both sides the opportunity to assess whether the role, working methods and expectations are a good fit for a long-term collaboration.

During this period, you will become familiar with our software applications, existing systems, development processes and team, while demonstrating your technical delivery and engineering leadership skills through practical work. We will assess your technical judgement, delivery planning, coordination of developers and project leads, code and test review, independent problem-solving, reliability, communication, delivery, and ability to thoroughly validate your own work and the team’s results.

During this two-month evaluation period, the pay is USD 2 per hour worked.

After a successful evaluation, compensation will be reviewed and adjusted based on demonstrated performance, experience and the responsibilities you take on. Strong performance may lead to an earlier compensation review.

Hubstaff is required for tracking working time throughout the collaboration. The tracking scope and monitoring settings will be explained before you start.

How to Apply

Please include:

• Your CV or professional profile.
• Two specific examples: one demonstrating your direct leadership of multiple technical projects or teams, and one describing a delayed project, serious blocker or production incident you brought under control.
• For each example, explain the team and project scope, system size or complexity, technologies used, your personal contribution and the outcome.
• Optional portfolio or code links that you are authorised to share. Never submit confidential material.
• Your availability to start and timezone.

Selection and Initial Scope

Selection includes a focused technical and delivery assessment. We will look for specific evidence of what you personally delivered, how you made decisions and how you handled technical or operational problems.

You will begin with a clearly defined initial scope. Responsibility will expand after reliable performance within that scope.