Lead Backend Engineer, Ruby On Rails

Sowelo Consulting sp. z o.o. sp. k.

. Lead and mentor a team of mid/senior backend engineers (4–5), including 1:1s, feedback, and performance management .

Posted 5/7/2026contractRemote • 🇭🇺 HungarySenior💰 $120,000 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AndroidAWSCloudDistributed SystemsiOSRubyRuby on Rails

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Lead and mentor a team of mid/senior backend engineers (4–5), including 1:1s, feedback, and performance management
Translate product and business goals into clear technical roadmaps, sprint plans, and backend priorities
Own the backend architecture and technical vision for mobile-first, consumer-facing apps used by tens of thousands of daily active users
Drive and oversee implementation of new features for our mobile apps, working closely with iOS/Android, Product, Data, DevOps and Trust & Safety teams
Take key architectural decisions around scalability, performance, reliability, data flows, and infrastructure on AWS
Modernise and improve a large, Ruby on Rails codebase (including version upgrades and refactoring legacy areas) while keeping systems stable in production
Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks, improve API speed and reliability, and design effective caching and database strategies
Establish and continuously improve engineering processes, coding standards, code review practices, and deployment/CI pipelines
Create and maintain clear technical documentation and design specs for backend systems and major initiatives
Handle prioritisation and trade-offs in a fast-moving environment with changing quarterly priorities
Be hands-on with coding and code reviews, especially for complex or high-impact areas, and step in during critical production incidents

Requirements

What you’ll need

8+ years of professional backend development experience in production environments and most recent experience in leading a backend teams
Proven experience owning backend architecture for a mobile-first, consumer-facing app
Strong hands-on expertise with Ruby On Rails
Experience building and scaling high-traffic systems (Over 10k+ daily active users) with a focus on performance and reliability
Solid understanding of distributed systems, relational databases, caching, and performance optimization
Practical experience working in the cloud (preferably AWS) and collaborating closely with DevOps / infrastructure engineers
Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain complex technical topics and trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders (e.g. CEO, Product)
Background in a startup or fast-moving product companies, comfortable with changing priorities and making pragmatic trade-offs
Strong product mindset, user-focused, impact-driven, and able to connect technical decisions to business outcomes
Comfortable taking ownership, making decisions, and leading in a fully remote, distributed team environment

Benefits

Comp & perks

Fully Remote Role with flexible working hours (core collaboration typically in European daytime)
30k USD bonuses (seasonal + EOY, dependant on individual and company performance)
Work on high-impact, high-scale mobile products (millions of downloads) in a profitable, growing startup
Strong engineering culture: open-minded, low-ego, direct communication, and high ownership
Access to company-provided AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor company accounts) to boost your productivity
27 days of paid vacation (15 days of personal leave + 12 days of public holidays following your local country calendar)
Company paid team trips, 1–2 times per year to attractive locations (e.g. Thailand, Bali) including flights and accommodation
Opportunity to shape technical direction, processes, and standards for the entire backend function

ATS Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

backend developmentRuby on Railsbackend architectureperformance optimizationdistributed systemsrelational databasescachingAWSAPI designCI/CD pipelines

Soft Skills

leadershipmentoringcommunicationprioritizationproblem-solvingcollaborationadaptabilitydecision-makinguser-focusedimpact-driven