Job Title: Lead Software Engineer Company Name: Backstroke Job Url: https://www.glassdoor.com/Job/remote-us-software-engineer-jobs-SRCH_IL.0,9_IS11047_KO10,27.htm?remoteWorkType=1&fromAge=3 Job Description: Backstroke Lead Software Engineer Remote $140K - $160K (Employer provided) Easy Apply Easy Apply Is your resume a good match? Use AI to find out how well the skills on your resume fit this job description. Get insights Your qualifications for this job Edit TypeScript AI Ruby on Rails Developing and maintaining backend systems AWS PostgreSQL Do you also have these qualifications? Prompt engineering JavaScript frameworks Software architecture Automating deployment processes Show more We're building Backstroke - AI-powered email marketing for ecommerce brands. Right now, creating one email campaign takes brands many hours and involves many people. Strategy, design, copy, development, QA, approvals - it's slow, expensive, and leaves no time for the stuff that actually matters: testing, personalization, learning. We're rebuilding this from the ground up. Our platform generates complete, on-brand campaigns in minutes, with experimentation and personalization built in by default. We need an engineering leader who can drive how we build, not just what we ship. You'll be hands-on building features while simultaneously operationalizing AI-assisted development, establishing technical direction, and scaling our engineering practices. What you'll own Transform how we ship with AI You'll operationalize AI-assisted development across the team. Establish cursor rules and prompts, set up GitHub Actions for AI-assisted code review, create conventions for when and how we use AI coding tools. Your goal: make the team significantly more effective by removing friction and establishing best practices. Ship full-stack features end-to-end Build and deploy production features from backend to frontend. You'll write code daily, establish patterns through shipped work, and own technical decisions without waiting for approval. Drive process and velocity Establish git workflows, set up CI/CD pipelines, and define how we structure our development process. You'll introduce the tooling and practices that eliminate bottlenecks—then get the team using them effectively. Have product taste You know the difference between what users say they want and what they actually need. You watch customer calls, see the workflows that don't work, and make technical bets that solve real problems. You can take rough direction and ship something users love. You'll partner closely with our CEO, Director of Product, and customers to shape what we build. Be the technical voice You'll evaluate our architecture, tech stack, and vendor relationships. Make the calls: rebuild vs. refactor, what technologies we need, what needs to change to scale. Then drive those changes. What we need You ship fast with AI tooling You've used Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, or similar tools to build and ship real features. You know how to leverage AI for code generation, refactoring, and iteration—and when to turn it off. You've thought about how to scale these practices across a team. Tech Stack Our product is built with Ruby on Rails (API backend) and React + TypeScript (frontend), using PostgreSQL, AWS, and modern tooling for testing, background jobs, and deployment. You'll work across this full stack and help choose and evolve our tools. You thrive in 01 and scaling mode We're finding true product-market fit while preparing to move upmarket. You need to be equally comfortable shipping scrappy MVPs to test hypotheses and building systems that can scale. You know when each matters. Startup velocity, enterprise quality Take ambiguous problems, turn them into shippable slices, get them into production in days. Then iterate based on what you learn. You optimize for speed of learning, not perfection. Strong opinions, loosely held Push back when requirements don't make sense. Make architecture decisions independently. Own outcomes, not just outputs. But stay flexible when the data says you're wrong. You'll fit right in if you: Want to shape how a team builds, not just contribute code Get excited by making engineers more effective, not just shipping features yourself Jump into customer calls and immediately iterate on what you see Believe the right process is the one that gets you learning fastest Care about code quality AND delivery speed—and know when to optimize for each Are comfortable working directly with CEO, customers, and wearing multiple hats Think building should be fun Bonus points: You get excited about empowering non-engineers (like our Director of Product or Head of Design) to spin up working feature branches with AI assistance, preview them locally, and iterate rapidly before handing off polished PRs. You believe shortening learning loops from weeks to days is how we win. Our values: Accountability, Empathy, and Speed Compensation: $140,000-$160,000 annual salary based on experience Backstroke is an equal opportunity employer, and we value diversity at our company. We don't discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. Show less