Backend Team Lead

Description We're expanding the Backend Lead behind an AI-powered product built on modern LLM technologies. You will own the platform services domain, partnering closely with product and engineering to turn ambitious ideas into scalable, production-ready systems. Requirements 6+ years of experience building and shipping production software. 3+ years of hands-on experience with asynchronous Python in production environments. 2+ years of engineering leadership experience, leading teams through execution while remaining deeply technical. Strong background designing and evolving complex distributed systems, platform-level infrastructure, or other high-scale backend architectures. Thrive in high-autonomy environments: able to define technical direction, break down ambiguous problems, prioritize work, and deliver results without detailed specifications or constant guidance. Product-minded engineering approach: take end-to-end ownership of features - from shaping technical solutions and planning execution to identifying risks early, coordinating with cross-functional teams, and driving successful delivery. Strong technical leadership skills: able to provide thoughtful feedback, setting a high technical bar, while making decisions that maximize team effectiveness. Practical experience building with LLMs and agentic AI frameworks (e.g. LangGraph or similar), combined with an up-to-date understanding of the rapidly evolving AI ecosystem and engineering best practices. Comfortable operating in fast-moving, high-ambiguity environments, where requirements evolve, priorities shift, and engineers are expected to shape solutions rather than simply implement predefined tasks. Responsibilities Lead a small backend team, owning execution - decomposition, estimation and prioritization. Continuously assess team performance and growth and adjust team composition when needed - all without disrupting delivery. Build and maintain integrations with third-party services. Develop our internal LLM agent framework, with a focus on scalability, throughput, and parallel processing. Extend and refine platform architecture to meet the project's evolving needs. Technically lead the backend/platform track: break down complex work into clear tasks and build processes around product goals. Adapt quickly as priorities shift - work in short feedback loops, keep the team aligned, and drive work through to completion. Work closely with other teams: align on architecture and integrations, understand ownership boundaries, and decide what your team owns versus what can be handed off. Ensure system observability and reliability through metrics, tracing, and monitoring. Tech stack: Python 3.13, asyncio, Kubernetes, Kafka, PostgreSQL, HTTP/gRPC, ELK, Grafana. What we offer The team has built award-winning AI products for tech corporations: devices, voice assistants, products that are actually in the world Cutting-edge tech stack: Speech Technologies, NLP, Generative AI (LLMs, diffusion models), voice-first agentic architecture with privacy-first and on-premises deployment High engineering bar and real ownership: the team cares about what actually works in production, not what looks good in a demo, and you'll see the impact of your work directly Fast career progression: a senior-heavy team and a high volume of real problems means you grow faster than you would anywhere else Startup pace with enterprise stability: real clients, real revenue, no bureaucracy Fully remote across Europe 21 vacation days + public holidays + 5 sick days Private English lessons via Preply Company-paid subscriptions to top AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, and others)