Lead Software Engineer

Job Summary

Vertical Institute is looking for a Lead Software Engineer to provide technical leadership for a lean engineering team building systems that support our learning platform and internal operations.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role involving software development, system architecture, technical decision-making, engineering standards, team mentoring, integrations, automation, and AI-powered solutions.

Prior experience operating at Lead, Principal, Tech Lead, or equivalent level is essential.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Set technical direction and engineering standards.

• Design scalable, secure, and maintainable software systems.

• Make architecture and technology decisions based on business requirements.

• Review technical designs and code.

• Identify and manage technical debt and system risks.

• Partner with the CEO and stakeholders to develop the engineering roadmap.

Software Engineering

• Design, develop, test, and maintain production-grade web applications and backend systems.

• Continue writing and reviewing code while leading the engineering team.

• Contribute to system design, database architecture, API development, and performance optimisation.

• Troubleshoot complex technical issues.

• Maintain engineering practices covering testing, documentation, version control, and CI/CD.

Systems Integration & Automation

• Build and maintain integrations between the learning platform and third-party systems.

• Integrate LMS, CRM, payment, analytics, and SaaS platforms.

• Develop internal tools and automation for sales, admissions, finance, and operations.

• Evaluate APIs and third-party technologies for integration opportunities.

AI & Automation

• Identify opportunities to apply AI and automation to business workflows.

• Design and implement AI-powered features, agents, and workflows.

• Work with stakeholders to identify practical AI use cases.

• Evaluate emerging AI technologies for business applications.

Engineering Team Leadership

• Mentor and coach engineers.

• Conduct code and architecture reviews.

• Establish engineering best practices.

• Help prioritise technical work and remove blockers.

• Balance delivery speed with quality, security, reliability, and maintainability.

Stakeholder Management

• Work with the CEO and business stakeholders to understand technical requirements.

• Translate technical concepts and trade-offs into clear business terms.

• Communicate project progress, risks, and technical decisions.

• Collaborate with Sales, Admissions, Finance, Operations, and other teams.

Requirements

• Proven experience at Lead Software Engineer, Principal Engineer, Tech Lead, or equivalent level.

• Strong full-stack or backend software engineering background.

• Experience building production-grade web applications and software systems.

• Strong understanding of system architecture, database design, API design, and performance optimisation.

• Experience making technical and architectural decisions for scalable systems.

• Strong hands-on programming and software development skills.

• Experience with testing, code reviews, documentation, version control, and CI/CD.

• Experience mentoring engineers and providing technical leadership.

• Ability to deliver software iteratively without unnecessary over-engineering.

• Strong communication skills with technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field is preferred.

Preferred Experience

• Ruby on Rails experience.

• EdTech or Learning Management System experience.

• Experience with AI APIs, LLMs, AI agents, or automation tools.

• Experience integrating CRM, payment, analytics, or SaaS platforms.

• Cloud infrastructure and DevOps experience.

• Startup or scale-up experience.