Engineering Lead (Backend & Platform)

About the Role We are expanding our engineering team and looking for a engineering lead to lead the technical execution of our product. You will lead a cross-functional team spanning data science, data engineering, AI, backend, and frontend, with a mix of junior and senior experience. Your time will be split between hands-on technical work and leadership, including architecture decisions, team management, and technical planning. Your Responsibilities Lead the design and operation of our system architecture and cloud infrastructure, building for scalability, reliability, and securityDesign and operate a dual deployment model: cloud services on GCP and on-premises deployments at enterprise customer sites, ensuring version consistency, maintainability, and security compliance across bothDrive DevOps practices, including CI/CD, containerization, deployment automation, and monitoring, working hands-on alongside backend and data engineersLead the deployment and integration of AI agents and AI services into production, in close collaboration with the AI teamContribute to backend development in Python and review code and technical designsLead the engineering team: set technical standards, coordinate across disciplines, and keep the team aligned on prioritiesWork with product and AI teams to turn requirements into feasible technical solutions, assessing timelines, costs, and risks Must-Have 7+ years of professional software development experience, including at least 2 years of technical leadership experience as a Tech Lead, Engineering Lead, or equivalentProven experience architecting and operating production systems on GCP, Azure, or another major cloud platformStrong backend development skills in Python and/or Go, with experience designing APIs and production servicesStrong hands-on DevOps experience with Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, deployment automation, and observabilityExperience leading or working closely with cross-functional teams, such as data, AI, and productExperience delivering systems to enterprise customers and understanding their security, access control, and deployment requirementsAbility to operate with high ownership and make an impact quickly in a fast-paced startup environmentProfessional working proficiency in both English and Mandarin Chinese, with the ability to collaborate effectively in meetings, technical discussions, code reviews, and documentation Nice-to-Have Experience deploying and integrating LLM applications in production, especially agents, RAG, or related data pipelinesFamiliarity with data engineering or knowledge graph systemsExperience with modern frontend architecture, particularly React/Next.jsExperience deploying and operating systems in on-premises or air-gapped environmentsFamiliarity with Infrastructure as Code tools such as TerraformExperience working with semiconductor or high-tech manufacturing customers Compensation Our total compensation package combines cash salary and meaningful equity. This is a senior, high-ownership leadership role at a pre-seed, AI-native company. For an exceptional candidate who can own our backend and platform foundation, lead critical technical delivery, and grow into Deeli AI’s long-term engineering leader, the equity opportunity can be structured at a meaningful leadership level with executive-track upside. This is not a role for someone who only wants to operate within an established system. You will help build the technical foundation, engineering standards, and operating model that take Deeli from an early enterprise AI platform to a scalable global company. Your contribution will directly shape the company’s long-term value—and your ownership will be designed to reflect that. Why Join Us? Define how enterprise product decisions are made—grounded in real customer data and usage insight, not guessworkHigh ownership: As our Engineering Lead, Backend & Platform, your decisions will shape how global enterprises discover, evaluate, and act on emerging technologiesMeaningful upside: Join early with meaningful ownership and long-term upsideCollaborate with top-tier talent across the Bay Area, Taiwan, and Europe About Deeli AI In an era of data explosion and AI breakthroughs, innovation decisions are still made based on fragmented signals and gut instinct. Every year, global R&D focused enterprises spend billions exploring new technologies—yet they often miss key opportunities or bet on the wrong ones. This isn’t just an efficiency problem. It’s a massive waste of innovation potential. At Deeli AI, we are building an AI-native innovation intelligence platform that helps innovation-driven organizations make confident, data-backed technology decisions. Our mission is to empower every innovation-driven organization to make confident, data-backed decisions—at the right time, with the right signals. We aggregate global deep tech signals—academic research, patents, grants, and stealth startups—to surface emerging technologies before the market reacts. Founded by a second-time entrepreneur and built by a world-class team with experience at MediaTek, AWS, and Deloitte, we're backed by the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund in Silicon Valley, ITIC (a deep tech fund in Taiwan), and NVIDIA Inception. We're already collaborating with multiple top semiconductor companies worldwide, with pilots valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is the perfect time to join us—at an inflection point where your contribution will directly shape both our product and the future of innovation intelligence.