Lead Full Stack Developer

Company Description Cork Information Technology W.L.L. is a Bahrain-based technology company and a subsidiary of Cork Bahrain Holding W.L.L., specialising in digital solutions, financial technology, and artificial intelligence. Its solutions include CORKLINC for supply chain finance and LAW360 for legal translation and multilingual document processing. The company helps organisations simplify workflows, improve operational efficiency, and support business growth through tailored technology solutions and technical support. Role Description This is a hands-on technical leadership role. Your primary responsibility will be leading the development of our next-generation marketplace platform, with the role expanding into AI solutions, fintech applications, and other digital products across the company's technology roadmap. You will be involved in far more than writing code: architecture, product development, technology decisions, team leadership, third-party integrations, AI implementation, and taking products from concept to production. Key responsibilities • Lead and mentor the development team in coding standards, code reviews, architecture decisions, sprint planning, and technical interviews • Lead end-to-end development of the marketplace platform: e-commerce, classified listings, services, and auctions, with real-time bidding, chat, notifications, and activity feeds • Design multi-level user, seller, business, and admin hierarchies with role-based access control, and support multiple business models and commission structures • Deliver Arabic/English interfaces with full RTL/LTR support, designed to scale across Bahrain and the GCC • Build responsive web applications and publish iOS and Android apps, including push notifications, deep linking, and authentication • Design secure, scalable backend systems with REST and GraphQL APIs and real-time communication over WebSockets/Socket.IO • Integrate third-party services: payment gateways, banking and fintech APIs, SMS and WhatsApp, email, maps, identity/KYC verification, social login, shipping, and analytics • Implement payment processing, transaction workflows, refunds, wallets, commissions, and settlement systems • Develop and integrate AI-powered features using LLM APIs, RAG, vector databases, embeddings, AI agents, and prompt pipelines, and take them into production with proper deployment and monitoring • Own deployment and release processes, CI/CD, application security, backup, logging, and monitoring, working with the IT Manager on AWS infrastructure Qualifications • Minimum 3+ years of professional full stack development experience • Strong proficiency in JavaScript/TypeScript, NestJS, React/Next.js, and PHP/Laravel; Python is an advantage • Demonstrated experience building and maintaining production applications • Proven experience designing APIs and integrating third-party services • Experience with payment gateways, fintech, marketplace, or e-commerce platforms is a strong advantage • Experience with AI/LLM integration in production is highly desirable • Mobile development and publishing experience is preferred • Ability to lead a team while remaining hands-on, and to communicate technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders • Arabic language skills are an advantage Technical skills • Frontend: JavaScript/TypeScript, React, Next.js, HTML5, CSS, responsive design, state management, real-time UI, RTL/LTR development • Backend: Node.js, NestJS, PHP, Laravel, REST, GraphQL, WebSockets/Socket.IO, authentication and authorization, modular/microservices architecture • Databases and infrastructure: PostgreSQL, Redis, database design and optimisation, caching, AWS, CI/CD, Git/GitHub, application monitoring, production deployments • Mobile: Flutter or React Native, App Store and Google Play publishing What we are looking for Someone who is more than a programmer. Able to understand the business, design the architecture, build the solution, integrate external systems, lead the team, deploy the product, and keep improving it in production. Curiosity about AI, fintech, automation, and new digital products is essential. Competitive package with attractive benefits commensurate with experience, technical capability and leadership responsibilities.