R&D Engineering Lead

Location: | Cyprus Full-time | In-office | B2B arrangement available About the Client Our client operates a subscription-based creator platform and social network in the entertainment industry. The platform serves more than 200,000 active users and 30,000 creators, with payments and real-time events flowing through the system every second. The company has recently secured new funding, is growing rapidly, and is now hiring the senior leaders who will shape its next stage of development. The Opportunity This is a top-priority leadership hire for the company. We are looking for an exceptional and highly versatile engineering leader who can combine strategic technical ownership, hands-on software engineering, people leadership, architecture, security, infrastructure, and strong product understanding. You will lead the R&D function end-to-end and serve as the most senior technical leader in the organization. This is not a management-only role. You will set the technical direction and engineering standards, grow and mentor the team, own architecture and security, and remain actively involved in the codebase. The ideal person can move comfortably from a system-design discussion to reviewing a pull request, making a product decision, and holding a one-to-one meeting—all in the same day. What You’ll Do Own the technical direction: Define the architecture, engineering standards, and technical roadmap required to scale the platform.Lead and grow the engineering team: Manage, mentor, recruit, and develop engineers while creating an environment in which the team can perform at its best.Remain deeply hands-on: Continue reading, writing, and reviewing code every week, leading through direct technical contribution as well as strategic guidance.Own the full technology landscape: Provide credible and decisive leadership across backend, frontend, DevOps, infrastructure, system architecture, and security.Take ownership of security: Embed security into the way the platform is designed, developed, deployed, and operated.Drive practical AI adoption: Integrate AI-assisted development, automation, and closed-loop processes into the engineering organization to improve speed and productivity.Bring strong product judgment: Understand the platform, its users, and its business model, and make technical decisions that support product and commercial goals.Protect critical systems: Safeguard payment integrity, uptime, performance, and data accuracy while enabling the company to move quickly. The Technology Stack Languages: TypeScript and Node.js as the primary technologies, with .NET and C#Frontend: React 18/19 and Next.jsBackend and real-time systems: NestJS, Hono, and Socket.IOData and messaging: MongoDB, Redis, BullMQ, AWS SQS, and RabbitMQInfrastructure and platform: AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, and GitHub ActionsObservability: OpenTelemetry About You You are an experienced engineering leader who combines broad technical expertise with deep, current, hands-on engineering capability. You will ideally bring: At least 10 years of professional software engineering experience, with approximately 10–15 years being the preferred rangeCurrent and substantial hands-on coding experienceProven experience managing, mentoring, and growing engineering teamsStrong technical depth across backend, frontend, DevOps, cloud infrastructure, architecture, and securityThe ability to establish engineering standards and make decisive architectural choicesA security-first mindset and the ability to take ownership of application and platform securityStrong product judgment and an understanding of how technical decisions affect users and business outcomesPractical experience using AI in software development and leading its responsible adoption across an engineering teamExperience working on large-scale consumer platformsExperience in social platforms, gaming, iGaming, streaming, fintech, payments, mobile products, or other high-volume and real-time environments would be especially relevant. Nice to Have Experience in gaming, iGaming, social networks, streaming, dating platforms, fintech, or paymentsExperience with high-volume, real-time, or real-money productsA background in an elite Israeli technology unit, such as Unit 8200, Unit 81, Mamram, or TalpiotFounder, startup, or early-stage company experience What the Client Offers Top-of-market compensation: A highly competitive cash package for the right personMeaningful equity: The opportunity to participate directly in the company’s future growthFull technical ownership: A mandate to shape the engineering organization and technical direction of a rapidly growing platformStrong founder support: Direct support and authority to make meaningful decisions and move quickly About 2am.tech: We are 2am.tech, a team of builders and problem solvers united by a shared commitment to delivering excellence. This commitment has shaped a company culture focused on creating solutions and products that consistently exceed expectations. Our drive to learn, evolve, and solve meaningful business challenges has taken us on a journey that goes #beyondsoftware. As part of that journey, we partner with ambitious companies to help them identify and hire exceptional technology professionals. We are currently managing the recruitment process for a client seeking an accomplished R&D / Engineering Lead to take full ownership of the technical direction of its fast-growing platform. This is a direct-hire opportunity. The successful candidate will be employed or engaged directly by the client, while 2am.tech will coordinate the recruitment and selection process.