Technical Lead, Backend Engineering

The Role

We are looking for a hands-on Technical Lead ready to build something from the ground up, not maintain someone else's roadmap. You will help architect, build, deploy, and scale a next-generation backend and platform for AI-driven data centre infrastructure.

This role is not a traditional software management position. We are looking for someone who is equally comfortable making high-level technical decisions and rolling up their sleeves to implement production systems across cloud infrastructure, DevOps, backend services, optimization workflows, and real-time orchestration.

The ideal candidate has deep technical fluency across multiple engineering domains and thrives in fast-moving startup environments where ownership, adaptability, and execution matter. You will take ownership of evolving an existing prototype and architecture into a secure, scalable, production-grade platform while helping establish the technical foundation for future engineering growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Take technical ownership of the platform architecture and make critical engineering decisions across infrastructure, deployment, scalability, and system reliability.
• Lead the transition of the platform from prototype to production-ready deployment.
• Design, implement, and maintain cloud infrastructure and hosting environments.
• Build and manage CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation, and DevOps workflows to support reliable deployment and operations.
• Develop and maintain backend systems, APIs, orchestration services, and operational tooling.
• Translate thermal, power, and closed-loop control domain requirements into backend and platform architecture decisions.
• Support implementation and operationalization of optimization and machine-learning systems involving multi-objective decision-making.
• Maintain architectural awareness of thermal management, liquid cooling infrastructure, power systems, and closed-loop control processes, without owning the hands-on OT/industrial-systems engineering directly.
• Establish engineering best practices for security, uptime, observability, monitoring, and incident response.
• Help define technical standards, development workflows, and long-term platform scalability strategies.
• Operate effectively in a startup environment by wearing multiple hats and driving execution across both strategic and hands-on technical work.
• Support future team growth through technical mentorship, hiring input, and engineering leadership.
• Own realistic estimation of engineering work, timelines and effort, and proactively flag risks, delays, or scope changes as soon as they are visible, not after they have already become a problem.

• 6+ years of experience in backend, infrastructure, or platform engineering, with meaningful product development experience; prior formal leadership title is not required if you are ready to step into one.
• Proven experience taking complex technical products or platforms from prototype/MVP stage to production deployment.
• Strong hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Deep experience with DevOps tooling, CI/CD pipeline implementation, infrastructure automation, and production operations.
• Experience with containerization and orchestration technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.
• Strong backend engineering and API development experience.
• Experience designing and operating highly available, high-uptime production systems.
• Strong understanding of security best practices, infrastructure hardening, and compliance-oriented engineering environments.
• Startup or high-growth company experience with demonstrated ability to operate independently and manage ambiguity.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technically while remaining hands-on in implementation and execution.
• Strong cross-disciplinary technical fluency and systems-thinking mindset.
• A demonstrated habit of staying current with new tools, frameworks, and technical approaches rather than defaulting to what is familiar.
• Track record of scoping and estimating technical work realistically, and communicating risk or slippage early rather than letting it surface as a surprise.
• Meaningful technical understanding in at least one of the following: optimization systems and machine-learning infrastructure; multi-objective optimization and operational decision systems; infrastructure telemetry, monitoring, and operational analytics.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working within AI infrastructure, data centers, energy systems, industrial automation, or mission-critical infrastructure environments.
• Experience with real-time orchestration systems, distributed infrastructure, or edge computing environments.
• Familiarity with optimization frameworks, MILP solvers, or operational AI systems.
• Experience supporting liquid cooling systems, thermal optimization, or power-aware infrastructure operations.
• Experience with battery management systems, power electronics, or energy dispatch systems.
• Experience building platforms requiring high reliability, resilience, and operational safety.
• Prior experience as a founding engineer, technical lead, or early-stage engineering leader.
• Experience helping scale engineering organizations and technical processes.
• Familiarity with security and compliance frameworks such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, or similar operational standards.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts across multidisciplinary teams.

• Base salary: CAD $120,000 – $170,000, commensurate with experience.
• Performance bonus tied to project milestones.
• Stock options.
• Extended health and dental benefits.
• Real room to grow with the company as the engineering org scales.