Lead Software Engineer

About the Role

You’ll be a technical leader on the Client Experience team https://karbonhq.com/clients/. Someone who can hold the big picture while staying hands-on in the code. You’re frontend-anchored with deep React expertise, comfortable driving mobile architecture decisions, and able to contribute confidently to our .NET Core backend services. You know how to guide a team toward great outcomes without over-engineering.

You thrive in a collaborative, autonomous environment, take genuine ownership of the product and its impact on customers, and are energised by both shipping new features and improving the systems that already exist.

Key responsibilities include:

• Shipping new features and iteratively enhancing existing systems across web, mobile, and backend surfaces, prioritizing reliability and exceptional user experience.
• Drive architectural decisions for new services, balancing long-term scalability and maintainability with the need for rapid delivery in a multi-stack environment.
• Partner closely with product managers and designers from the earliest stages of solution design: shaping problems, challenging assumptions, and defining the right approach before implementation and help break work for your team.
• Own the technical backlog by ideating, prioritizing, and delivering on technical initiatives while communicating trade-offs clearly to stakeholders.
• Champion observability and reliability by defining meaningful dashboards, alerts, and SLOs to ensure our services remain healthy in production.
• Set the standard for pragmatic engineering, demonstrating the judgment to know when to move fast and when to invest in robustness.
• Leverage AI tools thoughtfully to accelerate delivery while always applying human oversight to what ships.
• Mentor and grow engineers through code reviews, pairing, and coaching, fostering a collaborative culture where the whole team improves.
• Work with autonomy, taking ownership of problems and bringing clear recommendations rather than waiting for predefined answers.

What Sets You Apart!

• Proven track record of technical leadership in both new feature development and maintaining existing systems.
• Deep React expertise with a frontend-anchored focus, setting the standard for frontend craft on the team.
• Strong TypeScript proficiency and a solid understanding of modern JavaScript and browser standards (HTML/CSS, DOM API, ES modules).
• Ability to drive mobile architecture decisions across React Native. You’ve designed systems across both web and mobile surfaces and can guide the team’s mobile direction, not just review mobile code.
• .NET Core (C#, Web API). Demonstrated senior-level depth in backend systems and container-based architecture, comfortable taking full ownership of a service without requiring dedicated backend leadership.
• Experience owning a technical backlog: ideating, scoping, prioritising, and delivering with the team.
• Proven track record of delivering features end-to-end - from technical scoping and design through to production - with the communication skills to set clear direction, align the team, and keep stakeholders informed throughout.
• Experience leading or mentoring engineers in a collaborative, distributed team environment.
• RESTful API design experience and solid relational database thinking - you understand how data flows through a system and can reason about query patterns and schema design, regardless of the specific tooling.
• Strong understanding of scalable system design, software architecture, data structures, and algorithms.
• Solid command of the full software development lifecycle - including testing strategies, CI/CD, deployment pipelines, and operational practices.
• Demonstrated enthusiasm for AI-assisted development. You actively use AI tools in your workflow and can articulate how they enhance productivity and code quality.
• Excellent communication skills; able to articulate technical decisions clearly to both engineering and non-engineering stakeholders across timezones.
• A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience.

Nice to haves

• Hands-on experience with React Native and Expo, including: build, release, and distribution pipelines (App Store, Google Play, or EAS Build).
• Familiarity with containerisation (Docker/Kubernetes) and cloud platforms (Azure a plus).
• Hands-on experience with DataDog, Azure, or equivalent observability and cloud tooling
• Understanding of i18n and accessibility standards for web and mobile applications.

Our Core Technology Stack!

We build modern, scalable software on a polyglot stack suited to a client-facing product:

• Frontend: React and TypeScript - our primary web application platform.
• Mobile: React Native with Expo - cross-platform apps for iOS and Android.
• API layer: Node.js BFF - a thin orchestration layer
• Backend services: .NET Core (C#, Web API) microservices deployed in containers and Karbon's shared .NET/SQL Server platform
• Cloud: Microsoft Azure, including containerised deployments.
• Observability: DataDog - metrics, logging, alerting, APM, and dashboards.
• Source control & CI/CD: GitHub with GitHub Actions.

Our architecture continues to evolve as we scale. If you care about clean service boundaries, reliable systems, and shipping with confidence, you’ll feel right at home here.

AI is reshaping how software gets built, and at Karbon we’re fully committed. We don’t see AI as a replacement for engineers. We see it as a force multiplier that will elevate creativity, impact and capability to levels we’ve barely begun to imagine. We’re looking for developers who are confident in their fundamentals, driven to grow, and excited to harness AI to build something meaningful. If you’re energized by this future rather than cautious of it, you’ll feel right at home here.

Why Work at Karbon?

• Gain global experience across the USA, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Canada and the Philippines
• 4 weeks annual leave plus 5 extra "Karbon Days" off a year
• Flexible working environment
• Work with (and learn from) an experienced, high-performing team
• Be part of a fast-growing company that firmly believes in promoting high performers from within
• A collaborative, team-oriented culture that embraces diversity, invests in development, and provides consistent feedback
• Generous parental leave

Our Engineering Standards

Balance Speed and Quality

Engineers are expected to balance delivery speed with a strong commitment to quality, meeting agreed timelines while producing reliable, maintainable, and well-tested solutions. Sound judgment in making trade-offs between velocity and long-term sustainability is essential.

Collaborate Effectively

Engineering is collaborative by default. Team members are expected to contribute constructively in design discussions, reviews, and planning, communicate clearly about progress and risks, and support shared team outcomes in both hybrid and distributed environments.

Build and Maintain Systems

Engineers are responsible for building new capabilities while maintaining and improving existing systems. This includes designing scalable solutions, reducing technical debt, supporting operational stability, and contributing to continuous improvement.

Operate with Autonomy

A high degree of autonomy is expected. Given clear objectives, engineers should independently translate problems into actionable technical approaches, proactively identify improvements, and continuously expand relevant technical expertise.

Ownership and Accountability

Ownership is fundamental. Engineers are accountable for the quality, performance, and customer impact of their work from design through post-release support, and are expected to follow through on commitments.

AI-Enabled Engineering

AI is reshaping how software is built, and we are committed to leveraging it as a force multiplier for creativity, impact, and capability. Engineers are expected to confidently apply strong technical fundamentals while embracing AI tools and approaches to enhance productivity, problem-solving, and innovation. Curiosity, adaptability, and enthusiasm for integrating AI into meaningful product development are essential.

Contribute to Team Culture

Engineers contribute positively to a culture of professionalism, transparency, low bureaucracy, and mutual respect, strengthening team performance through authenticity, curiosity, and collaboration.