Lead Software Engineer (Hybrid)

Summary / Objective
The Lead Software Engineer will play a pivotal role owning delivery and operational excellence for our DNS-anchored identity platform for AI agents. This role combines deep hands-on coding with team leadership, guiding Sr. Engineers and DevOps/SREs, driving day-to-day execution, and taking full ownership of production. Working alongside a Principal Architect who sets the technical vision, you will translate that vision into reliable, running software while shaping team processes, mentoring teammates, and building the foundation for sustainable growth at a critical, well-funded stage of innovation where your technical and organizational decisions will define how we scale.
This role reports to the VP, Engineering & Technical Architect and works closely with the Principal Architect.
What You'll Do

• Act as lead developer - hands-on designing, building, and shipping features across the stack, from backend services (Go, Python, TypeScript/Node) to front-end interfaces (React) to cloud infrastructure (AWS)
• Own execution of the engineering roadmap. Break down ambiguous problems into well-scoped work, manage delivery cadence, identify risks early, and ensure the team ships incrementally and reliably
• Collaborate with the Principal Architect to translate architectural vision into production-ready implementations. Contribute to architectural decisions and own the path from design to deployed, running software
• Collaborate closely with Product and Design to turn complex identity, DNS, and AI agent concepts into clear technical plans and intuitive product experiences
• Actively participate in and drive code reviews to maintain quality, share knowledge, and ensure consistency across the codebase
• Lead and mentor a team of Sr. Software Engineers and DevOps/SRE engineers - providing technical direction, career mentorship, regular 1:1s to support technical initiatives
• Raise the technical bar across the engineering organization through mentoring, pairing, and establishing engineering standards and best practices
• Partner with the VP of Engineering to define development processes, team culture, and hiring priorities
• Be a key voice in recruiting - helping identify, evaluate, and close engineering talent
• Own production operations for the platform - uptime, monitoring, alerting, incident response, and post-incident review
• Drive operational maturity across the team: observability, runbooks, on-call rotations, SLOs, and capacity planning
• Ensure security hardening, key rotation, certificate lifecycle management, and compliance readiness are built into the platform from day one - not bolted on later
• Coordinate cross-team technical integration, including with the Cadena cryptographic team, external service providers, and Identity Digital's broader engineering organization
• Evaluate and introduce new technologies, frameworks, and patterns where they deliver clear value - particularly in AI/ML tooling, agent frameworks, and identity/security infrastructure
• Actively models and promotes Identity Digital's core values through day-to-day interactions, behaviors, and decision-making
• Other duties as assigned

Who You Are / What You Bring

• 8+ years of experience building and shipping production software, with at least 2 years in a technical lead, staff engineer, or engineering manager role
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a relevant field - or equivalent experience
• Experience leading engineers - you've run 1:1s, provided technical mentorship, and helped people grow
• Comfortable leading through technical credibility and influence as much as positional authority
• Strong full-stack engineering skills with deep proficiency in at least one of Go, Python, or TypeScript/Node, and working familiarity with the others
• Experience with modern front-end development (React preferred) and component-driven UI architecture
• Proven track record of driving architectural decisions for distributed systems - API design, event-driven architectures, service decomposition, and data modeling
• Experience with cryptographic concepts (public key infrastructure, TLS/mTLS, JWTs/JWKS, digital signatures) or a strong desire and demonstrated ability to learn quickly in this domain
• Familiarity with cloud-native architectures and services (AWS preferred; GCP/Azure exposure is a plus)
• Experience with relational and NoSQL databases (PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, or similar).
• Understanding of CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code, and automated testing strategies
• Working knowledge of AI/ML concepts and enthusiasm for the emerging agentic AI ecosystem
• Experience building 0-to-1 products - comfortable with ambiguity, shifting priorities, and making pragmatic tradeoffs to ship
• Strong written and verbal communication skills. Able to articulate technical decisions to both engineering peers and non-technical stakeholders
• Familiarity with DNS, domain registration systems, identity/access management, or certificate lifecycle management is a significant plus
• Ability to travel as needed
• Ability to work across time zones as part of a global organization as needed
• Reliable transportation to the workplace

Physical Requirements

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer
• Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times

Salary Range
The U.S. base salary range for this full-time position is $150,000 - $200,000 (flexibility based on experience) plus benefits as described below. In addition, the successful candidate will be eligible to receive other compensation from time to time in the form of discretionary and/or nondiscretionary bonuses and long-term incentive plan. Actual compensation will be influenced by a candidate's qualifications, internal employee equity considerations, and location. We will not ask for information about a candidate's current or past compensation for purposes of developing an offer of employment.
US team members (and their spouses, domestic partners, and/or dependent children) are covered by generously subsidized medical, dental, and vision insurance which includes company contributions to a Health Savings Accounts. Team members are also covered by company-paid life and disability insurance and have the option of participating in employee-paid supplemental life, accidental death and dismemberment, critical illness, and accident insurance. In addition, team members can enroll in the company's 401(k) plan with up to a 5% match. You receive 15 days of paid vacation yearly, increasing to 20 days after one year. Additionally, you get 5 days of paid sick leave, 13 paid holidays, and 20 weeks of paid parental leave for birthing parents, 12 weeks for others. Also, there's an opportunity for tuition reimbursement for qualifying expenses.
Note: Benefits programs are subject to eligibility requirements and may vary in certain locations.
A few things to know about us
Identity Digital is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or any other category prohibited by local, state or federal law. This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including recruitment, placement, promotion, transfer, demotion, compensation, benefits, social and recreational activities, and termination.
Background Check Statement
At the time of an offer, you will be required to complete a background check. Any offer is contingent upon a satisfactory background check.
Sponsorship Statement
Please note that work sponsorship for this position may not be available now or in the future. While we strive to support our candidates, not all roles will qualify. Eligibility will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Accommodation Statement
We are committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, Identity Digital will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, please contact our Recruiting Team at [email protected].