Backend Lead (Node.js)

About Zeely: Zeely is a premier, internationally recognized artificial intelligence pioneer, adtech software innovator, and global marketing automation leader on an absolute mission to empower small businesses and entrepreneurs to grow and scale. By engineering an intelligent, all-in-one mobile and web ecosystem, Zeely enables users to generate viral user-generated content (UGC) videos, design high-converting advertising banners, and launch optimized ad campaigns across Meta and TikTok within seconds. Currently trusted by more than 1.5 million users in the United States and international markets, the high-growth platform unifies advanced generative modeling with multi-channel ad delivery. Operating on a remote-first model that values elite A-level talent, deep craftsmanship, and transparent professional growth, Zeely gives technical leaders an uncompromised canvas to shape cutting-edge AI gateways and deploy scalable backend systems safely worldwide.

Position Overview

We are seeking a highly analytical, systems-minded Backend Lead (Node.js) to head our core centralized Backend Department in a full-time remote capacity. In this high-leverage engineering leadership seat, you will step up to claim true structural ownership over our comprehensive AI Gateway, multi-provider generative pipelines, and mission-critical backend services. Shifting completely away from routine application maintenance or basic template scripting, you will drive the architectural vision to secure the absolute reliability, scalability, and performance of a high-load platform processing millions of content queries. This role requires an enterprise development veteran with 7+ years of commercial Node.js background and 3+ years of direct people management history who maps microservice patterns fluidly, orchestrates foundation models smoothly under compressed timelines, and raises engineering standards across distributed cells.

Key Responsibilities

• Backend Department Strategic Leadership: Lead and command the backend engineering division, driving department planning, technical estimations, deep code reviews, mentoring tracks, and engineer performance management.
• High-Load Node.js Architecture Governance: Define and implement the long-term architectural vision, checking uncompromised scalability and performance across multi-tenant microservices natively utilizing Node.js guidelines.
• AI Gateway and Orchestration Curation: Own and evolve the core AI orchestration gateway power-routing text, image, voice, digital avatar, and video generation natively leveraging Backend code logic.
• Multi-Provider LLM Integration and Ingestion: Develop intelligent fallback strategies, dynamic routing rules, and cost-to-latency trade-offs across multiple model APIs explicitly including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.
• Relational and Cache Storage Triage: Manage and optimize distributed database models and memory nodes, configuring complex queries and transactional schemas using NestJS frameworks, PostgreSQL engines, Redis caches, and Prisma or Drizzle ORMs.
• Enterprise AWS Infrastructure Scaling: Partner with the Principal Engineer to lead cloud capacity planning and infrastructure optimization, managing containerized nodes across AWS EKS, RDS, SQS queues, S3 storage, and OpenSearch clusters.
• Advanced AI Feature Deployment: Program and deliver strategic generative initiatives, implementing proprietary Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines, Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations, and autonomous AI agent capabilities.
• Incident Management and Observability: Maintain elite operational standards in code safety, security tracking, and cloud observability, establishing structured on-call processes and modern cloud incident management routines.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• 7+ years of verified professional history running commercial backend software engineering, server-side architecture design, full-stack application programming, or technical cloud consulting.
• 3+ years of formal experience operating in a Backend Lead, Team Lead, or Engineering Manager capacity with direct people management and team development responsibilities.
• Deep, production-tested technical command of the NestJS framework, asynchronous event loops, and microservices design patterns natively utilizing Node.js toolsets.
• Expert-tier capability managing cloud storage registries, database migrations, and web caching strategies natively leveraging advanced Backend utilities including PostgreSQL, Redis, and modern object-relational mapping (ORM) tools.
• Hands-on operational familiarity containerizing complex application architectures, tracking deployment logs, and managing containerized microservices via Docker registries.
• Outstanding verbal and written communication traits in fluent English (Upper-Intermediate level or higher), with an absolute capacity to present architectural roadmaps and collaborate across Frontend, Mobile, QA, and DevOps teams.
• Location Context: Position open to qualified engineering leads globally to operate under a flexible 100% remote work-from-home layout, with optional access to visit physical corporate offices in Warsaw or Kyiv.

Preferred Strategic Indicators (Nice to Have)

• Prior commercial history building high-load, mass-market consumer applications or integrating secure multi-tenant credit card payment gateways.
• Possession of accredited industry cloud credentials, highlighting active AWS Certified Solutions Architect or AWS Certified Developer designations.
• Hands-on experience writing infrastructure-as-code deployment scripts via Terraform, or navigating alternative public cloud environments including Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Cloudflare.
• Familiarity with building specialized client endpoints or mobile application backend connectors tailored for native iOS and Android products.
• An outcome-driven personal philosophy that thrives within fast-scaling organizations, values work-life balance, and utilizes AI-assisted development tools (e.g., Claude Code, GitHub Copilot) to accelerate production velocity.

What We Offer

• The exceptional professional canvas to directly direct, shape, and code-engineer the core AI gateways and backend platform architectures power-routing next-generation UGC video tools for millions of global small businesses.
• Highly competitive, capability-benchmarked full-time baseline compensation configurations calibrated precisely to reward your engineering leadership authority, Node.js mastery, and architectural execution speed.
• Profound work-from-home remote parameters providing an elite digital workplace, complete scheduling trust, and zero physical office geographical commuting friction from anywhere in the world.
• Access to elite personal rest and wellness metrics, including fully paid days off and paid sick leaves to preserve a healthy, stable work-life balance.
• Transparent, data-driven professional progression paths backed by regular corporate performance and compensation review cycles.
• Tailored financial support structures, including dedicated accounting and corporate tax consultations for private entrepreneurs provided directly by our internal finance division.