Lead Back-end Engineer
Key Skills
Job Description
About Elockers
Elockers runs the smart-locker platform that festivals, venues, and events across six countries rely on for real time payments and marketplace-style payouts — including on-sale moments where a large share of a site's lockers can sell out within a minute. We're live in six countries, with further international expansion and two acquisitions underway.
Our platform is genuinely strong: microservices architecture (~30 services), event-driven data flow, and a payments stack built for a real marketplace. This isn't a role about fixing something broken — it's about taking technical ownership of a platform that already works well, and pushing it further.
The Role
We're looking for an exceptionally strong, hands-on Lead Engineer to take technical ownership of a platform where software, payments, and physical hardware come together. You'll match our current technical level and raise it — through your own hands-on work, and by making the people around you better. This is not a pure management role: you'll design architecture, write and review code, and solve genuinely hard problems yourself.
What you'll own
• Technical ownership of our microservices platform, with Node.js and modern architecture patterns at the core
• Cloud-native engineering on DigitalOcean App Platform — deployment, scaling, monitoring, and production reliability
• Reliability at peak: real-time payments and traffic spikes during live events, with zero tolerance for downtime
• Our Adyen-based payments and marketplace systems, and how our software connects to physical locks and hardware
• Spreading critical knowledge across the team so no single person is a single point of failure
• Setting the bar on engineering discipline — CI/CD, documentation, AI-assisted development — as we raise an already-strong platform further
• Being the clear, dependable bridge between commercial priorities and engineering delivery
What you'll bring
Deep, hands-on technical seniority — you independently design, build, and debug complex distributed systems
Strong, current Node.js and microservices expertise — a core requirement
Real soft skills and team fit — a clear communicator who makes the people around you better, not a lone operator
Genuine ownership and event mentality — you step up when something business-critical is on the line
Experience introducing engineering process and AI-assisted development in a fast-moving team
Cloud/platform engineering experience, ideally DigitalOcean App Platform
Payments or marketplace experience (Adyen, PSPs, split payments, KYC) and comfort with high-peak, mission-critical systems
A track record of coaching and knowledge transfer in a small team
IoT / hardware integration experience is a genuine plus — our software talks to physical lockers
Nice to have: product/business sense, React Native/Expo experience, multi-country scaling with GDPR awareness, background in events or ticketing.
Our stack today
Microservices (~30 services), moving toward Node.js at the core. Adyen for payments. Kafka, ClickHouse, Metabase for data. React Native/Expo for mobile. DigitalOcean, Sentry, New Relic, Jira for infra and tooling.
What we offer
• A competitive gross annual salary, depending on experience
• Real technical ownership of a platform where software, payments, and hardware genuinely come together
Sound like you? The most efficient way to apply is via Apply Here or through our website.
Core Responsibilities
You will take technical ownership of a microservices-based platform, managing cloud-native deployments and ensuring high reliability for real-time payment systems. Additionally, you will lead architectural design, write code, and mentor the team to maintain high engineering standards.
Requirements
The ideal candidate possesses deep, hands-on experience with Node.js, microservices, and distributed systems in a cloud environment. You must demonstrate strong leadership capabilities, including the ability to design complex systems and effectively transfer knowledge to team members.
About elockers
Industry: Technology, Information and Internet
Company size: 11-50 employees
Streamline your workplace with state-of-the-art smart lockers for staff, devices, and click-and-collect services. eLocker is the trusted partner of leading global companies such as Amazon, DHL, Microsoft, Motorola and PwC, providing solutions that drive efficiency and reduce unnecessary costs and complexities of outdated locker management. Our proprietary technology - a combination of IoT hardware and cloud-based software - integrates seamlessly across diverse environments including offices, warehouses, and retail spaces worldwide. Join us in leading the future of workplace management. The next-generation smart locker solution is here. We are eLocker.