About this role
Guiding complex technical projects from discovery to production, you will lead software development engagements and build agentic products alongside diverse clients. The engineering group at 8th Light builds robust platforms and intelligent solutions through collaborative, iterative practices, tackling hard architectural challenges with a focus on durable client outcomes. As a senior technical leader, you will design systems across the full machine learning lifecycle, leverage AI-assistive development tools, and mentor colleagues while balancing product needs with technical constraints.
Operating within a remote-first consultancy, you will typically partner with one or two clients each year, making immediate contributions while guiding high-stakes software engagements. Success in this role requires a deep background in full-stack engineering, a pragmatic approach to architecture and design, and the empathy needed to communicate clearly with stakeholders and technical teams.
What you will do
- Make immediate contributions to projects by rapidly building trust with clients and delivering high-quality work within deadlines.
- Lead architecture and software design discussions while collaborating on systems that involve the full machine learning lifecycle.
- Ensure your team maintains a healthy, prioritized, and estimated backlog alongside managing high-level project roadmaps for large engagements.
- Maintain ongoing relationships with client technical leaders through regular status updates and proactive risk evaluation.
- Identify, mitigate, and resolve blockers to team progress while contributing to internal workshops, mentoring, and hiring processes.
- Lead formal feedback conversations and retrospectives to clearly articulate outcomes and drive forward actionable next steps.
What you need
- Demonstrate long-term repeated success on a variety of software projects over the course of 7+ years.
- Write production-quality code using a variety of languages and frameworks such as Java, Python, TypeScript, React, Go, and SQL.
- Bring previous experience building or integrating AI/ML-powered features such as recommendation engines, NLP models, or predictive analytics into products.
- Utilize context-appropriate automated testing to inform software design choices and catch bugs effectively.
- Remedy architecture-level concerns regarding scalability, security, reliability, and performance across pre-existing codebases.
- Bring together people from different functions and perspectives to foster idea sharing, collaboration, and problem-solving.
Nice to have
- MLOps experience including tools like LangChain for application development and managing the machine learning lifecycle
- Data Engineering experience including platforms like Databricks for data processing and analytics
- DevSecOps and DevOps experience including Infrastructure as Code
Benefits
- Flexible PTO
- A robust learning and development program with unlimited access to the O'Reilly learning platform
- Annual financial stipend and time allotment for learning and development
- Coworking support for the global team
- 12 weeks of new parent leave available for eligible employees
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the remote work policy for this position?
8th Light is a remote-first company with a distributed team across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Team members have access to coworking spaces and regional hubs in cities like Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle.
What is the salary range for this role?
The pay ranges for the Lead Engineer position depend on geographic structure, starting at $126,279-$157,849 USD for regions such as Tampa Metro, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, up to $147,254-$184,068 USD for locations like Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York City.
What tools and technologies will I work with?
You will write production-quality code using a variety of languages and frameworks, including Java, C#/.NET, Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, React, Go, Ruby, Scala, R, and SQL. Preferred skills also include MLOps tools like LangChain and data engineering platforms like Databricks.
What does the day-to-day team environment look like?
You will work with a variety of clients, typically one to two in a year, leading more complicated projects and guiding teams. The culture is built on honesty, continuous education, mentorship, and regular syncs with client technical leaders.