Backend Technical Lead
Required
About Howdy
Howdy.com, founded in 2018 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, helps US companies who want to hire, manage, and retain their teams in Latin America (LatAm) directly but need help with multinational logistics, contracts, compliance, and culture. Companies that use Howdy.com get the best talent available in LatAm and gain access to an entire network and a thriving community of professionals who are changing the world. By partnering with Howdy.com, companies can expand their physical presence into some of the fastest-growing economies in LatAm.
Howdy.com is a member of Y Combinator and has garnered significant support from prominent investors, including Greycroft and Obvious Ventures. The company raised over $20 million in a series A venture capital round.
Our core values
#1 Sports Team: At Howdy, we win together. From players to support, everyone is vital to our success. We hire for excellence, prioritize teamwork, and strive for continuous improvement. We collaborate, seek advice, and actively contribute to Howdy's victories.
Altruism: Demonstrating altruism involves prioritizing the team and assuming the best in others. We communicate openly, provide honest feedback, and extend grace. Altruism is selfless service, focusing on supporting our players and team growth.
Curiosity: Being curious at Howdy means having the willingness to learn, adapt, and explore new ideas. We question existing beliefs, embrace humility, and see curiosity as our superpower. Demonstrating curiosity involves researching unfamiliar tasks, asking questions to understand the full picture, and seeking better ways to complete routine tasks.
Have Spirit: Having spirit at Howdy is about celebrating wins, building a sense of community, and bringing positivity. Demonstrating spirit involves attending events, getting to know teammates, participating in challenges, and proudly wearing the Howdy swag. Simply put, it's about bringing a super-fan spirit to work every day.
Backend Technical Lead
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and mentor a small team of back-end engineers, promoting collaboration, accountability, and technical excellence.
- Define and evolve the system architecture to ensure scalability, reliability, and high performance as we continue to grow.
- Collaborate closely with front-end team lead, product managers, and designers to plan and deliver product initiatives.
- Improve engineering processes, ensuring consistent code quality, testing coverage, and strong CI/CD practices.
- Drive observability and monitoring—implement metrics, logging, and alerting strategies to detect and resolve issues early.
- Contribute directly to development, focusing on high-impact features and technical foundations.
- Review code and guide technical decisions to maintain strong engineering standards.
- Champion best practices in security, documentation, and API design.
- Partner with the CTO on long-term technical strategy, staffing, and system evolution.
Main Skills and Qualifications
- 7+ years of professional experience in back-end development, ideally within SaaS environments.
- 2+ years of experience leading or mentoring engineers (Team Lead, Staff, or Principal level).
- Strong expertise in Node.js and TypeScript, with solid experience in RESTful and/or GraphQL API design.
- Deep understanding of scalable architecture patterns, system design, and data flow management.
- Experience with relational databases (MySQL/Postgres) and caching layers (Redis, Memcached).
- Previous experience architecting and implementing scalable data processing solutions that support product growth and reliability.
- Proficiency with observability tools (Datadog, OpenTelemetry) and testing frameworks (Jest, Mocha).
- Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, CircleCI) and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Heroku).
- Strong communication and leadership skills—able to influence across teams and lead by example.
- Analytical, pragmatic problem-solver with a passion for performance and product quality.
- Nice to have: knowledge of front-end frameworks (React, Next.js), SaaS or AI-driven platforms, and setting engineering OKRs.
Some Benefits
💻Hardware and accessories to set you up for success
💰Personal health insurance benefit (family coverage not included)
🏋️Gym membership
🍹Community activities and events (either remote or on-site)
👨🏫Complimentary English lessons to help you grow both professionally and personally
🎁Birthday and anniversary presents
🏢Access to our offices or work remotely—your choice!
🌴Paid vacation and national holidays (according to your location)
🕐Flexible work schedule