Lead Engineer / Tech Lead, Applications

Hands-on technical leadership of the application layer for an AI-native email product, across backend, mobile and desktop. The Opportunity Our client needs the engineer who makes AI capability dependable enough to be a product. A well-funded AI applications company, backed by an established technology company in Southeast Asia and building for a global market, they are building an AI-native email application and the systems around it. This lead owns the engineering layer between the models and the user: architecture across backend services, APIs and client applications, plus a small team of senior engineers. It is a leadership role that stays in the code. The client is open on level, from staff through principal, for the right person. Role Snapshot Location: United States, United Kingdom or Asia (Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, China) Work Model: Hybrid in the US, UK and Seoul for most openings; remote in Singapore, Indonesia and China Employment Type: Full-time Compensation: Competitive, shared on intro call Team: Engineering, applications What You’ll Own Set application engineering strategy for backend, mobile and desktop, and deliver on it. Design AI workflow systems that hold up: state, orchestration, tool use, retries, fallbacks and failure handling. Create the APIs and abstractions through which AI systems reach the product. Lead a small group of senior engineers, lifting the standard through code review, design review and hands-on mentoring. Decide the big trade-offs among cost, latency, security, reliability and user experience. Lay the production groundwork: testing, monitoring, observability and operational discipline. Work with ML leadership to turn what the models can do into product experiences robust enough to ship. Keep the pace high without letting the architecture grow complicated, hard to maintain or unable to scale. What You Bring Substantial experience leading product or application engineering on complex systems. A strong hands-on record of building backend systems and shipping them to production. Experience with AI-powered products, or with systems integrated with modern ML and LLM capabilities. Sound technical judgment, including when information is incomplete. Range across backend and client platforms, with real depth in at least one. A strong pull toward ownership, shipping and learning from real usage. A high bar for engineering fundamentals, reliability and code quality. Why This Role Architecture authority across the whole application surface, not one service or one platform. A small, senior team with broad ownership, where engineers are expected to use their judgment and execute independently. Success defined in engineering terms: systems that are observable and stable under real load, and latency and reliability that visibly improve. A direct working relationship with ML leadership, and a short hiring process of three to four interviews. Not the Right Fit If You have stepped away from the code. This is a hands-on leadership role with critical architectural decisions in your hands. You want to manage a large organization; the team is deliberately small and senior. You have not built AI-powered products. That experience is a stated requirement. Next Step Apply through Axe Recruiting or book a confidential intro call: the employer's site. All conversations are confidential and the client is disclosed on the call. Presented by Axe Recruiting | axerecruiting | Confidential search on behalf of client.