Founding Tech Lead / Staff Full-Stack Engineer — AI-First Product Ownership & Growth

FULL-TIME · EXCLUSIVE · LONG-TERM · UP TO $10,000/MONTH Initial 6-Month Contract | 12-Month Extension | Remote About Lectella Lectella is a UK-based technology startup developing a premium platform that connects people through real-world meetings. Our iOS and Android applications are already live, and we are actively developing our presence in New York City. We are looking for an exceptional Hands-on Tech Lead / Staff Full-Stack Engineer who wants to take complete technical ownership of an existing product and become a long-term core member of our company. This is not another freelance assignment. We are looking for a highly committed technical leader who wants to focus on one serious product and help build a successful business. 1. An Existing Advanced AI-First Engineering System Important: You are not joining a project that needs to be built from scratch. Lectella already has: Live iOS and Android applications. An established product architecture and backend infrastructure. Existing development and deployment processes. AI-assisted engineering workflows implemented by our current Tech Lead. AI agents and automation supporting software development. Existing product functionality, integrations and operational systems. An active development roadmap with clearly defined priorities. Our current engineering approach already uses modern AI tools and automated workflows to accelerate development. Your role is not to rebuild the existing system. Your role is to take ownership of it, understand it, improve it and make it even more effective. We expect you to preserve what works, identify weaknesses and continuously improve development speed, automation, stability and product quality. 2. Full Commitment — Our Most Important Requirement We are looking for someone with genuine ownership mentality and exceptional professional dedication. Lectella must be your primary and exclusive professional commitment. Our expectations: 100% professional focus on Lectella. No parallel freelance clients, Upwork contracts, agency work or outside development projects without prior written approval. Long-term commitment rather than short-term freelancing. A stable, professional working environment with reliable internet and equipment. Consistent daily availability and direct communication with the founder. High responsiveness and proactive problem-solving. Flexibility during critical launches, deadlines and urgent production incidents, including occasional evenings and weekends. No frequent travel or digital-nomad arrangements that interfere with work during critical growth periods. Full transparency about workload, progress, technical risks and delivery timelines. We do not want someone who simply counts working hours and waits for instructions. We want someone who takes responsibility, solves problems, delivers results and genuinely cares about the success of the product. We do not micromanage time. We expect mature professional judgment, clearly agreed availability and exceptional execution. Working arrangements, emergency response expectations and planned time off will be established in our written agreement. 3. Full Technical Ownership You will take responsibility for the technical development and reliability of Lectella. Key responsibilities: Take over the existing codebase, architecture and infrastructure. Maintain and develop our iOS and Android applications. Own the backend, APIs, databases and system integrations. Manage CI/CD, deployments, monitoring and release processes. Build new product functionality independently. Improve performance, reliability, security and scalability. Diagnose and resolve production issues. Maintain clear documentation and development processes. Ensure the company retains full control of its code, infrastructure and technical accounts. This is a hands-on engineering position. You must personally be capable of writing, reviewing, testing and shipping production-quality code. We are not hiring someone whose primary function is managing other developers. 4. Advanced AI-Assisted Engineering — Critical Requirement Lectella already operates with AI-assisted development workflows. We expect our new Tech Lead to master the existing system quickly and improve it. Strong practical experience is required with: Claude Code. Cursor. AI coding agents and agentic development workflows. AI-assisted debugging and automated testing. Code review, refactoring and technical documentation. Multi-agent orchestration where useful. Development workflow automation. * AI-assisted prototyping and production implementation. We are particularly interested in engineers who can demonstrate how they have used AI to significantly improve development productivity. We don’t need someone who is learning AI coding tools for the first time. We need someone who already uses them professionally and can make our existing system better. The ob