Join us as a Backend Lead and drive the development of the backend platform behind one of the fastest-growing AI products in the US market. We are looking for a strong technical leader who combines deep expertise in high-load system architecture with hands-on experience in building and scaling engineering teams.In this role, you will have true ownership of our AI Gateway, generative pipelines, and mission-critical backend services powering a product already trusted by more than 1.5 million users.Zeely AI is an AI-powered platform that helps small businesses create viral UGC videos, advertising banners, and high-performing campaigns across Meta and TikTok, making it easier for entrepreneurs to grow and scale their businesses.Your key responsibilities:Lead the Backend Department, driving team growth, planning, estimations, code reviews, mentoring, and engineers' performance managementDefine the architectural vision and ensure the reliability, scalability, and performance of the backend platformDevelop and evolve our AI orchestration layer across multiple models and providers, optimizing generation quality, latency, and cost efficiencyOwn the evolution of the AI Gateway — the core platform component powering text, image, voice, avatar, and video generationScale infrastructure and backend services to support product growth and increasing workloadsMaintain high engineering standards in code quality, security, observability, and operational excellenceDeliver strategic AI initiatives, including our proprietary RAG pipeline, MCP integrations, and AI agent capabilitiesCollaborate closely with Frontend, Mobile, QA, AI Engineering, and DevOps teams to achieve business goalsPartner with the Principal Engineer on infrastructure capacity planning and cost optimizationWhat we’re looking for:7+ years of commercial experience with Node.js3+ years of experience in a Lead, Team Lead, or Engineering Manager role with direct people management responsibilities3+ years of hands-on experience with NestJSProven experience designing and evolving microservice architectures in production environmentsDeep expertise in PostgreSQL and RedisExperience working with ORMs such as Prisma and DrizzleHands-on experience with AWS services, including EKS, RDS, SQS, S3, CloudWatch, and OpenSearchStrong Docker expertiseExperience designing reliable, scalable, and observable distributed systemsSolid understanding of on-call processes and incident management practicesUpper-Intermediate English level or higherNice to have:Active AWS Architect or Developer certificationExperience with TerraformExperience building high-load systems and optimizing cost/latency trade-offsPayment systems integration experienceBackend development experience for mobile applications (iOS/Android) and web productsExperience with GCP and CloudflareExperience hiring engineers and building processes in fast-scaling organizationsAI expertise we value:Commercial experience integrating AI APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and others)Understanding of multi-model orchestration, including routing, fallback strategies, and cost/latency trade-offsExperience with AI-assisted development and code review tools (Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, etc.)Understanding of RAG, embeddings, MCP, and AI agents (hands-on experience is a strong plus)Why it’s exciting to work with us:Work with cutting-edge technologies and contribute to building AI-powered toolsJoin a strong A-level team that motivates you to grow and achieve moreRemote-first approach: work from anywhere, with the option to visit our offices in Warsaw and KyivPaid day offs and sick leaves — we care about your work-life balanceRegular performance reviews to ensure your growth is transparent and rewardedFinancial support — consultations for private entrepreneurs from our dedicated finance teamRecruitment process:Intro Call → Test Task → Technical Interview → Final Interview → Reference Check → OfferSend us your CV — we'd love to get to know you!
