Lead Software Engineer

About KIRA

Our mission is to make money smart, reliable, and within reach for everyone. In 2019, we built the first mobile-first, insurance platform, enabling insurance to be accessible online by millions in the region. Today, it's the leading insurance platform in Southeast Asia. We are expanding our offerings to include spending, saving, investing, exchanging, travelling, and more, aiming to empower users with tools for financial ease and self-reliance. We believe AI will be instrumental in achieving this vision.

We seek talented, driven individuals who are passionate about building great products, not just maintaining the status quo. Join our diverse, global team of over 20 nationalities and help us redefine financial applications for everyone.

The Role

KIRA builds technology products used by millions across Southeast Asia. As our products and systems scale, we need technical leaders to solve complex engineering challenges and elevate our engineering standards. The Lead Software Engineer will own the technical direction and execution for major products and systems. This is a hands-on role involving system design, coding, and driving critical engineering work from concept to production.

What You'll Own

• Own technical design and execution for major products, systems, and engineering initiatives.
• Design scalable, reliable systems across backend, frontend, APIs, databases, and infrastructure.
• Contribute hands-on through coding, prototyping, code reviews, debugging, and production problem-solving.
• Drive architecture decisions and balance trade-offs across speed, scalability, reliability, cost, and maintainability.
• Translate ambiguous product problems into clear technical solutions and execution plans.
• Enhance engineering quality through robust system design, testing, security, observability, and development practices.
• Lead technically critical initiatives and mentor engineers across teams.

What We're Looking For

• 7+ years of software engineering experience building and shipping production systems.
• Deep expertise in backend, frontend, distributed systems, APIs, databases, or cloud infrastructure.
• Strong system design and architecture skills for complex or high-scale systems.
• Proficient coding abilities with a willingness to remain hands-on.
• Proven track record of technically leading major engineering projects from design to production.
• Ability to make sound technical trade-offs, influence engineers, and solve complex production problems.

Nice to Have

• Experience scaling engineering teams, systems, or development practices during significant growth.
• Experience operating across multiple products, markets, or countries.

Location

This is a remote role. We hire globally and operate across multiple countries and time zones. Candidates should be comfortable working effectively in a distributed, fast-moving international team and collaborating across different locations.

Language

English is our primary working language. Strong English communication skills are required.

Interview Process

Our process is designed for speed:

1. Online assessment or practical task
2. Technical interview
3. CEO / final round

For strong candidates, we aim to complete the process and make an offer within 1 week from the start of the interview. Prompt completion of assessments will be prioritized.