Lead Engineer

About Duetti

Duetti is transforming how independent music creators monetize and grow their careers. Founded in 2022, we partner with creators to unlock the value of their music catalogs through flexible deals, alongside offering top-tier catalog management, distribution, and marketing services. We've already partnered with over 1,100 music creators globally and are backed by leading investors, having raised over $635 million to support independent music creators. Our mission is to foster independence and financial empowerment, building a more sustainable future for music creators. With offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, and London, we offer a competitive benefits package, flexible PTO, and a hybrid work model. Duetti provides an ambitious, high-ownership environment where your work has an immediate, tangible impact.

Role Overview

We are seeking a Lead Engineer to help scale both our engineering organization and the platforms that power Duetti. This is a highly visible leadership position that integrates technical execution, team leadership, operational excellence, and cross-functional collaboration. You will remain a hands-on contributor while also leading a growing backend engineering team. You'll work closely with the Head of Engineering, Product, Data, Research, and business stakeholders to ensure the successful delivery of critical initiatives.

The ideal candidate is a strong technical leader who excels at solving complex engineering problems, developing engineers, improving processes, and driving execution. You understand how to balance engineering quality with business needs, navigate ambiguity, and align teams around shared objectives. This role is perfect for someone who wants to directly impact both the technology and the growth of the engineering organization.

You Will:

Lead Engineering Execution

• Own the delivery of critical engineering initiatives across multiple product areas.
• Translate high-level business objectives into clear engineering plans and milestones.
• Partner closely with Product and Engineering leadership to define technical priorities.
• Help ensure projects are delivered on time and with a high standard of quality.
• Proactively identify risks, dependencies, and execution challenges before they impact delivery.

Remain a Strong Individual Contributor

• Actively contribute to architecture, design, implementation, and code reviews.
• Build scalable services and platform capabilities.
• Participate in debugging, troubleshooting, and production support.
• Lead complex technical initiatives and serve as a technical resource for the broader team.
• Establish and promote engineering best practices across the organization.

Grow and Develop the Team

• Help recruit, interview, and onboard engineers.
• Mentor engineers through technical guidance and career development.
• Create an environment focused on accountability, collaboration, learning, and execution.
• Help define responsibilities, expectations, and growth paths for team members.
• Lead by example through technical excellence and professionalism.

Improve Engineering Processes

• Establish consistent engineering standards and development practices.
• Improve sprint planning, estimation, prioritization, and release management processes.
• Help create scalable operating procedures as the team grows.
• Drive improvements in testing, code quality, observability, documentation, and reliability.
• Ensure alignment across engineers, teams, and initiatives.

Partner Across the Business

• Work closely with Product Managers to refine requirements and scope initiatives.
• Communicate project status, risks, and trade-offs to leadership.
• Collaborate with Data, Research, Operations, and other business teams to understand needs and deliver solutions.
• Help balance short-term business objectives with long-term platform investments.

Contribute to Organizational Planning

• Partner with the Head of Engineering on roadmap planning and resource allocation.
• Help establish team OKRs and measurable success criteria.
• Track execution against goals and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Participate in defining the future structure and growth of the engineering organization.

Requirements:

Experience

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• 1+ years leading or managing engineering teams.
• Experience operating in high-growth startup environments (ideally Series B, C, or D companies).
• Experience building and maintaining production systems at scale.
• Demonstrated success leading engineering projects from planning through delivery.

Technical Skills

• Expert-level backend development experience using Python.
• Strong experience designing APIs and distributed systems.
• Deep understanding of cloud-native architectures and AWS services.
• Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, CI/CD, and modern infrastructure practices.
• Strong understanding of system design, scalability, reliability, security, and performance optimization.
• Experience working with relational databases and data-intensive systems.

Leadership

• Proven ability to lead technical teams while remaining hands-on.
• Ability to build trust and alignment across teams.
• Comfortable making decisions and driving accountability.
• Leads through influence, collaboration, and example.

Communication

• Exceptional communication skills.
• Ability to explain complex technical concepts concisely and structurally.
• Comfortable communicating with executives, engineers, product managers, and non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong written communication and documentation skills.

Problem Solving

• Highly organized and execution-oriented.
• Ability to break large initiatives into manageable milestones.
• Strong prioritization skills and business judgment.
• Focused on finding solutions rather than just identifying problems.
• Comfortable balancing speed, quality, and long-term maintainability.

Compensation

• $180,000 - $200,000 per year

AI in Hiring

We may use AI tools to assist in the hiring process, such as reviewing applications and analyzing resumes. These tools support our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are made by humans. For more information on data processing, please contact us.