Lead Engineer

We’re looking for a Lead Engineer who’s excited to build products customers genuinely love. This isn’t a management role - we’re looking for a hands-on builder who can also think commercially, make smart trade-offs, and understand how engineering decisions drive business outcomes. You’ll own the technical roadmap and guide the team through delivering it, helping us move fast while keeping quality where it matters most.🌍 About RespondentRespondent is building the infrastructure that powers participant recruiting for the research industry. Our mission is simple but ambitious: to make it effortless for researchers to find high-quality human participants - whether they’re testing a product, exploring a market, or validating an idea.From our founder’s first recruits on a NYC subway to a global panel of 3 million participants across 150+ countries, we now support research for companies like Microsoft, Dropbox, and P&G. Our panel is one of the most diverse and responsive in the industry.We’re a 30-person team across Sydney, Manila, and the US. We’re intentional about collaborating in person - serendipitous hallway conversations, whiteboarding sessions, and quick alignment cycles help us move faster and build something great together.We’ve gone from 0 to 1, recently reaching profitability and we intend to stay so. We’re scaling with intention and reinvesting in the business to grow our platform, panel, and team. Joining at this stage means your work will have a direct impact as we take Respondent from 1 to 10.💼 The role:You’ll join our Sydney team as our Lead Engineer, working with Product and Design to build products customers love.This is a hands-on role - you’ll be writing and shipping code while also setting technical direction and helping the team move fast with confidence.You’ll ship ideas into product by owning the roadmap, guiding technical decisions, and mentoring other engineers.You’ll help define how we build and scale, ensuring we maintain velocity without sacrificing quality where it matters.This role is ideal for an engineer who wants meaningful ownership - building, shaping, and influencing the product while staying close to the code and the customer.📌 What You'll Do:Product Engineering: Work with Product, Design and other Engineers to build and improve software that delivers real value to our customersHands-on Leadership: Own the technical roadmap and guide engineers through key decisions, while building and shipping alongside the team. This is a technical leadership role, not a people-management one.Commercial Thinking: Weigh technical decisions against product velocity and business impact and communicate these trade-offs clearly.Work at the edge of AI: We’re actively using AI in our dev workflows and our product and you’ll help us push that further.💡 What you’ll bring:Full stack expertise: You have strong experience across both front-end and back-end. Our stack includes TypeScript, Node.js, React, AWS and MongoDB - but we care more about your ability to learn and ship than a perfect tech match.Mentorship: You’re happy to share your experience, guide junior engineers, and help raise the bar for the whole team as we grow.Collaboration and communication: You can work cross-functionally with Product and other functions, and you’re comfortable giving and receiving candid feedback to help the team build the best solutionBuilder’s mindset: You’ve delivered real products or features - whether at work, or something you put out there yourself. You care about building products that customers love, not just writing code.Adaptability: You are comfortable in a fast-paced and ambiguous environment, and can figure things out when the path isn’t fully defined.Quick learner: You have a growth mindset and can quickly learn new languages, tools and frameworks.🤝 Why Join Us?Real impact: You’ll be part of a small, high-ownership engineering team where your work ships fast and directly shapes the experience for customers like Microsoft and Dropbox.Profitable and growing: We’re a 30-person startup that’s scaling - you’ll get the excitement of startup growth with the stability of proven traction.Modern tech and mindset: Work with the latest tools and AI-powered dev practices, giving you a front-row seat to cutting-edge engineering.Culture that cares: Be part of a tight-knit global team (Sydney, Manila, US). We’re collaborative, supportive, and believe in balancing high performance with a fun workplace.