Engineering Team Lead

Lateral stands for technology excellence.

We're a profitable, award-winning design and technology company with over 20 years of experience launching bold ventures and transforming businesses. A globally distributed team of 200+ experts united by a shared purpose: the continuous pursuit of quality.

Our clients come to us for results, quality and craft - and stay because we keep raising the bar.

We Do Things Differently at Lateral
Our mission is simple:
design and build great products
.

What sets us apart isn't just the talent of our team - it's
the way we work:
We Have A Bias For Action & Results.
We are doers - we spot the gaps, connect the dots, anticipate what's around the corner and take action. We move fast, stay focused, and let the results - not the effort - speak for themselves.

We Work On Time, On Budget, On Quality
Discipline is our edge - a commitment we make to each other, to our clients, and to the standards we hold ourselves to.

We Care Deeply.
We care about our work and about each other. Care Is A Competitive Advantage.

Every detail matters. Every design, every line of code, every decision. Thoughtful by default.

We Do Things Right - Because It's the Right Thing to Do
Right over easy. Integrity isn't up for negotiation. We hold the bar high even when no one's watching. We take pride in doing great work the right way - not the easy way.

We Keep Improving
The best teams keep improving and we're never done learning.

We iterate. We reflect on what's working and what's not. Feedback fuels us, we receive it openly, and adapt quickly. Progress over perfection.

We're Obsessed With Agility, Not The Agile Manifesto
We don't chase dogma or rituals - we chase momentum. We adapt processes to fit problems, not the other way around.

We Take Ownership
Everyone leads something here. You will have room to run with ideas, and the trust to execute. That trust is built on how you show up: thinking things through, sweating the details, and following through.

What You'll Do
As an
Engineering Team Lead (.NET)
at Lateral, you will guide a backend engineering team building and scaling a
fast-growing online marketplace
powering millions of users, products, and real-time interactions.

You will own technical direction, team health, delivery quality, and hands-on contributions.

Partner Deeply with the Client & Key Stakeholders

• Act as one of the primary technical points of contact for the client, representing the engineering team with clarity, confidence, and professionalism.
• Communicate progress, risks, trade-offs, and technical decisions proactively, before they become problems.
• Translate complex engineering concepts into clear language that helps non-technical stakeholders make informed decisions.
• Build strong, trust-based relationships with product managers, project managers, architects, designers, and cross-functional leaders.
• Facilitate alignment across engineering, product, and business teams to ensure requirements are understood, feasible, and testable.
• Help shape roadmap discussions by providing realistic estimations, identifying dependencies, and highlighting technical opportunities or constraints.
• Navigate ambiguity with calmness and structure, driving clarity, unblocking decisions, and ensuring everyone stays aligned.
• Represent Lateral's standards of quality, integrity, and craftsmanship in all client interactions.

Lead Cross-Team Communication & Coordination

• Ensure backend, frontend, QA, DevOps, and data teams are aligned on expectations, integration points, and timelines.
• Communicate architectural intent clearly to ensure consistent implementation across teams and services.
• Set the tone for how the team communicates: concise, factual, respectful, and solution-oriented. Bring visibility to issues early, propose paths forward, and collaborate openly to resolve them.

Lead the Engineering Team

• Support, mentor, and coach backend developers through code reviews, design discussions, and technical planning.
• Set engineering standards and hold the team to them.
• Ensure clarity, alignment, and accountability across sprint cycles.

Contribute Hands-On

• Design and implement core backend features in C#/.NET.
• Architect and evolve services, modules, and integrations across a distributed system.
• Support API design, data modeling, performance improvements, and production diagnostics.

Own Quality & Delivery

• Partner closely with QA Automation Engineers to ensure robust integration test coverage.
• Drive technical excellence across the team: reliability, scalability, observability.
• Ensure releases are predictable, stable, and aligned with business needs.

Partner with Product & Stakeholders

• Translate requirements into technical plans.
• Identify risks early and propose pragmatic solutions.
• Communicate clearly with client partners, both technical and non-technical.

Improve the Team, Continuously

• Build reusable patterns, tools, and internal libraries.
• Shape onboarding, documentation, and guidelines.
• Help evolve culture, processes, and collaboration across disciplines.

How We Measure Success
In the first 2 weeks:

• You understand the architecture and team structure.
• You make your first backend code contribution.
• You build trust through clear communication.

In the first 3 months:

• You take ownership of a system area or service.
• Your team consistently delivers what they commit to.
• You provide clear technical direction and feedback.
• You raise issues early and help improve delivery flow.

After 3 months:

• You operate as the technical driver for a major feature area.
• Your mentorship improves the quality and consistency of the team.
• Clients rely on you as a source of clarity, leadership, and problem-solving.
• You improve reliability, performance, or architectural clarity in measurable ways.

What We're Looking For
Must-Haves

• 8+ years of backend engineering experience, with 2+ years in a lead or senior role.
• Deep expertise in C#/.NET, API design, distributed systems, and integration patterns.
• Strong system design skills, able to simplify complexity and articulate trade-offs.
• Experience leading or mentoring engineers.
• A quality mindset: testing, automation, defensive programming.
• Excellent communication and leadership skills - calm, clear, structured.
• Strong ownership and delivery discipline.
• Frontend knowledge

Bonus Points

• Experience with marketplaces, commerce systems, or large-scale platforms.
• Background with event-driven systems, queues, caching layers, or microservices.
• Experience with CI/CD, observability, and production troubleshooting.

Why You'll Love Working Here

• Real Impact: You'll work on meaningful products that make a measurable difference - from healthcare and commerce to sustainability and next-gen tech.
• Remote-First, Office Friendly: Work from wherever you're most productive - whether that's your home, a co-working space, or one of our offices. We're a remote-first company, but if you're near an office, you're welcome to drop in, collaborate in person, or work onsite regularly.

We prioritize async collaboration, respect your time zone, and focus on outcomes over hours.

• An Outstanding Team: Talented, kind, and hard-working people who care deeply about their craft - and about each other. No egos. No politics. Just professionals doing their best work.
• Growth: You'll be supported in growing your craft, exploring new paths, and stepping into greater responsibility - at your own pace
• A Culture of Excellence: We care deeply about doing the right thing - for our clients, our team, and ourselves. No burnout. No crunch. Just high-quality work, delivered sustainably.
• Variety & Stability: We're profitable, independent, and over a decade strong. Yet every project brings a fresh challenge. You'll never be bored here.

This Role Might Not Be for You
We want to respect your time by being clear about what this role isn't. You should skip this opportunity if:

• You prefer well defined structure. If you gravitate towards a clear hierarchy, well defined roles and swim lanes, you may find our self-managed style challenging.
• Distributed work isn't your thing. If you find async communication, design documentation and being proactive without a manager nearby difficult, our setup won't suit you.
• Feedback doesn't excite you. We're obsessed with quality and believe in continuous improvement. That means we give feedback that's sometimes nitpicky. If refining the work until it's excellent feels over the top, you are likely going to find working here frustrating.
• Change makes you uncomfortable. We're scaling and maturing. That means not everything is perfect yet. Priorities shift. Processes evolve. If ambiguity is uncomfortable, this may feel bumpy.

However, If this sounds like fuel, we'd love to talk

How to apply and what to expect in the interview process
Our hiring process is structured as a sequence of steps. Moving forward is based on how well the previous step goes. This helps us stay focused, fair, and respectful of everyone's time.

We will always:

• Let you know clearly what the next step is
• Share updates and feedback wherever possible
• Invite questions if anything feels unclear

Not everyone progresses through every stage. That doesn't mean you're not great at what you do. Sometimes it's about timing, team fit, or simply what we're looking for at the moment.

Step 1: Express Your Interest

If this sounds like your kind of team and you're ready to bring your craft to Lateral, we want to hear from you.

Please send us:

• Your resume
• A short note about what excites you about this role
• Links to your work: GitHub/ Code snippets, portfolio, architecture /design docs, blog posts, or anything that shows us how you think and build

Please don't include anything sensitive or proprietary.

If you're sharing team projects, let us know what your specific contributions were.

We review every application with care. If there's a fit, we'll reach out to schedule next steps.

Step 2: Talent Partner Conversation

Purpose:
A structured discussion with our People Experience team to delve into your career trajectory, motivations, and alignment with Lateral's values.

What to Expect:

• In-depth questions about your past experiences and decision-making processes.
• Exploration of your career goals and how they align with the role.
• Discussion about our company culture, availability, compensation and other logistics
• Motivators and demotivators.
• Your life outside coding.

Preparation Tips:

• Reflect on your career journey and pivotal moments.
• Be ready to discuss challenges you've overcome and lessons learned.
• Familiarize yourself with the Job Description, Lateral's mission and values.

Step 3: Technical interview

Purpose:
Assess your technical proficiency and problem-solving abilities.

Format:
A collaborative session with our engineering team, focusing on real-world scenarios relevant to the role.

What to Expect:

• Problem-solving exercises/questions that mirror tasks you'd encounter in the position.
• Discussions around your approach, reasoning, and solutions.

Preparation Tips:

• Practice articulating your thought process clearly and concisely.
• Be prepared to discuss in depth past projects and the technologies used.

Step 4: Take Home Assignment

Purpose:
Provide a practical demonstration of your skills through a task resembling real work at Lateral.

Format:
A paid take-home assignment or a live session, depending on the role.

What to Expect:

• Tasks designed to reflect actual challenges faced in the position.
• An opportunity to showcase your problem-solving and technical skills.

Preparation Tips:

• Set aside uninterrupted time to focus.
• Explain your decisions and assumptions.

Step 5: Operational interview

Purpose:
Understand your approach to prioritizing, collaborating, shipping, and iterating.

What to expect:

• How you prioritize and break down work.
• How you collaborate across disciplines.
• How you handle blockers, feedback, and iteration.

Preparation Tips:

• Pick 1-2 meaningful projects you led or heavily contributed to.
• Walk through your process: what worked, what didn't, what you'd do differently.
• Think about how you manage time, scope, and changing requirements.

Step 7: Offer

What Happens:
If selected, you'll receive a comprehensive offer detailing compensation, and other pertinent information.

Our hiring process is designed to be thorough yet respectful, ensuring a mutual fit. We encourage candidates to engage actively, ask questions, and view this as a two-way exploration.

Join us and let's build something extraordinary.