Backend Team Lead (Node.js)
First seen by Alion on Sep 29, 2026.
About us
We’re just 1 year old, already 40 people, and growing quickly. Our slot games are played by more than 1 million people every month, and this is only the beginning.
What we do
Each spin passes through our backend: the game math decides the outcome, a transaction moves the balance, promo features kick in, and analytics records it. It all has to be correct, fast and ready for traffic that keeps growing, so we keep p95 low and stable under any load.
Your role
You’ll be responsible for two things: the people who build our backend and the architecture they build. You’ll report directly to the CTO and work with them on where the backend and the team are heading, then make it happen.
What you’ll work on
Growing the team: hire backend engineers, run one-on-ones, give honest feedback, and help each person grow
Leading the team: plan and prioritize work, remove blockers, and build a culture where people own their results
Architecture decisions: lead the design of our new Nest.js backend from scratch, make the key technical calls and take responsibility for them
The rebuild: plan how we move from the old system to the new one, step by step and without downtime for players
Technical standards: set the bar for code quality, reviews, testing and design across the backend
Hands-on work: stay close to the code on the most critical parts: transactions, integrations with operators and aggregators, and real-time promo features
Reliability: own our latency targets and keep p95 and p99 low as traffic grows
On-call: shape our on-call rotation and take part in it just like everyone else on the team, because you own what you build
What we’re looking for
7+ years of production Node.js and TypeScript, with solid hands-on Nest.js experience
2+ years of managing a backend team: hiring, one-on-ones, feedback and performance conversations
A track record of leading architecture decisions and owning their outcome in production
Experience with systems where correctness matters (payments, wallets, ledgers): transactions, locking, idempotency
Deep Postgres knowledge: indexes, query plans, isolation levels, autovacuum tuning, live migrations
Redis in production beyond caching (leaderboards, rate limiting, distributed locks)
Confidence running and debugging services on Kubernetes
Clear communication with engineers, product and business
It’s a plus if you’ve:
Led the migration of a live system to a new architecture
Built GraphQL APIs
Worked with ClickHouse or another columnar database
Built event-driven systems with Kafka, NATS or similar
Set up observability with OpenTelemetry, plus Grafana dashboards and alerts
How we work with AI
We’re AI-first: AI is part of everything we do, from design to code review. A premium Claude subscription is on us, and we keep going deeper. What doesn’t change is ownership: AI writes the code, but people stand behind it.
What we offer
Competitive salary in USD
20 days of paid vacation, 15 sick days, and your birthday off
Remote work or our office in Barcelona
9:00–18:00 or 10:00–19:00 CET, your choice
Zero bureaucracy, so decisions take hours, not weeks
Summer and winter gatherings that bring the whole team together from all over Europe
How we hire
30-minute screening call with our recruiter
60-minute technical interview on architecture and real backend problems, no algorithm puzzles
30-minute final interview with the CTO
Feedback at every stage, whatever the outcome.
To apply: send your CV plus a few lines about a team you led or a system you designed where correctness or scale really mattered.