Talis Consulting Group is currently seeking a Lead Product Engineer/Developer for a well-funded, mission-driven startup that is building an AI-first, production-grade platform that supports caseworkers and professionals serving vulnerable populations. Our software is mission-critical: it must be secure, reliable, fast to evolve, and worthy of user trust.

We move quickly, ship often, and use AI aggressively across our development workflow. We care deeply about outcomes, judgment, and learning velocity.

The Role

We are hiring a Lead Product Engineer/Developer to own the development of our core user-facing portal end to end.

This is a senior, hands-on role with real authority and accountability. You will shape architecture, influence product behavior, and drive features from idea to production.

This role is not about writing every line of code by hand. It is about owning outcomes in production—and improving the systems, processes, and tooling that make delivery possible.

In a small, senior team, this person functions as a technical owner of how software gets built.

Scope of Ownership

This role owns more than feature delivery.

You will co-own the full software development lifecycle (SDLC) with the Director of Product and Technology, including:

Development workflows and standards
Tooling and platform choices
AI-assisted development practices
Quality, release, and operational guardrails

What Success Looks Like

You succeed in this role when:

Features move from ideas to production quickly
Production deployments are routine and reliable
Automation increases velocity without sacrificing trust
Problems are faced early and addressed decisively
The system becomes easier to change over time

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end development of our portal, including production health
Define and evolve frontend and backend architecture
Build and ship production software using a TypeScript-first stack
Operate confidently in a hybrid data environment (SQL + NoSQL)
Be accountable for production outcomes: functionality, performance, security, reliability, and cost
Design, configure, and evolve AI-assisted development workflows
Make and revisit tooling decisions as the product and team evolve
Collaborate directly with product, UX, and leadership as a peer
Lead or support 2–3 engineers as the team grows (hands-on leadership, not bureaucracy)
Monitor operational impact, including AWS cost and system behavior
Push back when something isn’t right—technically, operationally, or product-wise

Required Experience

Senior-level full-stack engineering experience typically 8+ years
Proven ownership of customer-facing production systems end to end
Strong experience with modern backend systems (Node.js preferred)
React-based frontend development
Cloud-native deployment and operations (AWS preferred)
Experience designing or operating secure authentication and authorization systems
Comfort working across relational and NoSQL data models
Hands-on experience using AI-assisted development tools in real production work (e.g., Cursor, Copilot, Claude Code)
Strong systems thinking across frontend, backend, data, and infrastructure

This position will initially be a W2 hourly contract-to-hire role. Upon conversion to full-time employment, the expected base salary range is $150,000–$200,000, depending on experience and fit.

This is a remote role based in Seattle. While the position is remote, the team meets in person occasionally, so preference will be given to candidates located in the Seattle area.

No C2C or third-party agencies.

Candidate must be authorized to work and reside in the United States; we do not currently sponsor immigration visas.

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Lead Product Engineer/Developer