Lead Engineer

ProWatch Solutions uses AI and other analytic tools to provide security, theft monitoring, and sales optimization services for the unattended retail industry. Our solution integrates with industry-leading cloud camera products alongside our proprietary SaaS platform for back-end monitoring and intelligent condition identification, giving micro market operators insight into their markets and tools for theft identification and deterrence, as well as opportunities to boost sales and improve the customer experience. Our mission is to reduce theft in micro markets by an average of 4%–6%, while helping operators run their markets as effectively as if an attendant were on-site.

ProWatch develops, manages, and sells the Automated Retail Management System (ARMS), which allows companies to remotely manage unattended retail locations ("micro markets") — self-checkout snack, food, and beverage locations often replacing traditional vending machines in factories, offices, schools, and similar settings. ARMS applies AI and analytics to video and micro market management data to intelligently identify conditions and events — from theft to missed sales opportunities to customer experience issues — presenting this information as actionable insight. In doing so, ARMS effectively replicates the judgment of an on-site attendant, in locations too small to justify one, to both prevent loss and drive sales.

About the Role

Job Title: Lead Engineer

Reports to: President

The Lead Engineer is a full-time, hybrid role based in New Orleans, LA, with flexibility for partial work from home. This role oversees the design, development, and maintenance of the company’s SaaS platform and integrations with cloud-based camera systems and analytic tools. Day-to-day responsibilities include guiding technical architecture decisions, reviewing code, ensuring system reliability and scalability, and coordinating with product and operations teams to translate business requirements into technical solutions. The Lead Engineer mentors engineers, establishes best practices, and drives continuous improvement in development processes, security, and performance. This position also involves troubleshooting complex technical issues, supporting deployments, and collaborating with leadership on technology roadmap and innovation.

This is a senior technical ownership role, not strictly a development position. You will take ownership of the ARMS platform end-to-end — application development, cloud infrastructure, integrations, production operations, and vendor coordination — and make architectural decisions with limited oversight.

You will:

• Own application development and the AWS infrastructure supporting ARMS
• Diagnose and resolve production issues using logs, queues, and infrastructure metrics, and build monitoring/processes so failures are caught quickly
• Design for reliability — error handling, retry logic, and dead-letter queue strategies
• Project manage initiatives with outside developers and vendors, including reviewing their code, pull requests, and technical proposals
• Assist in hiring future in-house technical talent
• Work with other company managers to define strategic direction and the product roadmap
• Identify new technologies to expand or enhance ARMS offerings
• Design and maintain remote provisioning, authentication, and monitoring for edge devices in the field
• Write clear technical requirements, implementation plans, and tickets
• Engage directly with prospects or clients to understand problems and offer solutions

Required Technical Skills:

• Backend/API development with Node.js and frameworks such as NestJS
• Working knowledge of Python
• Hands-on AWS experience, including: EC2, RDS, S3, IAM, VPC/networking, load balancing, CloudFront, Lightsail, ECS, Amplify, SQS, and serverless services
• Linux server administration and command-line proficiency (SSH)
• CI/CD pipelines and Git/GitHub with pull-request-based development and code review
• Working knowledge of UI, UX, and product design
• Networking fundamentals — IP addressing, LAN/WAN connectivity, VPN/overlay networks
• Understanding of AI/ML concepts and how to integrate AI capabilities into production systems (independently building models is not required — this can be outsourced)

Nice to Have Technical Skills:

• Experience with camera vision, video, and NVR/media APIs in AI applications
• Experience with Linux-based edge devices (e.g., Raspberry Pi)
• Experience developing AI applications, or with AWS Bedrock or similar managed AI platforms

Required Non-Technical Skills:

• Strong communication skills and ability to work with others, including nontechnical stakeholders
• Strong organizational and project management skills
• Ability to educate and teach others

Compensation, Benefits and Life at ProWatch Solutions:

• Base pay: $90,000 – $110,000. The salary range is set based on multiple considerations including business needs, market demands, talent availability, experience, and unique skills and attributes, and is subject to change.
• Health coverage: comprehensive medical, vision, dental, and disability insurance
• Paid Time Off
• Hybrid work environment (remote + in-person collaboration meetings)