Lead Engineer

About Ande

We're a Series A startup building an AI-native platform that connects Enterprises and Hospitality across the entire booking experience, backed by top-tier investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Sierra Ventures, and Bain Capital, and led by a serial entrepreneur with offices in NYC and SF. We help companies turn every dinner, event, and offsite into something effortless to plan and a breeze to manage, plugging right into the tools they already use.

About the Role

We are looking a Lead Full-Stack Engineer to lead the design, development, and deployment of our next-generation intelligent applications. This role bridges robust full-stack architecture with smart AI integrations, building scalable Node.js services, crafting intuitive React interfaces, and embedding AI capabilities (LLM APIs, autonomous agents, smart workflows) to solve complex user problems. As a senior member of the team, this person will champion technical excellence, mentor junior developers, and influence the product roadmap.

What You'll Do

AI Integration & Engineering

• Architect and implement backend systems that interface with LLMs and other AI services via APIs (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, or custom internal model endpoints)
• Build middleware to handle prompt engineering, context orchestration, and structural parsing of AI responses into application logic
• Implement guardrails, caching layers, rate-limiting, and evaluation metrics for AI model outputs to ensure reliability, security, and cost-efficiency
• Stay current on emerging generative AI patterns, model capabilities, and integration techniques to drive product innovation

Full-Stack Development

• Build, scale, and maintain highly performant, secure, production-ready RESTful APIs and GraphQL services using Node.js (TypeScript/Express)
• Develop responsive, state-managed, visually seamless user interfaces using React.js and modern state management libraries (Redux Toolkit, Zustand, React Query)
• Optimize application performance across the stack, from database query optimization to frontend rendering bottlenecks

Architecture & Leadership

• Lead architectural decisions, promoting modular design, code reusability, and scalable system infrastructure
• Enforce high engineering standards through rigorous code reviews, automated testing (unit, integration, E2E), and comprehensive documentation
• Mentor and coach junior and mid-level engineers, fostering a culture of continuous learning and technical growth
• Partner with Product Managers, UX Designers, and stakeholders to translate ambitious product visions into concrete technical execution

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years of professional software development experience, with a proven track record of shipping production-grade SaaS applications
• Deep expertise in backend development using Node.js and TypeScript, including asynchronous programming, event-driven architecture, and services
• Advanced proficiency in React, hooks, state management, and modern build tools (Vite, Webpack)
• 1–2+ years of practical experience integrating LLM APIs and cognitive workflows into customer-facing applications
• Strong proficiency with relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and NoSQL databases (MongoDB)
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), Docker, and CI/CD pipelines
• Exceptional problem-solving skills and a proactive ownership mindset
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical or AI concepts to non-technical stakeholders
• Proven ability to thrive in a fast-paced, iterative environment

Equal Employment Opportunity

Ande is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive team and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates and will consider all applicants for employment without regard to any legally protected status.