Tech Lead (Hands-on Engineering Manager)

Job Description

Job Description

Remote (U.S.–based) | Player-Coach | Leads an Overseas Engineering Team

About Kiingo AI

Kiingo AI is an applied-AI enablement and consulting firm for small and mid-sized businesses. We focus on behavior change, AI literacy, workflow integration, and partial automation first—so teams see measurable outcomes quickly. Our mission is to turn AI into positive human impact. Our vision is every person amplified by AI.

The Role

We are hiring a Tech Lead (Hands-on Engineering Manager) who can architect and build automations in n8n, integrate LLMs into production systems, and lead a high-performing overseas team. You will own technical direction, delivery, and people leadership while keeping explanations clear for executives who care about outcomes, not jargon. This is a player-coach role: you will write code, review PRs, and ship production changes, while also coaching engineers and ensuring predictable delivery.

What You Will Do

• You will design and build production automations in n8n that use retries, idempotency, and graceful failure so work flows reliably every day.

• You will integrate LLMs (OpenAI/Anthropic) using function/tool calling, structured outputs, and human-in-the-loop approvals for any risky actions.

• You will connect business systems (CRMs, ERPs, Google Workspace, legacy apps) through secure APIs, webhooks, and—when helpful—MCP connectors so models can safely use tools and data.

• You will lead a distributed team of engineers across time zones: run 1:1s, set standards, review code, manage vendors, and ensure clean, written handoffs so work continues while you sleep.

• You will establish SLIs/SLOs, logging, metrics, and alerts; drive low MTTR with clear incident playbooks and post-mortems that fix root causes.

• You will enforce security practices (least privilege, secrets management, audit trails) and align with client policies and our Safety Pledge.

• You will create reusable templates and libraries (including MCP servers) that speed up future builds and reduce variance.

• You will measure business impact—hours saved, cycle-time and error reductions—and publish “old way → new way” artifacts leaders can share.

Tools You Will Use

• Automation/orchestration: n8n (primary); Zapier/Make as needed.

• AI stack: OpenAI/Anthropic APIs, function/tool calling, structured outputs; RAG when justified; MCP for secure tool/data access.

• Core engineering: TypeScript/Node (and/or Python), REST/GraphQL, webhooks, JSON Schemas, Git/GitHub, Docker, CI/CD, automated tests.

• Cloud & data: Azure (preferred), SQL/Postgres, queues, serverless/event-driven components.

• Observability: Application logging, metrics, tracing, and on-call alerts.

Your First 90 Days

• Day 30: Ship one “quick-win” production improvement saving ≥5 hours/week; publish coding/review standards; formalize the timezone handoff ritual.

• Day 60: Deliver two client automations with defined SLOs, CI/CD, rollback plans, and dashboards for SLIs and incidents.

• Day 90: Own a portfolio of 5–7 production automations; publish a reusable template/library.

What You Bring (Must-Have)

• You have 5–8+ years of shipping software, and you still code on critical paths.

• You have 2+ years leading engineers or a pod, including offshore/overseas coordination and vendor management.

• You have built multi-step automations (n8n, Zapier, Make, or code) with robust error handling and idempotent design.

• You have LLM production experience with function/tool calling, schema validation, and human approvals for sensitive actions.

• You are fluent with APIs and data (OAuth, webhooks, REST/GraphQL, JSON, practical SQL) and comfortable integrating CRMs/ERPs and legacy systems.

• You practice reliability engineering (SLIs/SLOs, monitoring/alerting, incident response, post-mortems) and modern dev flow (Git, PR review, Docker, CI/CD, tests, documentation).

Nice to Have

• You have authored MCP servers and worked with vector databases/RAG where they truly add value.

• You have experience with Computer-Use style desktop automation for legacy apps.

• You have Azure experience (Functions, Key Vault, storage/queues) and infrastructure-as-code.

• You bring security judgment for PII handling, auditability, and cost/latency controls.

How We Work

We prioritize adoption over tools. We ship partial automation first, then scale what works. We use simple, written status and clean handoffs so a distributed team can maintain speed and safety. We celebrate wins publicly, grow Champions, and keep a visible scoreboard so leaders always know the impact.

Success looks like: consistent on-time delivery, SLOs met, MTTR under an hour for tier-1 flows, documented ROI per engagement, and rising adoption supported by clear runbooks and governance.

How to Apply

Email: ross at kiingo dot com
Subject: Tech Lead – [Your Name]

Please include:

1. A resume that highlights production automations and systems you led.

2. A one-page or short video walkthrough of a system you shipped: goals, architecture choices, reliability patterns, and measured impact.

3. Bonus: A link to a repo or n8n flow that demonstrates idempotent retries and a human-approval gate.