Founding Engineering Lead

Role Overview

Genesis Group is building a lean, high‑impact core technology team to develop internal platforms (workflow automation, operations tooling, analytics enablement) as well as scalable client‑facing products.

We are looking for a Founding Engineering Lead who will act as a Solution Architect across multiple initiatives, define engineering standards, and mentor a growing team to deliver consistent, high‑quality outcomes—leveraging AI where it adds meaningful value.

Mission

Build a strong engineering foundation and architecture that enables teams to ship reliable, scalable products quickly, safely, and consistently across projects, teams, and vendors.

Key Responsibilities

• Architect and guide delivery for both internal platforms and client‑facing products (scalability, reliability, integrations).
• Define and implement an Engineering Operating System, including coding standards, code reviews, release strategy, documentation, and Definition of Done.
• Establish quality and delivery discipline through testing strategies, automation‑first approach, CI/CD practices, and non‑functional requirements (performance, security, reliability).
• Collaborate with DevOps/SRE teams to build strong platform foundations (environments, observability, incident readiness, secure configurations).
• Lead build vs buy vs hybrid decisions, including trade‑off analysis, cost, feasibility, and time‑to‑value.
• Improve vendor delivery outcomes through explicit acceptance criteria, checkpoints, architecture reviews, and handover standards.
• Mentor and upskill engineering teams (web, analytics, partner teams) via coaching, design reviews, and best practice implementation.
• Develop reference architectures and reusable templates (APIs, integrations, data flows, AI‑assisted features) to accelerate delivery.

What Success Looks Like

First 90 Days

• Complete a current‑state assessment across systems (applications, data, infrastructure, vendors) with a prioritized roadmap.
• Establish visible engineering cadence and baseline standards across at least two active initiatives.
• Deliver one end‑to‑end “lighthouse” project with clear quality gates, acceptance criteria, and operational readiness.

3–6 Months

• Implement shared reference architectures and templates (CI/CD, integrations, observability).
• Improve delivery predictability (cycle time, defects, release stability).
• Reduce reliance on unmanaged outsourcing through structured and governed delivery models.

Required Qualifications

• Proven experience designing and delivering production‑grade software systems (not just conceptual work).
• Strong solution architecture expertise (APIs, integrations, data modeling, security, scalability).
• Experience establishing or improving SDLC practices (standards, reviews, release discipline, documentation).
• Ability to work cross‑functionally and translate business requirements into executable engineering plans.
• Hands‑on experience with modern engineering practices (CI/CD, testing strategies, observability, cloud fundamentals).

Preferred Qualifications (Good to Have)

• Experience with platform engineering and DevSecOps/SRE collaboration.
• Familiarity with AI‑enabled product development (e.g., RAG, agent‑based systems, evaluation, safety).
• Exposure to data/analytics platforms and BI ecosystems (data warehouses, transformations, semantic layers).
• Experience in MarTech, AdTech, workflow automation, or high‑