Senior Software Engineer - Tech Lead Full Stack for SaaS

About the Role

We are seeking a Senior Software Engineer - Tech Lead Full Stack to join our innovative team at ProtocolHero. This role is pivotal as you will take end-to-end technical ownership for both backend and frontend development, leading a talented four-person engineering team. As a Senior Software Engineer, you will help us build a modern SaaS platform that transforms the trades industry by eliminating inefficiencies associated with paper and Excel.

What You'll Do

• Take ownership of our architecture and codebase, making critical decisions for scalability, stability, and clean development.
• Establish quality standards and a reliable delivery routine, leading both senior and junior engineers in the team.
• Actively develop critical features using Laravel for backend and React for frontend, solving complex problems pragmatically.
• Enhance operations with Redis for queues and caching, Docker setup, CI/CD, and observability to ensure stable releases.
• Integrate and evolve AI features, including robust workflows and monitoring systems.
• Support the expansion towards mobile applications by building a solid API foundation.
• Collaborate closely with the Product Manager to translate requirements into technical concepts, balancing scope, effort, and quality.
• Work directly with the founder to constructively challenge decisions and build a technical roadmap that fosters growth.

Requirements

• Several years of experience as a technical lead in professional software engineering, ideally in B2B SaaS and full stack environments.
• Proven ability to make architecture and tech stack decisions and articulate them clearly.
• Strong expertise in Laravel, API design, queues, and performance optimization.
• Good to very good skills in React with Inertia, optionally with TypeScript.
• Experience with Docker and modern deployment setups including CI/CD.
• Understanding of production requirements such as stability, security, and performance.
• Structured, self-driven working style with high quality standards.
• Very good English (C1) is required; fluent German is a plus.

Nice to Have

• Experience integrating AI services into production software.
• Knowledge of Python.

What We Offer

• Direct collaboration with the founder and product for fast decision-making.
• Real technical ownership instead of pure ticket execution.
• Modern setup with the latest Apple equipment and budget for productive work.
• Attractive compensation package with a bonus model and clear growth path.
• Employee participation options depending on role and tenure.
• A pragmatic team culture with high ownership, no politics, and no micromanagement.