Tech Lead (Kotlin)

Tech Lead (JVM/Kotlin, Berlin, Hybrid)

We’re rebuilding how businesses talk to their customers. The phone call, the contact form, the support ticket — all of it is being replaced by messaging and AI. We’re building the platform that runs underneath.

We’ve become the platform of choice for thousands of businesses worldwide, from globally recognized brands to the small businesses, dental practices, and one-person startups that need to look bigger than they are. Today, millions of messages flow through our platform every single day.

We started as a unified inbox — one place for every channel a customer might pick: WhatsApp, email, SMS, Instagram. Then ChatGPT happened, and the second chapter began: AI agents that respond across chat, email, and voice at the quality of the best human teams.

We’re profitable and growing on our own money, headquartered in Berlin.

We are hiring a backend-leaning Tech Lead to lead a team of 3-4 engineers and own the tech for part of our product.

This is a hands-on leadership role: you’ll spend roughly half your time designing and building software and the other half enabling your team to perform at its best. You’ll work directly on architecture, development and important projects while creating the clarity, feedback and environment your engineers need to deliver an excellent product.

Who We Want

A strong, current backend engineer. You bring 3+ years of experience as a Senior or Staff Engineer and remain deeply involved in software development. You are comfortable owning, designing and building crucial parts of production systems.

Experienced with the JVM ecosystem. You have substantial experience with Java or another JVM language. Kotlin and AWS experience are a plus, since our backend runs on Kotlin/Quarkus.

Ready to lead people. You may already have worked in a hybrid Tech Lead role, have been an Engineering Manager for a short time, or be taking your first steps in people leadership after successfully owning projects and architecture. What matters is that you genuinely want to help people grow.

Strong at delivery. You know how to turn product goals into reality. You are used to working in fast-paced startups and are a driver to increase velocity.

Product-minded. You care about solving the customer’s problem. You engage with product decisions, challenge assumptions constructively and find pragmatic solutions to build things in a lean way.

Clear communicator. You are able to explain complex technical things in detail to engineers and in an understandable way to non-technical stakeholders. You create alignment and motivate people.

Excited about AI-assisted development. You are already using AI in your development workflow and are eager to explore how it can improve engineering speed, quality and the way teams work.

Who We Don’t Want

Pure people manager. This role requires meaningful, ongoing involvement in architecture, implementation, code review, and technical problem-solving.

Hero engineer. Your job is to raise the effectiveness of the whole team, not to be the only person who can solve difficult problems.

Pure delivery manager. We need engineering leaders, not project coordinators.

Remote-only operator. We believe strong engineering leadership requires regular in-person collaboration and presence in Berlin.

Your Day to Day

Spend approximately 50% of your time contributing directly to architecture, development, code reviews, and important technical projects. Lead a team of 3-4 engineers and take responsibility for its effectiveness, technical quality, and delivery. Work closely with your Product Manager to understand customer problems, shape solutions, scope projects, and set priorities. Establish clear technical direction while enabling engineers to own decisions and develop their judgment. Run regular 1:1s, give actionable feedback, and support each engineer’s development and performance. Remove blockers, manage dependencies, and help the team identify delivery risks early. Improve engineering practices and explore effective uses of AI throughout the software development lifecycle. Contribute to hiring through technical interviews, structured feedback, and candidate conversations.

Stakeholders

Director of Engineering: your manager and partner on people development, calibration, processes. Direct Reports: engineers in your team; you own their development, performance and growth. Product Manager: PMs own what and why; you own how (delivery) and who (people). CTO and CPO: we are a lean organization with a flat hierarchy — you’ll regularly discuss architecture direction with the CTO and product direction with the CPO.

Why People Choose Us

Mission that matters — real impact on small businesses, not abstract metrics. Funded with conviction, and profitable. Modern stack: Kotlin/Quarkus, AWS, TypeScript/React/Next.js, and LangGraph for AI-powered features. Squad-based organization — each squad owns its domain end-to-end with real ownership and autonomy. Two clear career tracks — individual contributor growth up to Staff level, and a management path, with explicit reversibility between both. Product-led structure — PMs report directly to the CPO. Hybrid by design — our Berlin office is the center of gravity, with two work-from-home days as the standard setup. Direct feedback culture — honest, direct, and kind feedback is part of how we work together.

Benefits & Culture

A wellness or transport subscription of your choice. Regular company and team events. An annual personal development budget for conferences, courses, books, and career coaching. An inclusive, fast-growing startup culture. A beautiful office in the heart of Berlin with free snacks, drinks, and top-notch equipment. We want to build a community, not just a company — through sports, social clubs, running groups, or whatever kind of community you’d like to help build here.

We’re looking for people with passion, grit, and integrity. You’re encouraged to apply even if your experience doesn’t precisely match the description. We welcome diverse perspectives and people who think rigorously.

Relocating to Berlin? We support you with practical relocation help. You’ll feel at home in no time.