Engineering Lead

About Penbrothers Penbrothers is an HR & remote talent management partner and one of the fastest-growing companies in the Philippines. We provide talented Filipinos with global opportunities in high-growth startups and dynamic companies, from the comfort of their own homes.

About the Client

Our client is one one of the world’s leading entertainment providers, with tens of millions of players and thousands of employees across the globe. They are well positioned strategically for future growth in an evolving global sector. In the Philippines, they have 100+ employees working on various applications and systems to support and optimize their global operations.

About the Role

You will lead the engineering team responsible for building and operating our strategic backoffice Customer Admin platform, used daily by our Customer Service and Compliance teams.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role. You will set technical direction, drive quality, and ensure the team delivers reliable, well-engineered solutions — while remaining close enough to the codebase to guide architecture, review code, and unblock complex problems.

Customer Admin is a high-volume, operationally critical platform with complex workflows, regulatory impact, and deep integration dependencies. The Engineering Lead is accountable for the technical health of the platform and the effectiveness of the engineering team.

What Youll Do

• Technical LeadershipSet and maintain technical direction for the Customer Admin platform — architecture, patterns, and standards.
• Lead design and code reviews to ensure quality, consistency, and maintainability across the codebase.
• Own technical decisions on service design, API contracts, data flows, and integration patterns.
• Stay hands-on: contribute code, debug complex issues, and support delivery directly when needed.
• Architecture & IntegrationUse Kafka and event-driven patterns where appropriate to support asynchronous workflows.
• Integrate with upstream/internal platforms using clear contracts, strong error handling, and observability.
• Build and use Docker-based environments, including harnesses and mocked services/data, to enable fast,
• reliable development and testing.
• Ensure production readiness through monitoring, alerting, and clear operational runbooks.
• CollaborationCollaborate closely with backend/frontend engineers, product owners, and QA to deliver end-to-end operational features.
• Partner with Product and Ops stakeholders to translate requirements into safe, scalable technical solutions.
• Team DevelopmentMentor and develop engineers within the Manila team, raising the bar on technical quality and engineering maturity.
• Foster a culture of ownership, curiosity, and continuous improvement.

What You Bring

• 6–10+ years as a backend or software engineer, with experience in platform or operational systems.
• Strong experience with Java / Spring Boot and API-driven architectures.
• Solid hands-on experience with Python and/or TypeScript for backend services or data pipelines.
• Advanced SQL skills and confidence working with data-heavy systems.
• Experience with event-driven architectures (e.g. Kafka).
• Strong experience running and debugging multi-service local environments using Docker, including harnesses and mocked dependencies.
• Cloud experience (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Proven ability to lead technically: setting direction, reviewing code, and raising quality across a team.

Nice-to-have

• Experience connecting services to Bigdata storage solutions like Databricks via JDBC or similar integrations.
• Experience working in regulated domains (iGaming, fintech, compliance).
• Experience leading distributed or offshore engineering teams.

Our Hiring Process

We utilize AI tools to enhance hiring efficiency and ensure a fair evaluation. Consequently, candidates will engage with an AI Interviewer, supervised by Human Talent Acquisition Experts who will support your entire application journey.

Our AI Expectations: While we encourage you to use AI for CV refinement and research, we require that all interviews and assessments be completed through your own authentic effort. The use of real-time AI assistance during interviews or to complete skills tests is strictly prohibited to ensure a fair and genuine evaluation of your capabilities.

What You’ll Get

At Penbrothers, we are obsessed with creating positive employee experiences. Here you’ll find an environment that nurtures learning and provides opportunities for growth. You’ll have the opportunity to make an impact on fast-growing startups and dynamic companies.

· Meaningful work & Growth: We take every opportunity to stretch ourselves and deliver an excellent client experience.

· Employee as our biggest asset: We are genuinely invested in our people’s career and welfare.

· Global reach & local impact: Get to work with high-growth startups and dynamic companies from the comfort of your own home.

· Powering global startups: We’ve created 1,400 Filipino jobs that empower global start-ups to focus on growth.