Lead Software Engineer

About Karbon

Karbon is the global leader in AI-powered practice management software for accounting firms. We provide an award-winning cloud platform that helps tens of thousands of accounting professionals work more efficiently and collaboratively every day. With customers in 40 countries we have grown into a globally distributed team across the US Australia New Zealand Canada the United Kingdom and the Philippines. We are well-funded ranked #1 on G2 growing rapidly and have a people-first culture that is recognized with Great Place To Work certification and on Fortune magazines Best Small Workplaces List.

About the Role

Youll be a technical leader on the Client Experience team Someone who can hold the big picture while staying hands-on in the code. Youre frontend-anchored with deep React expertise comfortable driving mobile architecture decisions and able to contribute confidently to Core backend services. You know how to guide a team toward great outcomes without over-engineering.

You thrive in a collaborative autonomous environment take genuine ownership of the product and its impact on customers and are energised by both shipping new features and improving the systems that already exist.

Key responsibilities include:

• Shipping new features and iteratively enhancing existing systems across web mobile and backend surfaces prioritizing reliability and exceptional user experience.
• Drive architectural decisions for new services balancing long-term scalability and maintainability with the need for rapid delivery in a multi-stack environment.
• Partner closely with product managers and designers from the earliest stages of solution design: shaping problems challenging assumptions and defining the right approach before implementation and help break work for your team.
• Own the technical backlog by ideating prioritizing and delivering on technical initiatives while communicating trade-offs clearly to stakeholders.
• Champion observability and reliability by defining meaningful dashboards alerts and SLOs to ensure our services remain healthy in production.
• Set the standard for pragmatic engineering demonstrating the judgment to know when to move fast and when to invest in robustness.
• Leverage AI tools thoughtfully to accelerate delivery while always applying human oversight to what ships.
• Mentor and grow engineers through code reviews pairing and coaching fostering a collaborative culture where the whole team improves.
• Work with autonomy taking ownership of problems and bringing clear recommendations rather than waiting for predefined answers.

What Sets You Apart!

• Proven track record of technical leadership in both new feature development and maintaining existing systems.
• Deep React expertise with a frontend-anchored focus setting the standard for frontend craft on the team.
• Strong TypeScript proficiency and a solid understanding of modern JavaScript and browser standards (HTML/CSS DOM API ES modules).
• Ability to drive mobile architecture decisions across React Native. Youve designed systems across both web and mobile surfaces and can guide the teams mobile direction not just review mobile code.
• .NET Core (C# Web API). Demonstrated senior-level depth in backend systems and container-based architecture comfortable taking full ownership of a service without requiring dedicated backend leadership.
• Experience owning a technical backlog: ideating scoping prioritising and delivering with the team.
• Proven track record of delivering features end-to-end - from technical scoping and design through to production - with the communication skills to set clear direction align the team and keep stakeholders informed throughout.
• Experience leading or mentoring engineers in a collaborative distributed team environment.
• RESTful API design experience and solid relational database thinking - you understand how data flows through a system and can reason about query patterns and schema design regardless of the specific tooling.
• Strong understanding of scalable system design software architecture data structures and algorithms.
• Solid command of the full software development lifecycle - including testing strategies CI/CD deployment pipelines and operational practices.
• Demonstrated enthusiasm for AI-assisted development. You actively use AI tools in your workflow and can articulate how they enhance productivity and code quality.
• Excellent communication skills; able to articulate technical decisions clearly to both engineering and non-engineering stakeholders across timezones.
• A Bachelors degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience.

Nice to haves

• Hands-on experience with React Native and Expo including: build release and distribution pipelines (App Store Google Play or EAS Build).
• Familiarity with containerisation (Docker/Kubernetes) and cloud platforms (Azure a plus).
• Hands-on experience with DataDog Azure or equivalent observability and cloud tooling
• Understanding of i18n and accessibility standards for web and mobile applications.

Our Core Technology Stack!

We build modern scalable software on a polyglot stack suited to a client-facing product:

• Frontend: React and TypeScript - our primary web application platform.
• Mobile: React Native with Expo - cross-platform apps for iOS and Android.
• API layer: BFF - a thin orchestration layer
• Backend services: .NET Core (C# Web API) microservices deployed in containers and Karbons /SQL Server platform
• Cloud: Microsoft Azure including containerised deployments.
• Observability: DataDog - metrics logging alerting APM and dashboards.
• Source control & CI/CD: GitHub with GitHub Actions.

Our architecture continues to evolve as we scale. If you care about clean service boundaries reliable systems and shipping with confidence youll feel right at home here.

AI is reshaping how software gets built and at Karbon were fully committed. We dont see AI as a replacement for engineers. We see it as a force multiplier that will elevate creativity impact and capability to levels weve barely begun to imagine. Were looking for developers who are confident in their fundamentals driven to grow and excited to harness AI to build something meaningful. If youre energized by this future rather than cautious of it youll feel right at home here.

Why Work at Karbon

• Gain global experience across the USA Australia New Zealand UK Canada and the Philippines
• 4 weeks annual leave plus 5 extra Karbon Days off a year
• Flexible working environment
• Work with (and learn from) an experienced high-performing team
• Be part of a fast-growing company that firmly believes in promoting high performers from within
• A collaborative team-oriented culture that embraces diversity invests in development and provides consistent feedback
• Generous parental leave

Our Engineering Standards

Balance Speed and Quality

Engineers are expected to balance delivery speed with a strong commitment to quality meeting agreed timelines while producing reliable maintainable and well-tested solutions. Sound judgment in making trade-offs between velocity and long-term sustainability is essential.

Collaborate Effectively

Engineering is collaborative by default. Team members are expected to contribute constructively in design discussions reviews and planning communicate clearly about progress and risks and support shared team outcomes in both hybrid and distributed environments.

Build and Maintain Systems

Engineers are responsible for building new capabilities while maintaining and improving existing systems. This includes designing scalable solutions reducing technical debt supporting operational stability and contributing to continuous improvement.

Operate with Autonomy

A high degree of autonomy is expected. Given clear objectives engineers should independently translate problems into actionable technical approaches proactively identify improvements and continuously expand relevant technical expertise.

Ownership and Accountability

Ownership is fundamental. Engineers are accountable for the quality performance and customer impact of their work from design through post-release support and are expected to follow through on commitments.

AI-Enabled Engineering

AI is reshaping how software is built and we are committed to leveraging it as a force multiplier for creativity impact and capability. Engineers are expected to confidently apply strong technical fundamentals while embracing AI tools and approaches to enhance productivity problem-solving and innovation. Curiosity adaptability and enthusiasm for integrating AI into meaningful product development are essential.

Contribute to Team Culture

Engineers contribute positively to a culture of professionalism transparency low bureaucracy and mutual respect strengthening team performance through authenticity curiosity and collaboration.

Please be aware that Karbon will only contact you via email from our domain . If you receive an email from any other domain please do not click any of those links.

Karbon embraces diversity and inclusion aligning with our values as a business. Research has shown that women and underrepresented groups are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single criteria. If youve made it this far in the job description but your past experience doesnt perfectly align we do encourage you to still apply. You could still be the right person for the role!

We recruit and reward people based on capability and performance. We dont discriminate based on race gender sexual orientation gender identity or expression lifestyle age educational background national origin religion physical or cognitive ability and other diversity dimensions that may hinder inclusion in the organization.

Generally if you are a good person we want to talk to you.

If there are any adjustments or accommodations that we can make to assist you during the recruitment process and your journey at Karbon contact us at for a confidential discussion.

At this time we request that agency referrals are not submitted for this position. We appreciate your understanding and encourage direct applications from interested candidates. Thank you!