Lead Engineer, Full Stack (US)

Code and Theory•Austin, TX

2d•Remote

About The Position

Code and Theory is seeking a full-stack lead engineer to help build The Machine, our agentic operating system for marketing. This is a senior, hands-on role, setting technical direction, developing the team, and staying in the code building, the AI-native digital platforms, and user experiences that power enterprise marketing workflows. The engineer will work closely with Engineering, Product, and Design to build performant, scalable applications across web and AI-enabled systems, leading through the work itself, coordinating across functions, and gathering the information that shapes roadmaps and priorities. The Machine is the agentic operating system for marketing, built by Code and Theory. It plugs into the tools marketing teams use and turns disconnected workflows into a single intelligent system, connecting brand strategy, creative production, and media performance. The Machine helps power agencies across Stagwell's network and world-leading brands.

Requirements

Ability to build independently to figure out how something works for the user
Self-direction, curiosity, and comfort with ambiguity
Bias toward action
Experience in an IDE or harness of choice
Backend in Python, Node.js, or Go
Infrastructure and infrastructure as code (GCP, AWS, or Azure; Terraform, Pulumi, or similar; Kubernetes and networking principles)
SQL and NoSQL databases (relational schema design and vector embeddings for AI search)
Event-driven systems such as SQS, SNS, Kafka, or RabbitMQ
Frontend in React and modern CSS such as Tailwind
CI/CD with GitHub Actions, CircleCI, or Jenkins
An understanding of build, bundling, imaging, and publishing pipelines
Familiarity with AI-native development tools like Cursor, Devin, or Claude Code
Experience with agentic frameworks and infrastructure such as Google ADK, LiteLLM, LangChain, or similar

Nice To Haves

Experience in agency, consultancy, or enterprise SaaS organizations

Responsibilities

Own the technical direction for features and systems across the full stack, setting standards for scalability, correctness, and maintainability that the team builds against
Build and maintain modern front-end applications using React and Next.js, focusing on correctness, for long term maintainability, and integration with back-end services
Own complex API integrations end to end, setting the contracts, validation standards, and reliability bar for how internal and external systems communicate
Build maintainable and well-structured application logic
Lead cross-disciplinary alignment on architecture, data flow, and technical trade-offs
Lead technical discussions, architectural reviews, and problem-solving sessions, shaping how the team approaches hard engineering decisions
Set the bar for code quality, and define and enforce standards for clean, maintainable, well-documented code across the team
Mentor and develop engineers, actively growing junior talent through code review, knowledge-sharing, and modeling strong engineering practices
Help define the vanguard for emerging technologies and frameworks, applying them to projects quickly and effectively to improve the health of our systems over time