Founding Engineer (Backend) at Uptech

About company and product

A Singapore seed-stage startup is a platform for fan communities that brings together communities around anime, gaming, K-pop, and other subcultures — all in one place. Our goal is to become the go-to fandom platform on the internet where every type of fandom in the world is found.

The mobile app is currently live on iOS and Android after launching our MVP, which was soon followed by Version 2.0, and the company are now building Version 3.0 with the goal of scaling toward our Series A.

About the role

At the moment we're on a mission to find a Founding Engineer — 1st in-house tech employee — to help scale our platform toward Series A and beyond. We seek an ambitious Backend Engineer who’s experienced in building and scaling applications with thousands of users and would like to join us on a mission to build the future of how the world experiences fandoms.

Requirements for candidates

• You have 3-5+ years of professional experience as a back-end engineer or full stack developer, preferably in high-growth startups or product-driven teams.
• You are comfortable working in a fast-paced environment, where priorities evolve quickly and execution speed matters.
• You take full ownership of technical outcomes and act as the primary technical decision-maker.
• Excellent communication English skills (both verbal and writing)

Backend & Data:

• Strong experience with Node.js and NestJS
• Solid knowledge of PostgreSQL
• Familiarity with NoSQL databases
• Experience designing APIs and data models for high-traffic systems
• DB performance optimization (indexes, queries, schemas)

Infrastructure & CI/CD:

• Hands-on experience with Amazon Web Services
• Infrastructure as Code with Terraform or similar tool
• Experience building CI/CD pipelines (tests, builds, deployments)
• Understanding of containerized deployments and rollback strategies

Code Quality:

• Experience with automated testing (unit / integration)
• Linters, formatters, and code review practices
• Focus on maintainable, production-ready code

Algorithms & Performance:

• CS / Math background
• Experience with feed or ranking algorithms
• Performance optimization: caching, lazy loading, preloading, thumbnails
• High-load experience is a plus

Nice-to-have requirements for candidates:

• Observability: Monitoring with Grafana observability stack (i.e. Prometheus)
• Experience in social platforms, community-based apps, or messaging products.
• Strong understanding of startup product cycles, from MVP to scale.
• Interest in building immersive environments (virtual spaces) or 3D avatar-based interactions.
• Interest in web applications.

Stages of communication:

• Intro Call with recruiter – 30-40 min
• Competency-based interview – up to 1,5 h
• Tech Interview – 2,5 h
• Test Task + Whiteboarding – 1,5h
• Executive interview
• Offer