MAQE | Head of Back End Engineering

MAQE is a 5-year-old Digital Consultancy and we’re looking for a Head of Back End Engineering to take care of our growing back end team here in Bangkok.

Head of Back End Engineering

Why do we need a Head of Back End?
Our clients, our projects and our teams are the three most important parts of MAQE. And the back end team is our largest, encompassing over ¼ of our staff. As such, we need a Head of Back End who can actively support, oversee and guide one of our most principal teams, while also shepherding our back end technologies and practices.

The challenges

Promoting a culture of collaboration, contribution and critical thought in the back end team
Contributing to and aligning with company direction and goals
The hiring back end engineers in Bangkok right now is definitely a candidate's market

The plusses

The team is quite engaged in our technical direction and actively helps audit, test and trial new technologies
Because of the variety of clients and projects we have the opportunity to iterate and improve on tech and methods on a regular basis
A large portion of our builds are bespoke so we get the chance to do best of class work, from discovery to delivery

About the role

This position is 50% production and 50% management. So the Head is responsible for all back end work across all projects, and is also responsible for taking care of the team. We also need someone who can take the existing back end foundations here at MAQE and extend and improve upon them moving forward.

For more detailed info about our Engineering stack and capabilities please check here.

Responsibilities

Lead back end direction, goals and competency at MAQE
Manage, coach and mentor the back end team
Oversee back end software architecture for new and existing projects
Keep MAQE up to date on new back end technologies and trends

Tasks

Contribute to and oversee the architecture and building of complex websites and web-applications
Manage back end engineer hiring, 1-2-1’s, and performance reviews
Conduct code reviews
Oversee the build, testing and deployment tools in coordination with DevOps
Support project estimations in relation to back end effort
Work with Project Coordinator to schedule back end engineers
Collaborate with the other MAQE Heads and Leads to produce the best work possible

About you

Must haves

5+ years of professional experience
A relevant degree (BS/MS) or comparable years of experience
Experience managing or leading a team
Excellent knowledge of PHP, SQL and/or NoSQL languages
Intimate knowledge of industry standards (coding standards, patterns, best practices, etc.)
Intimate knowledge of the back end ecosystem, including frameworks and tools
Thorough understanding of the challenges of maintainable and extensible code
Experience measuring and ensuring optimal back end application performance
Experience with front end languages (HTML, CSS and JS)
Command line chops
Strong teamwork, believe that communication is a key to project’s success
Strong problem solving skills
Good level of English: Written, Reading and Speaking

Nice to haves

Multi-cultural organisation exposure
Commercial coding experience (e-commerce, payment gateways, 3rd party integrations, etc.)
A passion for testing — unit, E2E, selenium/webdriver, etc.
Experience with agile practices — scrum, kanban, etc.
Experience with server ops — linux, AWS, etc.
Experience with DCVS (ideally git)

What we offer

Autonomy; freedom to do something great
Competitive salaries, plus bonus scheme
Open plan office right next to Ploenchit BTS
Agile and efficient work processes
27” iMacs or MacBook Air/MacBook Pro 13″ + Dell 24″ Screen, Dual Fibre and VDSL Internet
Free drinks / snacks / fruit at work, free beer on Fridays
15 days annual paid vacation
Flexible work hours (e.g., 9AM-11AM to 6PM-8PM)
Relaxed atmosphere, little to no overtime
Lots of creative freedom and responsibility
Provident fund

How to apply

Please send your cover letter, resume, and code samples (ZIP, URL, or otherwise) to recruit+blognone@maqe.com. Note: we prefer to see code from senior candidates but if you are not able to share anything we can send our simple code test through to you.

In your cover letter, please answer the following question:

Give us an example of one of the most satisfying back end challenges that you have encountered on a previous project. How did it come about and how did impact your build?

Please include links to your Github or Bitbucket profiles if you have either.

Note: Dear Foreign candidates – We’re happy to hire non-Thai’s however, the Thai Board of Investment (BOI) has strict guidelines on who we can issue a work-permit for. Please ensure you have the following:

Ideally, a relevant degree to the position you are applying for. E.g. Senior Engineer + Computer Science Degree
At least 5 years relevant experience without a degree or design related degree
Please have proof of certificates/transcripts handy (you won’t believe the paperwork required!)
Patience. The foreigner application process is more art than science ?