Contract: Development Team Lead/Manager (Java)

As an Engineering Lead at Upwork, you will manage a team of highly skilled engineers, collaborate across teams, and deliver top-tier products to our users. You will guide the technical direction of projects, maintain a high standard of quality, and cultivate a team culture that drives innovation and continuous improvement.

Work/Project Scope:

• Collaborate with Engineering, Product Management, and Design teams to ensure timely delivery of high-quality solutions.
• Provide leadership and mentorship to a team of software engineers, with a strong emphasis on quality, innovation, and customer-centricity.
• Translate the broader business vision and technical challenges into clear, actionable plans, balancing trade-offs where needed.
• Identify and mitigate technical risks, and proactively communicate them to stakeholders.
• Foster a culture of curiosity, growth, and excellence, encouraging continuous improvement and experimentation.
• Lead regular team meetings to assess output, address concerns, and enhance team communication.
• Provide regular updates to senior leadership and key stakeholders, ensuring transparency around progress and challenges while advocating for the engineering team’s needs.
• Manage your time independently to achieve deliverables, committing approximately 40 hours per week.
• Coordinate with the team during core hours (8:00 to 11:00 am PT), with occasional availability until 12:00 pm PT for critical matters.

Must-Haves (Required Skills):

• Professional Experience: 8+ years in software development, with a proven track record of delivering complex projects from ideation to launch.
• Leadership: Experience leading engineering teams, driving execution, and ensuring high-quality output.
• Technical Expertise:
• Deep understanding of software development life cycle principles and agile practices.
• Expertise in designing and maintaining distributed backend systems, scalable solutions, and microservice architectures using modern JVM languages such as Java or Kotlin.
• Proven ability to address scalability challenges and build high-load web applications.
• Collaborative Skills:
• Demonstrated success working with cross-functional teams to deliver impactful products.
• Strong interpersonal skills and experience collaborating with multiple stakeholders.
• Excellent communication skills in English, both written and verbal.
• Additional Skills:
• Strong coaching and mentoring abilities to guide team development and growth.
• Embraces feedback and champions a culture of continuous improvement.
• A growth mindset, with curiosity driving innovation and learning within the team.
• A proven track record of managing high performing teams building highly scalable and reliable systems.
• Experience working across cross functional teams and partners.