Freelance Tech Lead

Location: Lisbon (Remote first)

Start: ASAP

Duration: 3–6 months (with strong potential to extend)

Contract: Freelance / Independent contractor

About the Company

Our client is an ambitious FinTech start up based in Lisbon, building a cutting-edge digital platform designed to simplify the way companies secure funding. Backed by experienced investors, they’re entering a high-growth phase and are looking for a freelance Technical Lead to guide their engineering efforts and help scale their product to the next level.

About the Role

As Freelance Technical Lead, you’ll be the key technical authority within a fast-moving product environment. You’ll work alongside the founders and a small engineering team to shape technical strategy, drive architecture decisions, and ensure high-quality delivery as the platform scales.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the technical vision, architecture, and roadmap
• Lead and mentor a small cross-functional engineering team
• Oversee development of backend services, APIs, and integrations
• Collaborate closely with product to translate business goals into technical plans
• Ensure high standards around code quality, security, and compliance (fintech focus)
• Drive best practices around DevOps, CI/CD, cloud infrastructure, and system reliability
• Support the recruitment and onboarding of future permanent engineering hires

Required Skills & Experience

• 6+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 2 years in a tech lead role
• Strong background in modern full-stack development
• Hands-on experience designing scalable architectures and distributed systems
• Solid understanding of cloud platforms
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and DevOps practices
• Knowledge of security, compliance, and data privacy
• Comfortable working in an early-stage, agile startup environment
• Based in Lisbon or available for on-site collaboration when required

Nice to Have

• Previous work in a high-growth startup
• Experience mentoring or growing engineering teams

What’s Offered

• Key technical role in a high-potential fintech product
• Hybrid working with a central Lisbon office
• Flexible freelance contract with potential longer-term cooperation
• Direct impact on product direction and technical strategy