Location: Hybrid in Malta or Remote from Europe
Reporting to: Software Architect

Our client is moving into a new phase of technical independence. They are migrating our core systems to a fully in-house model, and need a Back-end Team Lead to spearhead the transition. This isn't a "business as usual" management role. You are the primary builder responsible for recruiting, mentoring, and leading a high-caliber internal team to take full ownership of the platform.

Your Missions

• Build and lead the internal Back-end team from the ground up to support the full migration and long-term ownership of the platform.

• Take command of the PHP backend, ensuring the system remains stable, secure, and optimized throughout the migration process.

• Partner with the Software Architect to translate the long-term technical vision into a scalable, internally managed reality.

• Mentor and grow your engineers, setting the bar for high-velocity delivery, clean code, and rigorous testing standards.

• Drive the transition from a legacy environment into a modern, high-performance internal architecture.

• Own the delivery of the backend roadmap, ensuring our global gaming systems maintain high availability and fault tolerance.

• Extensive experience as a Senior or Lead Engineer with a proven ability to scale high-performance engineering teams.

• Mastery of Laravel. You know the framework inside and out and have a deep understanding of refactoring complex systems for scale.

• Experience in high-stakes migration environments - you know how to move systems between environments while mitigating risk.

• Deep knowledge of relational databases (PostgreSQL/MySQL), Redis, and building scalable REST/GraphQL APIs.

• Strong grasp of modern infrastructure, including Docker, Kubernetes, and automated CI/CD pipelines.

• A pragmatic, hands-on leadership style where you lead by example in the codebase rather than just from the sidelines.

• Excellent communication skills in English, with the ability to navigate complex architectural transitions with both the team and leadership.

• Background in iGaming, Sportsbook, or Fintech platforms.

• Experience with event-driven architectures (Kafka, RabbitMQ).

• Familiarity with AWS/GCP cloud environments.

• Knowledge of security best practices for high-volume financial transactions.

• Be the technology owner and build something great from scratch! Make a tangible impact in a rapidly growing, global company.

• A culture that rewards ambition, innovation, and collaboration.

• If hired remotely, 28 days of time off and public holidays as per country of residency.

• Comprehensive benefits package for Malta-based employees, including:

  • Private health insurance, wellness allowance, and communication allowance.

  • Healthy lunch on Wednesdays, Social Fridays, and Summer & Christmas events.

  • Employee discounts in restaurants and businesses.

  • Extended second-parent leave policy.

  • Private parking space.