Introduction

Founded in 2023, our client is a startup modernizing traditional industries through a mass customization platform. The company offers a wide range of printed materials and custom items, from apparel to unique gifts. As a spinout from a leading Japanese B2B mass customization platform, we leverage deep expertise to transform conventional purchasing and manufacturing processes across the Asia-Pacific region.

Mission

In the short term, your mission is to lead the engineering function to achieve product–market fit for our merchandise platform in the Southeast Asia market within one year.

In the long term, you will shape our technology organization, architecture, and engineering culture to establish the company as a market leader across emerging markets, starting with Southeast Asia.

Job Description

Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Execution

Design and evolve the end-to-end technical architecture
Act as a hands-on Tech Lead for critical initiatives
Ensure system scalability, reliability, and security
Establish engineering best practices and development standards

Team & Organization

Build, mentor, and grow a high-performing engineering team
Define roles, goals, and performance evaluation frameworks
Recruit top engineering talent across Southeast Asia

Product & Business Collaboration

Partner closely with Product, Business, and Operations leaders
Align the product roadmap with technical strategy and delivery plans
Support business expansion across multiple Southeast Asia markets

Operational & Financial Management

Improve development productivity and operational efficiency
Manage engineering budgets and vendor relationships

Required Experience

Leadership & General

8+ years of experience across the full software development lifecycle (SDLC)
3+ years of experience in engineering leadership or management roles
Strong hands-on experience in a product-driven environment
Experience working with multinational, distributed teams
Experience in fast-paced startup or scale-up environments
Experience with complex business domains such as e-commerce or supply chains
Proven ability to make architectural and organizational decisions under ambiguity

Technical Expertise

Experience designing microservice-based platforms using GraphQL, gateway federation, and event-driven architectures
Strong data modeling skills with RDBMS and NoSQL databases aligned with business domains
Experience operating production systems on cloud platforms such as AWS or GCP
Solid understanding of system scalability, reliability, and cost optimization

Other Requirements

Approximately 10% business travel between Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City
Must be based in or willing to relocate to either Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia or Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Hybrid working model with at least 3 days per week in the office

Head of Engineering