Lead Backend Specialist
Organizational Context
The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian organization, dedicated to saving lives and building a pathway to peace and prosperity. WFP is investing in private sector fundraising and partnerships to support its mission. The ShareTheMeal app is a key initiative, aiming to grow individual giving and mobilize resources to combat hunger globally.
Job Purpose
As the Lead Backend Specialist for the ShareTheMeal app, you will be the technical leader responsible for defining and executing the backend technology strategy. Your primary objective is to enable the app's ambitious growth from 1.9 million to over 10 million users, ensuring exceptional user experience and operational efficiency. This role involves owning the backend engineering vision and multi-year technical roadmap, establishing architecture standards for scalability, and driving engineering quality and technical sustainability. You will build and lead a high-performing backend engineering team, foster a culture of excellence, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver innovative features that support WFP's mission to achieve zero hunger and impact annual revenue of $30 million USD.
Responsibilities
The Lead Backend Specialist for the ShareTheMeal team will be responsible for defining and executing the technology strategy to scale the app from 1.9 million to over 10 million users, ensuring an exceptional user experience and operational efficiency. This role involves owning the backend engineering vision and multi-year technical roadmap, aligning it with ShareTheMeal's growth objectives and the World Food Programme's (WFP) mission. The specialist will establish architecture standards for scalability, define engineering metrics and Service Level Objectives (SLOs) to drive improvements in performance and reliability, and build a high-performing engineering organization capable of rapid, high-quality delivery. Key accountabilities include driving architectural decisions, optimizing team velocity, developing engineering talent through mentorship, and fostering a culture of engineering excellence with best practices in code quality, testing, and operational sustainability. The role also requires managing technical debt reduction initiatives, implementing quality gates, and championing investments in tooling and automation. Furthermore, the specialist will spearhead the design of scalable architectures, conduct code reviews, document decisions, and collaborate closely with Product, Design, Mobile, and Data teams to ensure seamless feature delivery and enhance product quality, security, and performance.
Work Experience
The role requires at least 5 years of experience in developing backend solutions specifically designed to serve millions of active mobile app users. Proficiency in Node.js, modern backend development patterns, and strong knowledge of TypeScript are essential. Experience with observability best practices, architecture patterns like Clean Architecture and Domain Driven Design, and knowledge of unit testing, end-to-end testing, and TDD are also necessary. Expertise in app performance optimization techniques, CI/CD pipelines, and agile development processes is expected.
Skills
Backend Development, Technical Strategy, Architecture Design, Scalability, Performance Optimization, Agile Methodologies, CI/CD, Testing Automation, Node.js, TypeScript, Observability, Clean Architecture, Domain Driven Design, Problem-Solving, Cross-functional Collaboration, Mentorship, Leadership