Lead Distributed Systems Engineer
Hybrid (Hybrid: New York, NY)$250k - $325kFull-timePosted 1mo ago
About the role
Lead the architecture and implementation of an edge data distribution system for private 5G bubbles, guiding a team to deliver reliable, secure, and efficient data synchronization from cloud to edge in a privacy-centric, hybrid-work environment.
Responsibilities
- Architecture and technical direction. The change propagation pipeline, the reconciliation model for nodes returning after long periods offline, the consistency and conflict-resolution semantics, the trust boundaries. You define the guarantees this system commits to, and you're accountable for whether they hold when a node comes back after six weeks with divergent state.
- Hands-on engineering. You lead the team and hold a high bar for execution, and you're most likely also rolling up your sleeves to build the hardest parts of the system yourself.
- Technical roadmap and prioritization. Maintain a clear view of what the deployments in front of us need while making room for the investments that don't show up in any single customer's requirements but determine what this system can do two years from now.
- Team. Recruit, develop, and retain strong distributed systems engineers. Set clear technical standards. Give people the context and the room to do good work.
- Cross-functional partnership. Be a credible, honest technical counterpart to product, our forward deployed engineers, and customers. Translate field constraints into what they actually cost. Bring solutions, not just constraints.
- Solving customer problems. You'll work directly with customers to understand their mission, ship something, watch how it holds up in their environment, and use what you learn to shape the next version.
Qualifications
- Distributed systems depth: You’ve designed and operated distributed systems in production, with experience in replication, consistency, and partition-related failure modes.
- Event-driven architecture: Experience with Kafka, SQS, MQTT, RabbitMQ, Flink, or Spark in production; understanding of delivery semantics, ordering, and replay under adverse conditions.
- Correctness under pressure: Experience shipping under constraints and defending tradeoffs clearly.
- Engineering leadership: Experience as a manager or tech lead, with demonstrated growth of engineers and ownership of technical bets.
- Communication that moves things forward: Ability to explain guarantees to customers and operational realities to engineers.
Skills
Required:Distributed systems design and operationEvent-driven architectureLeadership and people managementCustomer-facing communication
Benefits
- 401(k) match
- 100% coverage of medical, dental, and vision premiums for you and your dependents
- 12 weeks paid parental leave (for all parents, no waiting period)
- Stipends for family-forming needs
- Gender-affirming care
Last updated Oct 21, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
About Cape
Cape is premium wireless coverage with an added layer of personal security.
Cape is premium wireless coverage with an added layer of personal security. Talk, text, and live with the confidence that you’re protected.
wireless coveragepersonal securityprivacy-firstmobile securityeSIMprivacy-oriented
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