Our client is a Ukrainian product company working in the security systems and video surveillance domain. The company develops and implements complex infrastructure solutions for urban, municipal, public-sector, and security-related environments.

The product is already used in real-world conditions for monitoring a large number of cameras and events. The next strategic step is to build a proprietary Ukrainian backend solution that will strengthen control over product development, support, security, and scalability.

This is a complex infrastructure product with high requirements for reliability, security, performance, and technical quality.

About the role

We are looking for a Head of Engineering / Technical Project Lead to lead the development of a new backend solution for a high-load video surveillance platform.

This role sits at the intersection of engineering leadership, architecture, team management, and delivery ownership. We are looking for someone who can not only manage the process, but also deeply understand technical decisions, discuss architecture with engineers, and take responsibility for the final result.

Key responsibilities

Lead the development of a proprietary backend solution for a video surveillance platform.
Build and lead an engineering team.
Own timelines, technical quality, and project delivery.
Participate in architectural decisions and technical validation.
Work closely with Architect, Backend, Frontend, QA, DevOps / Infra, and Product / PM functions.
Ensure platform-level technical consistency and proper documentation of key decisions.
Help the team solve high-load, on-premise, security, and video streaming challenges.
Communicate with business stakeholders, technical stakeholders, and, when needed, customers.
Deliver the product within expected timelines and quality standards.

Technical context

The product is high-load and is not a standard web platform.

Key characteristics:

on-premise infrastructure;
distributed systems;
video streaming;
integrations with cameras and customer infrastructure;
large volumes of events and data;
high requirements for security, stability, and data retention;
work with production environments and real infrastructure sites.

Tech stack / technical direction

Go / polyglot backend;
distributed systems;
Kubernetes / k3s;
Helm, Argo CD;
NATS / federation;
PostgreSQL;
ClickHouse;
Qdrant;
MediaMTX / video streaming;
ONVIF / ISAPI / RTSP;
Zero Trust;
Vault PKI;
CI/CD, observability, secrets management;
understanding of React / TypeScript on the frontend side would be a plus.

The stack is not a strict dogma, but the candidate should be able to explain technical trade-offs clearly and propose strong architectural decisions.

What we are looking for

Strong experience in backend / platform engineering / distributed systems.
Experience managing engineering teams.
Ability to take ownership of delivery, timelines, and quality.
Hands-on technical background: writing code daily is not required, but the person should be able to understand architecture, read code, validate technical decisions, and discuss details with engineers.
Experience with high-load or infrastructure-heavy products.
Understanding of on-premise environments or readiness to work with such constraints.
Mature communication with business stakeholders, owners, and external stakeholders.
Ukrainian language is required.
Working English for partnerships, vendor communication, and potential international collaboration.

Nice to have

Experience with VMS / video surveillance / video streaming.
Practical experience with ONVIF / ISAPI / RTSP.
Experience in security platforms, SOC, critical infrastructure, telecom, or industrial IoT.
Experience in high-load finance / transactional systems.
Experience working with public-sector, infrastructure, or enterprise customers.
Experience hiring senior / lead engineers.
Experience building an engineering team from scratch or at an early product stage.

Conditions

Location: Kyiv
Work format: office / hybrid;
Relocation conditions may be discussed for candidates from other cities.
Official reservation/booking for this key role.
Business trips within Ukraine may be required, especially during platform launches on real customer sites.