About the role
About the Company:
Our client is an established, profitable product company in the fintech space, serving a large international user base with strong security and regulatory credentials. This is a product company with a real engineering culture and genuine ownership - not an agency or outsourcing shop.
About the Role:
Our client is hiring their first Lead Android Developer. This is a hands-on technical leadership role. You write Kotlin every day AND set the company's Android engineering standard. You own the architecture, CI/CD, release pipeline, and security bar.
This is not a pure management role and not just a stronger IC. There are no formal direct reports - you earn influence through expertise and mentorship. Split is roughly 90% hands-on coding, 10% technical leadership.
Key Responsibilities:
* Own the Android technical roadmap, architecture, and engineering standards from scratch
* Write production Kotlin daily using Jetpack Compose, Coroutines & Flow
* Own the full Google Play lifecycle: App signing, keystore management, release tracks, Play Console
* Set up and improve Android CI/CD (GitLab CI, Bitrise, or Fastlane)
* Enforce Android security standards: Keystore, EncryptedSharedPreferences, biometric auth, root detection, SSL pinning
* Lead code reviews, set the PR quality bar, and mentor the Android team
* Represent Android in cross-functional work with Product, Design, Backend, and QA
* Own incidents and drive them to resolution end-to-end
What We Expect:
Must-have:
* 6+ years of commercial Android development in Kotlin: Idiomatic, not Java-in-Kotlin
* Proven technical leadership: Setting standards, driving architecture, raising the team's bar
* Deep Kotlin mastery: Coroutines, Flow, sealed classes, extension functions, DSLs
* Jetpack Compose in production: Real screens shipped, state management, theming, performance optimization
* Strong XML/View system foundation: ConstraintLayout, RecyclerView, custom views alongside Compose
* Architectural patterns at depth: MVVM + Clean Architecture; understands MVI trade-offs
* Jetpack suite ownership: ViewModel, StateFlow, Navigation, Room, WorkManager
* Dependency injection: Hilt/Dagger - set up the DI graph for a real multi-module project
* Networking: Retrofit + OkHttp, interceptors, token refresh, retry logic, error handling strategies
* Android security: EncryptedSharedPreferences, Android Keystore, biometric auth, root detection, SSL pinning
* Android CI/CD: GitLab CI, Bitrise, or Fastlane - has built or significantly improved a pipeline
* Google Play lifecycle: App signing, keystore management, release tracks, Play Console - full ownership
* Testing culture: JUnit, Mockk, Espresso or Compose testing - writes testable code and enforces it in review
* Code review leadership: Sets PR quality bar, gives actionable feedback, establishes standards others follow
* Active mentorship with measurable outcomes: Can describe specific developers and improvements
* Cross-functional communication: Works effectively with Product, Design, Backend, QA
* Ownership mindset: Drives problems to resolution end-to-end without being managed
* Languages: English(At least B2) for PRs and architecture proposals
Nice-to-have:
* Domain experience: Fintech, payments, or banking mobile apps
* KYC SDK integration (Sumsub, Onfido or similar) on Android in production
* Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile: Exposure or hands-on experience
* Performance profiling with Android Studio Profiler: Identified and fixed real production bottlenecks
* Payment SDK integration at Android level (Checkout.com, Stripe, or equivalent)
* Detekt, SonarQube, or static analysis tooling: Enforced across a codebase
* Real-time data: WebSocket or SSE for live prices, order status, or market feeds
* Experience interviewing: Participating in or leading Android technical hiring interviews
* Firebase suite: Analytics, Crashlytics, Remote Config, A/B testing — set up and owned team-wide
* Offline-first or sync-heavy mobile architecture experience
* Multi-module Android architecture: Designed or migrated a project to feature modules
* AI tools in daily development (GitHub Copilot, Cursor, etc.)
How You Work:
* You write code every day and lead by example, not hierarchy
* You take full ownership of the Android platform, not just your tasks
* You make pragmatic decisions under uncertainty and commit
* You treat security and quality as non-negotiable
* You adapt fast and prefer low-bureaucracy, high-autonomy environments
What Does Success Look Like:
* First 30 days: Gets acquainted with the codebase, starts contributing, establishes the Android delivery pipeline, and understands team architecture, stack, and processes
* 90 days: Proposes an approach to documenting application architecture, actively participates in tech discussions and provides valuable, trusted input on development decisions
* 180 days: Demonstrates leadership, develops the engineers they lead, acts as the Android voice in cross-functional discussions, and owns incidents and leads their resolution end-to-end
Hiring Process:
1. Interview with TR 2. HR screening 3. Technical interview 4. Final interview with Head of Engineering + Tech Lead
We Offer:
* A founding opportunity to build Android engineering culture from scratch at a scaled, profitable company
* Modern stack: Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, Coroutines, Flow
* Salary and the Logistics: €6,500 gross / month, remote-first, high autonomy
* Clear growth path: Lead Android Tech Lead potential Head of Mobile
* Professional development budget for courses, seminars, and conferences
* Work culture: Friendly, supportive, and skilled colleagues in a fast-growing fintech company
Originally posted on Himalayas