Lead Software Architect $200,000 USD/year Pay is set based on global value, not the local market.
Most roles = hourly rate x 40 hrs x 50 weeks
Description
We operate platforms that serve thousands of students and teams at scale:
- TimeBack: An educational platform driving Alpha School's 2-hour learning model (99th percentile test results).
- Incept: A content generation platform producing all personalized educational content for multiple learning applications deployed at Alpha School.
- Crossover: An AI-powered hiring platform processing tens of thousands of applicants monthly, staffing schools and companies worldwide.
You will take ownership of one platform and dedicate the majority of your time to building its most complex components with a small team (3-5 senior engineers, no juniors). The architectural choices you make determine whether other teams can build new applications quickly, integrate smoothly, and deliver value to students. Strong decisions unlock massive leverage. Poor decisions generate integration failures and destroy velocity across multiple teams.
You design, build, and operate your systems. You define quality standards and establish patterns for your platform. We operate on a spec-driven model: you design before implementing, always planning before building. Expect high autonomy, no committees, no review boards. You work within a small, focused team where accountability for what you ship is direct.
What you will be doing
- Technical Leadership: Drive strategic architectural decisions and define technical patterns the team will follow.
- AI Leadership: Champion the adoption of emerging AI workflows and develop high-impact playbooks.
- Implementation: Construct the complex, mission-critical components of the codebase with your team.
- Quality Reviews: Verify that your team adheres to established patterns and upholds quality standards.
What you will NOT be doing
- Acting as an architect without hands-on implementation
- Being trapped in continuous meetings
- Managing people (this role is technical leadership, not people management)
- Maintaining legacy systems or supporting internal IT infrastructure
Candidate requirements
- A minimum of 5 years of professional software development experience building software products
- A minimum of 3 years serving as either a lead engineer (reviewing others' work) or architect (making key technical decisions)
- Experience delivering platform-level products where other teams consumed your APIs
- Deep engagement with AI tools, actively experimenting and pushing boundaries
Meet the hiring manager
Applying for a role? Here’s what to expect.
Crossover's skill assessment process combines innovative AI power with decades of human research, to take the guesswork, human bias, and pointless filters out of recruiting high-performing teams.
Chat-style
screening interview.
Cognitive 
aptitude test.
Prove real-world 
job skills.
Interview with the hiring manager.
Accept job offer.
Pass
proctored test.
Frequently asked questions
About the role
Reviews
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The Olympics of work
It’s super hard to qualify—extreme quality standards ensure every single team member is at the top of their game.
Premium pay for premium talent
Over 50% of new hires double or triple their previous pay. Why? Because that’s what the best person in the world is worth.
Shortlist by skills, not bias
We don’t care where you went to school, what color your hair is, or whether we can pronounce your name. Just prove you’ve got the skills.
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