Lead Android Developer

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