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We're building a real-time facility navigation and asset-tracking platform for industrial and logistics sites — GPS/BLE-based positioning, live forklift and asset overlays, zone/dwell analytics, and a driver-facing mobile app, running on a distributed, actor-model backend, as well as an admin portal.
The Role
We're hiring a senior Tech Lead / Software Architect to own the technical direction of the platform's backend architecture, with a specific focus on its actor-model distributed system (built on Microsoft Orleans). Beyond architecture, this person leads the engineering team day-to-day: coordinating closely with the Project Manager on planning and delivery status, and joining client calls to speak to technical progress and tradeoffs. This is a fractional engagement — roughly half-time, spread across the full length of the project.
Responsibilities — Architecture & Engineering
• Own and evolve the architecture of a distributed, actor-model backend (Microsoft Orleans) handling realtime
positioning and telemetry data at scale
• Set technical direction for the .NET backend: API design, data pipelines, service boundaries
• Design the path toward multi-node Orleans clustering as the platform scales
• Review code and provide hands-on technical guidance to backend and full stack engineers
• Identify and remediate security and architectural risk areas (authentication, data handling, system hardening)
• Partner with data/telemetry and QA engineers on ingestion pipeline and analytics architecture decisions
• Advise on CI/CD, staging environment, and release practices
Responsibilities — Team Leadership & Communication
• Act as engineering team lead: set priorities, unblock the team, and own technical quality across the engineering group
• Coordinate closely with the Project Manager on sprint planning, delivery status, and risk/blocker escalation
• Join client calls run by the project team, speaking directly to technical progress and tradeoffs when needed
• Mentor other engineers, raising the technical bar across the team
Requirements
• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, including senior/lead-level architecture responsibility
• Hands-on experience with actor-model distributed systems (Microsoft Orleans strongly preferred; Akka or comparable frameworks considered)
• Strong backend expertise in C#/.NET — API design, services, data pipelines at scale
• Experience architecting systems that process realtime/streaming data (telemetry, sensor data, WebSockets)
• Proven track record leading a small engineering team — code review, mentoring, setting technical direction
• Experience working closely with a Project Manager on planning and delivery, including joining client calls to speak to technical topics
• Strong written and spoken English — comfortable communicating with both engineers and non-technical stakeholders
• Security-conscious architecture practices (authentication, PII handling, system hardening)
Nice to Have
• Experience with GPS/BLE positioning or realtime geospatial systems
• Background in industrial, logistics, or IoT/telemetry domains
• Experience designing for multi-node clustering / horizontal scaling
• Cloud infrastructure experience (Azure preferred, given the .NET/Orleans stack)
Benefits
- Remote work (Vietnam-based)
- Estimated project duration: 19 weeks
- Part-time schedule: 4 hours per day, aligned with Portugal business hours (WET/WEST)
- Freelance / Service Agreement
- Hourly Rate: 20$-25$
Skills Required
- 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, including senior/lead-level architecture responsibility
- Hands-on experience with actor-model distributed systems (Microsoft Orleans strongly preferred; Akka or comparable frameworks considered)
- Strong backend expertise in C#/.NET — API design, services, data pipelines at scale
- Experience architecting systems that process realtime/streaming data (telemetry, sensor data, WebSockets)
- Proven track record leading a small engineering team — code review, mentoring, setting technical direction
- Experience working closely with a Project Manager on planning and delivery, including joining client calls to speak to technical topics
- Strong written and spoken English — comfortable communicating with engineers and non-technical stakeholders
- Security-conscious architecture practices (authentication, PII handling, system hardening)
- Experience with GPS/BLE positioning or realtime geospatial systems
- Background in industrial, logistics, or IoT/telemetry domains
- Experience designing for multi-node clustering / horizontal scaling
- Cloud infrastructure experience (Azure preferred)
What We Do
Alongside | Build Great Products with Great Teams Alongside helps VC-backed start-ups, scale-ups and digital-first enterprises accelerate their roadmaps by assembling elite, time-zone-aligned teams of software engineers, product managers and UX/UI designers, often in under 14 days. Our Porto HQ sits in Europe’s fastest-growing tech hub and taps a vetted global talent pool that lets you ship faster, reduce burn and stay laser-focused on product-market fit. Why high-growth companies choose Alongside • Top 1 % practitioners: rigorously screened full-stack, mobile, blockchain & AI/ML engineers, plus senior designers and product leaders.  • Flexible engagement models: scale a single specialist, an entire squad, or an autonomous build-and-ship pod. • End-to-end ownership: discovery → design → development → launch, with weekly velocity reports and transparent KPIs. • Cost-efficient remote talent: New York, Porto, Pune & Hanoi offices give you round-the-clock progress without Silicon-Valley price tags.  • Proven track record: core Alongside team took Arkive, the world’s first decentralised museum, from idea to funded product. We helped Circuit Security to secure 4.5M in funding and many other startups.
