Job Title: Tech Lead / Software Architect (Player-Coach – Own the Domain Model + APIs + SLOs + Ship Code Daily)

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | On-site / Hybrid | Start-Up Environment

Company Overview

CypherLab is a fast-growing game and platform development start-up based in Kuala Lumpur. We build high-performance entertainment and SaaS systems that power real-time, high-traffic experiences.

We move fast. We build bold. We value engineers who think in systems, lead by example, and stay close to code. If you love solving complex technical problems, architecting systems from scratch, and working closely with founders, this is where you’ll have real ownership—not just tickets.

The Role

We’re looking for a high-impact Tech Lead / Software Architect to build and scale modern backend systems in a start-up setting. You will shape our architecture, own the domain model, define clean API boundaries, and set SLOs that keep our systems rock-solid.

This is a player-coach role—expect to code daily, drive engineering excellence, and mentor a growing team of Malaysian engineers. If you enjoy autonomy, technical depth, and end-to-end ownership, you’ll thrive here.

Key Responsibilities

• Architect scalable, fault-tolerant backend services and domain-driven systems.
• Design API contracts (REST, gRPC) and set long-term evolution strategies.
• Establish and track SLOs for latency, availability, reliability, and performance.
• Write, review, and ship production-grade Go code every day.
• Lead design reviews, technical discussions, and architectural decisions.
• Mentor engineers, strengthen code quality, and level up engineering velocity.
• Align technical decisions with product priorities and business outcomes.
• Drive a culture of experimentation, learning, and engineering ownership.

Qualifications & Experience

• 7+ years backend engineering experience, including 3+ years in a lead/architect role.
• Strong hands-on experience with Go, Kubernetes, distributed systems, or high-traffic apps.
• Deep understanding of scalability patterns, performance tuning, and system trade-offs.
• Confident defining SLOs/SLIs and setting up observability (logs, metrics, traces).
• Proven track record mentoring engineers and elevating technical execution.
• Comfortable in fast-moving environments where decisions matter.

Bonus Points

• Experience in gaming, real-time systems, odds engines, or transactional workloads.
• Familiarity with GCP, Terraform, Kafka, or other event-streaming tools.
• Passion for system design, performance, and clean architecture.

Why Join Us?

• Real Ownership: Your architectural decisions will directly shape our platform.
• High Autonomy: Work closely with founders and influence product direction.
• Start-Up Growth: Be part of the early core tech team in KL.
• Deep Technical Challenges: Low-latency systems, real-time workloads, and large-scale backend problems.
• A Builder’s Culture: We obsess over code quality, system design, and experiments.