Upwork · 1 month ago
Contract: Engineering Team Lead (Java)
United States
Contract
Remote
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
8+ years expUpwork is the world’s work marketplace, serving a diverse range of clients with a powerful platform. As an Engineering Team Lead (Java), you will manage a skilled team of engineers, guiding the technical direction of projects and ensuring high-quality product delivery while fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.
FreelanceMarketplacePeer to PeerRecruiting
Responsibilities
Collaborate with Engineering, Product Management, and Design teams to ensure timely delivery of high-quality solutions
Provide leadership and mentorship to a team of software engineers, with a strong emphasis on quality, innovation, and customer-centricity
Translate the broader business vision and technical challenges into clear, actionable plans, balancing trade-offs where needed
Identify and mitigate technical risks, and proactively communicate them to stakeholders
Foster a culture of curiosity, growth, and excellence, encouraging continuous improvement and experimentation
Lead regular team meetings to assess output, address concerns, and enhance team communication
Provide regular updates to senior leadership and key stakeholders, ensuring transparency around progress and challenges while advocating for the engineering team’s needs
Manage your time independently to achieve deliverables, committing approximately 40 hours per week
Coordinate with the team during core hours (8:00 to 11:00 am PT), with occasional availability until 12:00 pm PT for critical matters
Qualification
Required
8+ years in software development, with a proven track record of delivering complex projects from ideation to launch
Experience leading engineering teams, driving execution, and ensuring high-quality output
Deep understanding of software development life cycle principles and agile practices
Expertise in designing and maintaining distributed backend systems, scalable solutions, and microservice architectures using modern JVM languages such as Java or Kotlin
Proven ability to address scalability challenges and build high-load web applications
Demonstrated success working with cross-functional teams to deliver impactful products
Strong interpersonal skills and experience collaborating with multiple stakeholders
Excellent communication skills in English, both written and verbal
Strong coaching and mentoring abilities to guide team development and growth
Embraces feedback and champions a culture of continuous improvement
A growth mindset, with curiosity driving innovation and learning within the team
A proven track record of managing high-performing teams, building highly scalable and reliable systems
Experience working across cross-functional teams and partners
Company
Upwork
Upwork is an online marketplace that connects corporate businesses and organizations with field professionals and independent talents.
501-1000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Upwork has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (16)
2024 (28)
2023 (23)
2022 (35)
2021 (29)
2020 (22)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$168.8MKey Investors
BenchmarkDAG VenturesSigma Partners
2018-10-02IPO
2017-01-01Series Unknown
2016-10-27Secondary Market
Leadership Team
Hayden Brown
President and Chief Executive Officer
Erica Gessert
Chief Financial Officer
Recent News
2026-01-09
2025-12-11
Company data provided by crunchbase