Technical Lead

Job Title: Tech Lead (Contract) Company: Big Four Client Location (hybrid): Baltimore, MD - 4x/wk at client site at Cockeysville, MD Work Authorization: U.S. Citizen or Green Card Holder Pay Rate: Up to $57 per hour (W2), depending on experience Duration: 9+ Months Overview: We are seeking a seasoned Technical Lead with strong API development experience to lead a high-impact project with on of our Big Four clients. This is a hands-on role combining technical leadership with scrum master responsibilities. You will own the design and delivery of Node.js APIs on AWS with MongoDB, guide a small development team, and run Agile ceremonies to ensure predictable delivery. P&C insurance domain experience is preferred. Key Responsibilities: • Lead end-to-end design, development, and delivery of scalable RESTful APIs and microservices using Node.js on AWS • Serve as hands-on scrum master for a cross-functional team: plan and facilitate sprint ceremonies, manage backlogs, remove impediments, track velocity and delivery metrics • Architect cloud-native solutions on AWS following best practices for security, availability, performance, and cost • Design MongoDB schemas, optimize queries and indexes, and manage data migrations • Establish coding standards, conduct code reviews, and enforce quality through unit, integration, and contract testing • Implement CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices to enable rapid, reliable releases • Define and maintain API documentation (OpenAPI/Swagger) and enforce API design standards • Implement observability: logging, metrics, tracing, and alerting for production readiness and reliability • Collaborate closely with product owners, QA, and business stakeholders to refine requirements and align technical solutions to business outcomes • Mentor and coach engineers; foster a culture of continuous improvement and knowledge sharing • Ensure compliance with security, data privacy, and organizational standards Required Skills & Qualifications: • 7+ years of professional software development with 3+ years in a technical lead role • Strong hands-on experience building APIs with Node.js (e.g., Express, NestJS) and JavaScript/TypeScript fundamentals • Solid AWS experience (e.g., API Gateway, Lambda or ECS/Fargate, EC2, IAM, Secrets Manager, S3, CloudWatch, SNS/SQS) • Proficiency with MongoDB (schema design, aggregation framework, indexing, performance tuning) • Proven experience as a scrum master driving Agile delivery for one or more teams • Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and leadership skills • Willingness and ability to work from the client’s Cockeysville, MD office at least 4 days per week Preferred Skills & Qualifications: • P&C insurance domain knowledge (policy, claims, billing, rating, integrations with core systems) • Experience with API security (OAuth2/OIDC, JWT), rate limiting, and API lifecycle management • CI/CD tooling experience (e.g., GitHub Actions, Jenkins, AWS CodePipeline) and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or CloudFormation) • Experience with serverless architectures, containers (Docker, ECS/EKS), and microservices patterns • Strong testing discipline (Jest/Mocha, contract testing, Postman/Newman) and familiarity with OpenAPI • Observability tooling (CloudWatch, Datadog, New Relic) and operational runbooks/SRE practices • Relevant Agile certification (CSM, PSM) is a plus • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent experience