Senior/Lead Software Engineer – Mandarin Required 8440
Summary
Senior/Lead Software Engineer at Akvelon acting as a technical bridge between distributed teams and a China-based firmware group. Day-to-day work involves C/C++ code and PR reviews, technical mentorship, and SDLC/quality oversight with fluent Mandarin Chinese communication.
Join Akvelon — build products used by millions!
Akvelon is an IT company with 20+ years of experience and 1,200+ engineers across 15+ locations worldwide.
We work with both well-known global tech companies, including Microsoft, Facebook, Airbnb, Dropbox, and Pinterest, and with growing startups.
Our teams are involved in different types of engineering projects, from cloud solutions and AI/ML systems to big data, web, and mobile applications.
Since we are remote-first, our engineers work in distributed teams with flexible hours. We value ownership, clear communication, and the ability to take responsibility for your part of the work.
About the role
We are looking for a Senior Software Development Engineer with strong technical leadership experience and fluent or native Mandarin Chinese language skills.
The role is focused on supporting collaboration with a firmware engineering team based in China. You will act as a technical bridge between engineering teams, helping establish structure, provide technical guidance, review solutions, and ensure that development practices and delivered solutions meet production-quality and protocol requirements.
Requirements
- Strong commercial experience with C/C++
- Senior-level software engineering experience with Lead / Technical Lead experience
- Fluent or native Mandarin Chinese
- Strong understanding of software development lifecycle and engineering best practices
- Experience with code reviews and pull request workflows
- Experience providing technical guidance, mentorship, and constructive technical pushback
- Strong debugging and problem-solving skills
- Experience working with distributed and cross-functional engineering teams
- Ability to evaluate technical solutions and identify risks or quality issues
- Strong communication skills and ability to work effectively with engineering teams in China
- Experience with embedded, firmware, IoT, or connected-device development
- Experience with Embedded C/C++
- Experience with React, NodeJS, or ReactNative
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines
- Experience with static analysis and automated quality checks
- Experience with Semantic Versioning (SemVer) and commit tracking
- Experience with communication protocols
- Experience working with firmware or embedded engineering teams
- Previous experience working with Chinese engineering teams
- Experience in a technical lead, architect, or engineering management role
Responsibilities
- Work closely with the China-based firmware engineering team on a daily basis
- Act as a technical bridge between distributed engineering teams
- Provide technical guidance, mentorship, and support to the counterpart team
- Review code and pull requests and provide actionable technical feedback
- Ensure proposed solutions meet production-quality and protocol requirements
- Provide constructive pushback when technical solutions do not meet the required standards
- Help establish and maintain consistent SDLC and engineering quality practices
- Support release engineering practices, including versioning and commit tracking
- Promote the use of automated CI/CD pipelines and static analysis
- Help identify and resolve technical issues and risks
- Collaborate with engineering leads and other technical stakeholders
- Contribute hands-on to software development and troubleshooting when needed
- Working hours aligned with Beijing and Kyiv time zones
- Daily collaboration with the China-based firmware team
- Flexibility to accommodate recurring meetings across multiple time zones
- Availability for scheduled meetings at approximately 8:00/9:00 AM PST