Technical Lead, Budapest

Lab49 is an award‑winning specialist consultancy that creates bespoke technology in partnership with the world’s leading financial institutions. Founded in 2002 to bring Silicon Valley engineering practices to Wall Street, we’ve delivered hundreds of high‑impact projects across global investment banks and buy‑side firms, spanning distributed systems, high‑performance automation, enterprise UX, cloud, and data‑driven platforms.

At Lab49, engineers work directly with clients to design and deliver production systems. We combine technology, design, and business to solve real problems where quality, performance, and clarity matter.

The Role

As a Tech Lead, you are a true project leader. You own the technical direction and delivery of client engagements, while multiplying the effectiveness of the engineers around you.

This is a hands‑on leadership role: you will design systems, write code when it matters most, guide architectural decisions, and ensure the team delivers high‑quality outcomes even when you are not at the keyboard.

You will work closely with client stakeholders, designers, product partners, and Lab49 leadership to ensure solutions are technically sound, aligned to business objectives, and delivered with excellence.

What You’ll Be Doing

Technical Leadership & Delivery

• Lead the design and delivery of modern, production‑grade web applications using contemporary UI technologies and frameworks.
• Architect solutions that balance user experience, performance, scalability, and delivery constraints.
• Set technical direction and standards, ensuring consistency, quality, and long‑term maintainability across the system.
• Actively manage software quality, testing strategy, and delivery velocity, even when you’re not directly writing code.

Team Leadership & Leverage

• Lead and mentor engineers across one or more workstreams, helping them grow technically and professionally.
• Delegate effectively, manage priorities, and create clarity so the team can execute with confidence.
• Foster a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Serve as a role model for how to think, communicate, and act as a senior consultant and engineer.

Client & Stakeholder Partnership

• Partner directly with client stakeholders as a trusted technical advisor.
• Translate business and user objectives into clear technical strategies and delivery plans.
• Communicate trade‑offs and recommendations clearly to both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Build strong, durable client relationships that support successful delivery and future work.

Practice Contribution

• Contribute to the growth and maturity of Lab49’s Interactive Practice by sharing expertise, shaping standards, and mentoring future leaders.
• Support business development efforts by contributing to pitches, solution design, and technical storytelling where appropriate.

What Success Looks Like

In your first 6–12 months, success means:

• Your teams consistently deliver high‑quality software that meets user and client objectives.
• Engineers around you are growing, more autonomous, and more effective because of your leadership.
• Clients trust your judgment and rely on you for technical direction and clarity.
• You demonstrate strong ownership of outcomes, not just tasks, and proactively address risks before they become issues.
• You can step back from the keyboard when needed without delivery or quality suffering.
• Support innovation initiatives involving modern engineering tools, AI/LLM‑based solutions, automation, or engineering accelerators.

What You Should Have

• 10+ years of experience designing and building complex, commercial‑grade software systems.
• Proven track record of leading and driving the UI development stream for large-scale, multi-year greenfield projects from conception to deployment.
• Deep expertise in JavaScript and TypeScript, with one or more modern UI frameworks (React, Angular, Vue, etc.).
• Strong understanding of end‑to‑end web application architecture, APIs, data flow, and performance considerations.
  • Experience with AI/LLM tooling, automation frameworks, or engineering agents
• Solid grasp of SDLC practices, CI/CD, automated testing strategies, and quality management.
• Strong professional experience within banking, payments, or financial services
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to influence technical and non‑technical stakeholders.

Bonus Points

• Experience working on large-scale, multi-year programmes within complex enterprise environments, such as Fortune 500 firms
• Backend engineering experience (e.g., .NET, Java, Python).
• Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS or Azure.
• Experience working with financial products, platforms, or data‑intensive systems.
• Demonstrated involvement in community building, mentoring, or internal practice leadership.

Why Lab49?

At Lab49, you’ll work on complex, meaningful problems with talented engineers, designers, and consultants. You’ll gain broad exposure to technologies, business domains, and client environments as you grow your career.

We value curiosity, judgment, and ownership. If you care about quality, enjoy helping others succeed, and want your work to have real impact, Lab49 is a place where you can thrive.