Title: Lead Backend Engineer (Nodejs) Salary: Up to £90,000 D.E Location: Belfast (2 days on site) Are you a Lead Engineer ready to take on more technical leadership and help shape the future of AI-driven software? iO Associates is exclusively working with a rapidly scaling AI consultancy headquartered in Belfast that's building secure, high-performance solutions for clients across government, defence, and industry. They're now looking for a Lead Backend Engineer to head up a small, high-performing team, setting standards, driving design decisions, and mentoring others, while staying hands-on with development. What You'll Be Doing Lead and mentor a talented backend team, setting coding and design standards. Develop and maintain scalable backend services and APIs in Node or Python. Ensure code quality, reliability, and performance across all services. js or Python. Strong grasp of scalable server-side architecture and cloud-native design. Proven ability to mentor engineers and lead technical delivery.