Lead Engineer, CMS Builder New

About Us

Circle is building the world's leading all-in-one platform for online communities. We make it possible for creators, coaches, educators, and businesses to bring together their audience with engaging discussions, live streams, events, chat, courses, and payments — all in one place, all under their own brand.

We're proud to be a fully remote company of around 200 (and growing) team members from 30+ countries around the world. We seek exceptional individuals around the world, set them up to do the best work of their lives, and in turn, create a meaningful impact in their own lives. We don't track hours, but we do manage for high expectations very closely. We collaborate across time zones, are highly async, and like to document a lot.

Twice a year, we bring the whole company together in beautiful places around the world for our company offsites. So far, we've hosted offsites in Turkey, Portugal, Mexico, Thailand, Colombia, Italy, Ireland, and more, with still more to come

About the Role

We're looking for a Lead Engineer (Rails/React) to join our CMS engineering team. This team is responsible for the core user-facing areas of our product—including discussions, courses, the Home feed, weekly digests, search, and more.

We're building a powerful website builder that will be used by millions of members across Circle communities—and we're looking for someone who brings deep backend expertise to help us scale it. Managing a small team of engineers, you'll work closely with the rest of our technical teams, our founders, product design and more to help shape what we build, and how we build it.

This is a high-leverage, high-collaboration role with plenty of ownership and opportunity for impact.

What you'll be doing

• Leading development of high-scale backend systems that power our new website builder experience.
• Collaborating closely with product, design, and leadership to shape what we build and how we build it.
• Shipping thoughtful, high-quality code—balancing speed with care.
• Mentoring, guiding, and building out a globally distributed team of engineers, while leading by example.
• Owning end-to-end project execution—from early technical planning through delivery.
• Driving performance optimizations and architectural improvements where milliseconds matter.
• Designing and analyzing A/B tests to validate changes and improve the product.
• Engaging regularly with stakeholders to align on priorities and technical direction.

What you'll need to be successful

• Strong alignment with our values.
• You are proficient in English (spoken, written, and reading) at a CEFR Level C2 / ILR Level 5.
• 8+ years of experience in full-stack or backend-heavy development, with deep knowledge of Ruby on Rails and supporting technologies (e.g. Sidekiq, Kafka, Postgres).
• Experience building performant applications at scale—you're mindful of load time, bottlenecks, and architectural trade-offs.
• 3+ years of experience leading or mentoring engineers in high-growth, fast-paced environments.
• Clear, confident communicator who can align technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Strategic thinker who can also dive into the weeds and own execution end-to-end.
• Self-starter who thrives in a remote, async-first culture and takes initiative without waiting for permission.

Bonus points

• Experience collaborating closely with founders, designers, or product leads to shape early product direction.
• Familiarity with frontend development in React (you'll work closely with frontend engineers, even if this isn't your main focus).
• Experience building or scaling a page builder or CMS-style product.
• Examples of using AI tools to analyze data, boost productivity, or solve complex problems.
• Prior experience as a founder or in a highly entrepreneurial environment.

$160,000 - $170,000 USD per year

The cash compensation range shown is a starting point. In addition to equity, benefits and perks, your cash compensation is subject to an annual review and increase on a once per year basis.

The fun stuff

• Fully remote: work from anywhere in the world
• Autonomy and trust to do your job: we care about outcomes over everything else.
• Paid time away: all employees are given 35 days of PTO annually. We also offer a paid sabbatical after 5 years.
• Generous U.S. benchmarked compensation and startup equity no matter where you are in the world.*
• Awesome medical coverage with 100% coverage for you and your family, or medical reimbursement options where applicable*
• Parental leave for parents expanding their family, or just starting one.
• Home office stipend to help you get up and running.
• Learning & development stipend to help you level up your professional skills.
• Annual bonus potential for roles that don't already receive variable income or commission.

• Company retreats: Twice a year, the Circle team gets together for a fully paid company retreat in incredible places around the world We've had past retreats in Colombia, Portugal, and Mexico, with more planned on the horizon.

• Your role, location and unique circumstance may affect this.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

As a fully-remote international company, diversity is baked into our DNA. Here's how our CEO, Sid Yadav, frames our hiring mission: "let's find talent in underserved and under-represented corners of the world, set them up to do the best work of their lives, and in turn, change their life." To achieve this hiring mission, we offer competitive U.S. benchmarked compensation no matter where someone's located in the world, and we proactively seek candidates who expand representation of backgrounds, cultures and lived experiences in our teams.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Circle is an equal opportunity employer and as such, we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws. If you require any accommodations during the recruitment process, please let us know and we will work with you to meet your needs.

How We Use Candidate Data

At Circle, we are committed to protecting your personal information. As a job applicant, the personal data you provide to us is collected and processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). This notice outlines the types of personal information we collect, the purpose for collecting it, and your rights.

Information We Collect: We collect the following categories of personal information from job applicants:

• Contact information (such as name, email address, phone number)
• Employment history and qualifications
• Education history
• References and any other information you choose to share with us during the application process

Purpose of Collection: We collect this information for the following purposes:

• To assess your qualifications and suitability for the position
• To communicate with you during the recruitment process
• To comply with legal and regulatory obligations

Your Rights Under GDPR and CCPA: You have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• The right to request access to the personal information we hold about you.
• The right to request the deletion of your personal information, subject to certain legal exceptions.
• The right to opt out of the sale of your personal information (Note: We do not sell personal information).

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this privacy notice.

---