Lead Software Engineer / Head of Engineering
Location: Zurich, Switzerland (Hybrid setup – 3 days in the office, 2 days remote)
– The role could be a Lead Engineer or Head of Engineering, depending on the applicant’s experience and the impact they bring to the team. –
Job Description
Join us at NetFabric, where we’re transforming network monitoring from the ground up!
As our Lead Software Engineer / Head of Engineering and full-time team member #7, you’ll be at the heart of our growth! You’ll balance hands-on coding with leadership, setting the pace for our team as you actively contribute to the codebase, mentor your colleagues, and shape our technical strategy to scale our platform. This role combines exciting technical work, thought leadership in driving engineering excellence and making key architectural decisions.
We’re looking for someone who thrives in a dynamic, fast-paced environment where your impact is immediately visible. If you’re an exceptional coder and thought leader, and youre ready to step into a bigger role where you can truly make a difference at a rapidly growing startup, this is the perfect opportunity for you! While knowledge of computer networks is a nice-to-have, what truly excites us is your passion for driving engineering excellence, making sharp architectural decisions, and building products that customers love.
What You’ll Do:
- Be the engineering thought leader: Set the bar for engineering excellence and take charge of code quality, review processes, and best practices from day one. Establish and refine coding and testing guidelines to ensure robust, scalable, and secure software development that adheres to high-quality standards.
- Mentor & guide: Provide mentorship to engineers across the team, driving their growth in technical skills and professional development.
- Build & innovate hands-on: Write code, solve architectural challenges, and manage technical debt as you collaborate with the team to build our next-gen platform.
- Own the technical architecture: Embrace a variety of exciting engineering challenges, ensuring our platform reliably and securely manages massive data volumes and scales seamlessly. Collaborate with our team to dive into diverse problems, drive smart system design, and integrate newest research solutions that keep our tech on the cutting edge.
- Collaborate with the CTO: Work closely with Tobias (our CTO) to translate high-level visions into actionable engineering roadmaps, ensuring we build a product that excites our customers.
- Co-lead sprint planning: Co-lead sprint planning and fine-grain task distribution, ensuring we stay on track and hit key deadlines.
- Ensure flexible deployment options: Ensure that our monitoring platform can be deployed in diverse networks, from on-premise to cloud setups.
- Evaluate tools and libraries: Perform detailed experiments to evaluate which tools or libraries are best suited for handling vast amounts of data and scale seamlessly.
What We’re Looking For:
- Engineering excellence: Proven track record in engineering best practices and code quality. You should be adept at setting high standards and leading by example.
- Hands-on talent: Strong skills in writing code and tackling complex engineering challenges. Your practical skills will complement your architectural insight.
- Tech-savvy: Experience with some of the technologies we use or plan to use, such as:
- Python (or another high-level programming language widely known by network operators)
- Rust (or another language suitable for efficient manipulation of large data sets)
- ClickHouse (or another scalable database for high-volume data insertion)
- Kafka (or another distributed event streaming platform for real-time data pipelines)
- Grafana (or another frontend solution for building user interfaces)
- Mentorship skills: Passion for guiding and mentoring engineers, helping them grow their technical prowess and professional development.
- Collaborative spirit: A collaborative and adaptable mindset where you will work closely with our CTO Tobias, CEO Beni, and other team members, ready to embrace a startup culture where your ideas can immediately impact the product.
- Network knowledge: No strong background in computer networking is required, but a willingness to learn and grow in this area is a must and aligns with our mindset of continuous personal development.
Bonus Points:
- Expertise in software architecture to handle vast amounts of data from various sources - evaluating technologies, designing systems, and implementing innovative solutions.
- Experience in optimizing systems for scaling, performance, and stability.
- Experience with software deployment (containerization tools like Docker or Kubernetes) and fast prototyping.
- Experience in gathering and leveraging customer feedback to drive engineering priorities and feature development.
Why NetFabric?
- Immediate impact & ownership: Dive into a small but fast-growing team where your contributions will make a tangible difference from day one. Take charge of engineering as we transition from pre-seed to market launch, with escalating responsibilities and opportunities for growth.
- Growth & collaboration: Lead and innovate alongside thought leaders and award-winning researchers from ETH Zurich, tackling the most exciting challenges in high-performance data processing, network modeling, AI and, LLMs. Immerse yourself in an environment that champions continuous learning and cutting-edge solutions.
- Equity & competitive salary: Receive a comprehensive compensation package with stock options, offering you a stake in NetFabric’s success, and additional benefits to ensure your well-being.
- Flexible working: Split your week between our Zurich office (Tue, Thu, Fri) and home office (Mon, Wed), and set your own working hours around our core periods. We value your unique rhythm and believe that flexibility is key to top performance, so tailor your schedule to fit your needs and optimize your productivity.
- Our team spirit: At NetFabric, our culture is all about putting our customers first and working smart. We believe in open conversations where everyone’s ideas matter and everyone feels empowered to challenge each other’s ideas. We stay grounded and supportive, always driven by good intentions to grow and succeed together.
Join Us in Shaping the Future!
We’re on the lookout for talented individuals, not just checkboxes on a CV. If you’re an exceptional performer and this role feels like a fit, even if you don’t meet every single requirement, we’d love to hear from you.
How to apply
Reach out to us at
Perks of joining us as an
early team member at a deep tech startup
Work on something new and exciting every day, at the forefront of deep tech
Developing our product involves tackling a wide range of challenges across many domains including data processing, AI, LLMs, databases, networking, modeling, and more.
Experience substantial personal and professional growth
As an early employee in a fast-growing startup with a flat hierarchy, you will have great opportunities to learn and grow.
Work with an exceptional team to shape the product and company
Join our team of top researchers from ETH Zurich and entrepreneurs, and help shape our product and company direction as one of our first employees.
Enjoy a hybrid work environment in our ultra-central Zurich office
Work three days a week in our vibrant Zurich office right next to tram stop Central, with the flexibility to work remotely for the remaining two days.
Benefit from additional insurance coverage and memberships
Our team’s well-being is a top priority. Benefit from our sick pay insurance (Krankentagegeld), semi-private accident insurance, and discounted ASVZ membership.
Receive equity as part of a competitive compensation package
We believe every employee is crucial to our long-term success and deserves a stake in the company as we work towards revolutionizing network monitoring.