A profitable tech company with a decade of runway, $16M in annual GMV, and zero fundraising pressure is looking for someone to own its entire engineering function. Lemon.io is not a pre-revenue startup chasing its first customers; it is a working business at a genuine inflection point, transitioning from a services marketplace to a technology-driven platform. The person who takes this role will shape what it becomes.
About Lemon Io
Lemon.io is a talent marketplace that connects pre-vetted senior engineers with companies that need them, compressing a hiring process that typically takes two to five weeks down to 24–48 hours. The company has operated for ten years, employs 60 people across Ukraine, Europe, Canada, and the US, and processes over $16M in gross merchandise value annually.
The business is profitable. That detail matters more than it might appear. The Head of Engineering here will not be managing against a fundraising clock or defending headcount in a down round. The engineering decisions will be driven by product logic and business impact, not investor optics.
What This Role Involves
- Own the technical roadmap end to end. Every engineering effort must map to a measurable business outcome: no features built for their own sake.
- Lead and grow a distributed engineering team. The listing references 5–30+ people as the experience range, though the current team size is not disclosed.
- Solve hard, multi-layered technical problems: automated candidate vetting, intelligent matching at scale, and demand-side bottlenecks on the marketplace.
- Make prioritization calls at pace; decide what gets built, what gets skipped, and what gets cut entirely.
- Work directly with the founder to define success criteria before any code is written.
- Build an engineering culture defined by high ownership, high speed, and low bureaucracy.
- Get hands-on. This is not a management-layer role. The listing is explicit that deep product involvement is expected.
See Also: Moniepoint is Hiring a Senior Android POS Engineer
What They Want
Must Have:
- Proven experience leading engineering teams of 5–30+ people at a startup or high-growth company
- Hands-on comfort with modern tech stacks
- Practical experience with AI/ML tooling
- Background in distributed, async-first team environments
- Product-minded and business-first orientation: you think in outcomes, not outputs
- Bias toward action and simplicity over complexity
Nice to Have:
- Experience at a marketplace or two-sided platform business
- Prior exposure to developer tooling, hiring tech, or talent products
- Experience navigating a company’s transition from services to software
Salary and Benefits
Lemon.io has not disclosed the salary for this role. For a head of engineering at a profitable, 60-person company processing $16M in GMV, market rates globally range from $150,000 to $220,000+ per year depending on geography and whether the role is benchmarked to US, European, or local rates. Given the fully remote structure and the company’s international footprint, the compensation band could sit anywhere in that range. Push for a figure early in the process; do not wait until the final round.
Equity or options are not mentioned anywhere in the listing. For a role of this seniority at a company at this stage, the absence of any equity mention is worth raising directly with the founder.
No benefits package is described.
Is This Open to Nigerians?
Unconfirmed. The role is listed as fully remote with no geographic restriction stated, but Lemon.io’s disclosed team spans Ukraine, Europe, Canada, and the US. Whether the company hires from West Africa or processes payroll in Nigeria is not confirmed in the listing.
If you are based in Nigeria and want to apply, confirm payment method compatibility and employment structure contractor versus employee before investing significant time in the process.
How to Apply
Step 1: Go directly to the listing at lemonio.bamboohr.com/careers/48. The application is managed through BambooHR.
Step 2: Prepare a CV that shows outcomes, not activity. Lemon.io is a results-driven company; they will want to see what shipped, what improved, and what you killed. Generic engineering leadership CVs will not land here.
Step 3: Write a focused cover note. The founder is directly involved in hiring for this role. Address the specific transition Lemon.io is making from services marketplace to a technology platform and articulate how you would approach that problem. Generic enthusiasm will not cut it.
Step 4: Expect founder-level conversations early. The listing emphasises direct access to the founder as a selling point, which also means the founder is likely the first or second screen. Come with a clear point of view on marketplace engineering and AI-assisted vetting.
GizPulse Verdict
This is a legitimate senior role at a company with real fundamentals. Ten years of operation, profitability, and a clear product direction are not common in a market full of early-stage promises. For an engineering leader who wants meaningful ownership without the chaos of a pre-revenue startup, this is a strong option.
The role is demanding in a specific way: Lemon.io wants a builder-leader, not a manager. If your last few years have been spent in meetings rather than architecture decisions and shipping, this will be a hard fit. The listing is unusually direct about that expectation.
One tip to stand out: Do not lead with your team size or years of experience. Lead with a specific technical decision you made, a system you chose not to build, a complexity you eliminated, or a prioritisation call that turned out to be right. Lemon.io is hiring for judgment, not credentials.
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