Senior Full-Stack Engineer (React/Node/TypeScript) — First Engineering Hire, Australian EdTech
Remote — Coimbatore preferred; Tamil Nadu / India considered · Full-time · Works directly with the founder in Australia

Merit LMS is a live learning platform used by school children, their tutors and administrators in Australia. It's a TypeScript product: React + Vite on the front end, Express + Prisma + PostgreSQL on the back end, running on AWS, with Stripe billing and AI-assisted marking.

We build with Claude Code , an agentic AI coding tool, and that's how we'll keep building. You're not being hired to out-type an AI. You're being hired to take over the technical running of the platform from the founder: decide how things get built, direct the AI agents that build them, and be the last line of defence before anything reaches a child's screen.

You'd be the only engineer. The founder is non-technical and is handing the platform over to you, but stays closely involved in the product and makes the business calls.

The founder makes all business decisions: pricing, what we sell, what we promise families, and what ships when.
Good ideas are welcome and expected, but you run them past the founder before building. As trust builds, more of the day-to-day design and prioritisation calls become yours. Direct AI coding agents through real work: Get AI to write plans, split it into small phases, run the build, and review AI's work.
Review AI-generated changes sceptically. You are allowed to use AI for all parts of planning, development and testing, but you need to ensure that the AI is guided correctly and it doesn't go off course and ultimately take ownership of the AI's outputs.
Trace the code paths yourself and drive the app in a browser before anything ships.
Own releases end to end: feature switches, database migrations against live data, backups before risky steps, the gated deploy, and the checks after it.
Work a standard 9:00 am to 5:00 pm IST day, so you overlap with Australian afternoons and can talk to the founder live. Security and children's privacy. Role boundaries between student, tutor and admin; making sure no child sees another child's data and no AI output reaches a child unchecked. Anything touching logins, permissions or children's data gets careful human review here, and that review is yours.




Taking the platform from hundreds of students to thousands: automated tests, monitoring and alerts, performance under load, and infrastructure that grows without breaking.
If the site is down or a child can't finish a lesson, it's yours.
GitHub Actions, AWS, process management and setting config.
Billing correctness. Code quality over time. Left unchecked, AI agents duplicate code and hide errors. not letting coding sessions run too long and stopping within, say, 60% to 70% of the context memory used, so the AI doesn't start hallucinating and then get solid handovers to continue in a new session.

5+ years building and shipping production web applications , strong in TypeScript, React and Node .

- Real experience running database migrations on a live production database with real customer data.
- Fluent, sceptical use of AI coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, Codex or similar). Or be good at using AI to do this.
- Clear, plain-English communication with a non-technical person. You explain risk honestly, including when the honest answer is 'I'm not sure'.
- Reliable daily overlap with Australian hours , and a stable home working setup. to 5 p.m. workday in Indian time IST fits well with us, as tutoring runs till 8 p.m. in our local time (Australian Eastern time).

Cybersecurity experience, which would be a real advantage. For example: application security and secure code review, penetration testing, hardening logins and sessions, AWS security, threat modelling, or handling a security incident. Certifications (such as OSCP, CompTIA Security+ or AWS Certified Security – Specialty) are welcome but not required.
Scaling a web app through rapid growth: performance tuning, load testing, PostgreSQL under pressure.
Adding automated tests to an existing codebase (for example Playwright or Vitest).
Prisma, PostgreSQL, Express, Tailwind/shadcn, Vite · AWS operations · GitHub Actions · Stripe subscription billing.




Accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA) and designing for children.
Previous experience working with sensitive personal data that the law protects (such as children's, health or financial records).
AI in production: prompt design, provider fallback, cost control.

No one reviews your work but you and the agents you point at it.
Automated testing is still being built. Building that safety net is part of your job.
It exists because the product serves children and one bad release has real consequences. Ship something small and low-risk, end to end. Months 2–3: build the safety net. Automated tests on the paths that matter most (logging in, lessons, billing), better monitoring and alerts, and a security review of logins, permissions and children's data.
# Find and fix what would break with ten times the students (performance, database load, infrastructure), and take on more of the design and prioritisation calls, with the founder's sign-off.

A structured interview about a production system you owned, an incident you handled, and how you use AI coding tools critically.
# A short, paid code-review exercise. We give you an AI-generated change like the ones you'd review here. You tell us what you'd approve, what you'd send back, and what you'd check before it went near a child. A conversation with the founder about risk, communication, and how you'd say no.

Salary: 10–14 lakh per year, depending on experience.
Bonus: a performance-based bonus may be paid, at management's discretion.
Employment: full-time employee in India, employed through an Employer of Record (a company that handles Indian payroll and employment on our behalf).
Leave and benefits: standard Indian employment terms, provided through the Employer of Record.
Tools: we provide your AI coding tools, including Claude Code.
Location: remote. Tamil Nadu and the rest of India considered.
If you're available for an immediate start, that's a great plus.
Conditions: offers are subject to background verification and a declaration that you won't hold a second job alongside this one.
One thing an AI coding agent got wrong that you caught.
# How you'd approach a database migration you can't undo.

If you have security experience, tell us about that too.

📌 Full Stack Engineer - React / TypeScript (Fully Remote) (Coimbatore)
🏢 Merit Tutoring
📍 Coimbatore