Technical Lead – Web Engineering

We are seeking a highly skilled Technical Lead – Web to own and scale the KukuFM web platform to millions of users. This role requires deep expertise in frontend architecture, modern web technologies, and building highly performant, secure, and reliable user experiences—including our web player (audio/video) and web-based payments flow.

As a Technical Lead, you will drive architectural decisions, ensure engineering quality, and build a world-class, end-to-end web experience across browsers and devices.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Architecture & System Design

• Own the architecture and evolution of the web platforms, ensuring scalability and performance for millions of users.

• Drive architectural decisions for audio/video players, including streaming, caching, preloading, and performance considerations.

• Lead design and optimization of web payment flows, including gateway integrations, UI/UX for checkout, security, and reliability.

• Design modular, maintainable systems with strong performance, SEO, and accessibility standards.

2. Player (Audio/Video) Responsibilities

• Own the development of the KukuFM Web Player, ensuring flawless playback, low startup latency, buffering reduction, and adaptability across browsers.

• Implement audio/video features such as:

• Speed control

• Bookmarks

• Background playback

• Seek optimizations

• Smart prefetching

• Ensure compatibility across mobile-web, tablets, and desktop browsers.

3. Payment on Web Responsibilities

• Architect and integrate web payment gateways (Razorpay, Stripe, Paytm, Cashfree, Google Pay, etc.).

• Ensure smooth, secure, and high-conversion checkout flows.

• Implement:

• Retry mechanisms

• Error handling

• Webhooks

• Subscription flows

• Payment status and handling edge cases

• Work closely with backend and finance teams to ensure reliability, correctness, and robust reporting.

4. Technical Leadership

• Lead and mentor a team of web engineers to deliver high-quality features at speed.

• Conduct deep code reviews and set standards for performance, scalability, and security.

• Define web engineering best practices and technical roadmaps.

5. Performance & Quality

• Optimize Lighthouse scores, Core Web Vitals, page performance, and bundle size.

• Implement monitoring for player errors, payment failures, and frontend performance.

• Own testing pipelines for the player, checkout, and critical user journeys.

6. Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work with product, design, backend, content, payments, and analytics teams.

• Ensure consistent communication with ML/AI teams for personalized recommendations in the player and homepage.

Required Technical Skills

• 5+ years of web engineering experience, with 1–2 years in a lead role.

• Deep expertise in JavaScript (ES6+), React.js, HTML5, CSS3.

• Strong understanding of:

• Browser media APIs

• Audio/Video element controls

• HLS/DASH playback (via hls.js, dash.js, Shaka, etc.)

• Streaming performance, buffering logic, and adaptive bitrate concepts

• Experience optimizing player UX for:

• Low-latency playback

• Offline usage

• Background playback

• Resource-efficient loading

• Hands-on experience integrating payment gateways on web: Razorpay, Stripe, Paytm, Cashfree, etc.

• Understanding of secure payment practices:

• Tokenization

• PCI-DSS basics

• Callback/webhook handling

• Idempotency and retries

• Experience building and debugging subscription flows and recurring payments.

Other Required Skills

• Strong grasp of frontend architecture, micro-frontends, SSR/SSG (Next.js).

• Deep understanding of performance tuning, caching, CDNs, and browser internals.

• Strong UI/UX instincts with attention to detail.

• Experience with Webpack/Vite, Babel, TypeScript, Jest, Cypress.

• Experience developing for high-traffic consumer platforms.

Preferred Skills

• Experience with service workers, PWAs, and background sync.

• Knowledge of React.js Node.js or backend fundamentals.

• Experience with Sentry, Datadog, New Relic for monitoring web performance.

• Experience with SEO, structured data, and SSR optimization.

• Familiarity with subscription billing analytics and payment funnel optimization.

Tools & Technologies

Frontend: React.js, Next.js, TypeScript
Player: hls.js, MediaSource API
Payments: Razorpay, Stripe, Paytm, Cashfree SDKs
Build Tools: Webpack, Jenkins
Testing: Jest, RTL, Cypress
Monitoring: Sentry, Grafana, Lighthouse
Version Control: Git
CI/CD: GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins

Why Join Us?

·       Opportunity to work in a fast-growing audio/video and content platform.

·       Exposure to multi-language marketing and global user base strategies.

·       A collaborative work environment with a data-driven and innovative approach.

·       Competitive salary and growth opportunities in marketing and growth strategy.

About KUKU

Founded in 2018, KUKU is India’s leading storytelling platform, offering a vast digital library of audio stories, short courses, and microdramas. KUKU aims to be India’s largest cultural exporter of stories, culture and history to the world with a firm belief in “Create In India, Create For The World”.

We deliver immersive entertainment and education through our OTT platforms: Kuku FM, Guru, Kuku TV, and more. With a mission to provide high-quality, personalized stories across genres from entertainment across multiple formats and languages, KUKU continues to push boundaries and redefine India’s entertainment industry.

🌐 Website: www.kukufm.com

📱 Android App: Google Play

📱 iOS App: App Store

🔗 LinkedIn: KUKU

📢 Ready to make an impact? Apply now!