About Evolve MMA
Evolve MMA is Asia's premier martial arts organisation, operating globally and now building a next-generation SaaS platform to transform martial arts learning. Our technology powers everything from operations and scheduling to data-driven training experiences for students and instructors worldwide.
We are expanding our tech team to bring this vision to life.
About the Role:
You'll be the first in-house backend engineer at Evolve MMA, Asia's #1 martial arts academy. That means you're not joining a team, you're building the foundation one is built on.
We have an existing production platform (React/TypeScript frontend, Node.js/TypeScript backend, MySQL on AWS Aurora, hosted on EC2/S3/CloudFront) that runs our operations across all Evolve MMA locations. Your job is to own the backend architecture, set the engineering standards, and build the systems that power our next phase: AI-driven member engagement, predictive analytics, and eventually a SaaS product for the martial arts and fitness industry.
You'll work directly with the VP of Data & AI and a frontend developer in a small, high-autonomy team. No layers of management and the freedom to make architectural decisions that matter.
Key responsibilities:
Own the backend architecture: design the system structure, set coding standards, establish patterns that scale as the team grows.
Set up engineering infrastructure: CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, Docker containers, deployment workflows. You'll define how code ships.
Build and extend APIs (REST and GraphQL) powering internal dashboards, a member-facing app, and future SaaS features.
Design and optimize the database layer: schema design, query optimization, migrations, and data integrity on MySQL (Aurora RDS).
Build data pipelines for AI features: extract and transform member data for churn prediction models, recommendation engines, and engagement scoring.
Manage AWS infrastructure: EC2, S3, CloudFront, Lambda, Aurora. You're comfortable in the console and with infrastructure-as-code.
Implement security and compliance: authentication, access control, PDPA-compliant data handling. You'll be working with sensitive member data.
Mentor future hires: as the team grows, you'll help onboard and guide junior and mid-level developers joining after you.
What we're looking for:
6+ years of backend development with production systems serving real users.
Deep proficiency in Node.js and TypeScript: this is your primary language, not a secondary skill.
Strong SQL and database design skills: you've designed schemas, written complex queries, managed migrations, and optimized performance on MySQL or PostgreSQL.
Hands-on AWS experience: you've deployed, monitored, and maintained production services on AWS (not just used S3 for file uploads).
CI/CD and DevOps fundamentals: you've set up or maintained deployment pipelines, worked with Docker, and understand automated testing in CI.
Experience setting up projects from scratch: repo structure, testing frameworks, linting, environment management. You've done this before, not just inherited it.
Security awareness: authentication (JWT/sessions), input validation, encryption, and data protection are second nature.
AI/ML integration experience or strong interest: you've worked with ML model APIs, built data pipelines, or are genuinely eager to learn. We're building churn prediction, recommendation engines, and AI-powered automation.
Nice to have:
Experience building or contributing to a SaaS product.
Familiarity with GraphQL in production.
Experience with Redis, message queues, or event-driven architectures.
Background in fitness, health, education, or membership-based businesses.
Active user of AI coding tools (Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot) — we're an AI-augmented team.
We're also looking for someone who:
Wants to build, not manage. This is an IC role. You'll be hands-on coding 80%+ of the time, especially in year one.
Thrives with autonomy. No one is going to hand you Jira tickets and tell you what to build. You'll work directly with leadership on priorities and own the execution.
Has opinions but holds them loosely. You have strong views on architecture, testing, and code quality — but you're pragmatic about tradeoffs in a fast-moving environment.
Moves fast without cutting corners. We ship weekly. That doesn't mean we skip tests or merge broken code — it means we scope smartly and execute efficiently.
Is genuinely curious about AI. This isn't a buzzword for us. We're building AI-powered products and we use AI tools daily in our development workflow.
Why Join Us:
Architectural ownership from day one. You're not implementing someone else's design — you're making the decisions that shape the entire backend.
Real, measurable impact. The systems you build directly affect thousands of users. You'll see the results of your work in business metrics, not just dashboards.
AI-forward team. We're building churn prediction, personalized recommendations, and AI-powered engagement tools. This is applied AI with real data and real users — not a proof of concept.
Path to SaaS. The internal platform is the foundation for a SaaS product targeting the martial arts and fitness industry. You'd be a founding engineer of that product.
No bureaucracy. Small team, direct access to leadership, fast decisions. If something makes sense, we do it.
Remote-friendly with flexible working arrangements.
What we offer
Competitive salary and bonus structure
Comprehensive health and wellness benefits
Generous paid time off and flexible work arrangements
Opportunities for professional development and career advancement
Collaborative and inclusive work environment
Complimentary martial arts training across all Evolve MMA locations