How to apply for Full Stack Tech Lead - Senior

About Mill

Mill is tackling the massive environmental problem of food waste by creating smart home appliances that turn scraps into nutrient-rich grounds. As a mission-driven company, you'll have the chance to build technology that directly reduces household waste and carbon emissions, making sustainability accessible to millions.

About the role

As a Full Stack Tech Lead, you'll own the technical direction of Mill's web platform, from customer-facing dashboards to internal APIs. Your work will power the user experience that connects people to their waste-reduction impact, while leading a team to ensure scalability and reliability as the company grows.

A typical day

Your mornings might start with a standup where you align with product and design on upcoming features. Afternoons are a mix of deep work—architecting a new API endpoint or reviewing a pull request—and pairing with a junior engineer on a tricky bug. You'll also join a cross-functional meeting to decide whether to build or buy a new integration, balancing speed with long-term maintainability.

Who Mill is looking for

• You have 6+ years of full-stack experience and are comfortable leading technical design for complex web applications.
• You're deeply proficient in a modern frontend framework like React or SvelteKit, and you care about crafting intuitive user interfaces.
• You have strong backend skills in TypeScript/Node.js and have worked with serverless architectures (AWS Lambda) to build scalable APIs.
• You're experienced with both SQL and NoSQL databases, and you understand how to model data for performance and flexibility.

Tips for this application

• Highlight any experience with IoT-connected products or smart home platforms, as Mill's app integrates with physical devices.
• Showcase a specific example where you led a full-stack project from design to deployment, including tradeoffs you made.
• If you have experience with real-time data or event-driven architectures, mention it—Mill likely processes device data streams.
• Tailor your resume to emphasize leadership and mentoring, not just individual contributions; they want a Tech Lead.
• Include a link to a portfolio or GitHub repo that demonstrates clean, well-documented code and a modern frontend stack.

What to cover in your cover letter

["Express genuine passion for sustainability and waste reduction—Mill's mission is central to its culture.", 'Describe a specific technical challenge you solved that aligns with scaling a product for rapid growth.', 'Emphasize your experience mentoring engineers and fostering a collaborative engineering culture.', 'Mention your comfort with ambiguity and ability to partner with product managers to define scope and priorities.']

Research before applying

• Read Mill's blog or press releases to understand their product roadmap and recent milestones.
• Check out their careers page for insights into company values and team culture.
• Look at their product reviews or user feedback to understand pain points in the current web experience.
• Research competitors in the smart waste space (e.g., Lomi, Vitamix) to understand Mill's differentiation.

Likely interview topics

Based on the job description, expect questions about:

• How would you design a scalable API to handle thousands of concurrent device data uploads?
• Walk us through a time you had to make a tradeoff between speed and code quality—how did you decide?
• Describe your approach to mentoring a junior engineer on a complex full-stack feature.
• How would you architect a real-time dashboard showing users their waste reduction impact?
• What's your experience with serverless computing, and when would you choose it over a traditional server?

Common mistakes to avoid

• Don't submit a generic cover letter—Mill is mission-driven, so show you've researched their impact.
• Avoid focusing solely on frontend or backend; they need a true full-stack leader.
• Don't overlook the importance of mentoring experience—they want a Tech Lead, not just a senior IC.