# Hostinger — Backend Software Engineer | Node.js | Remote

## Posting

- URL: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/hostinger/8e4d93c1-ce2a-4e2a-a3af-d477222ace0f
- Team: Horizons (Hostinger's AI "vibe coding" platform — direct analog of PrimeUI)
- Location: Poland (Remote) — ambiguous whether open to non-Poland residents; needs to be clarified
- Employment type: Full time
- Date posted: unknown
- Date applied: TBD
- Source: direct (Ashby)

## Contacts

- Engineering Manager: Tadas Paplauskas
- Recruiter: unknown
- Hiring manager: Tadas Paplauskas (per posting)
- Referral: none

## Why this role

- **Horizons = PrimeUI in scope and spirit.** Both are AI-native platforms for AI-assisted website generation. Direct domain match — strongest possible signal for the hiring team.
- **AI/LLM nice-to-have is Oleg's daily practice.** Multi-model orchestration, MCP server, prompt caching at 73%, custom AI tooling open-sourced.
- **Production scale story** (Tipico 75M req/mo) maps to "API performance, DB optimization, scalability" in the day-to-day.
- 9+ yrs vs 4+ required — overmatch by years, but the role is positioned mid → senior growth, so we need to argue for senior placement.

## Match score

**~6.5/10** — strong on AI/Node.js/scale, weak on infra stack the posting names explicitly.

### Must-have coverage

| Requirement | Status |
| --- | --- |
| 4+ yrs Node.js + TS + PG/MySQL | ✅✅ Overmatch (9+ yrs) |
| REST APIs in production | ✅✅ Overmatch (Tipico 75M/mo, PrimeUI public API) |
| Message queues (RabbitMQ / BullMQ / GCP PubSub) | ❌ No production experience |
| Kubernetes + Docker + containerization | ⚠️ Docker / docker-compose yes; no K8s |
| Observability tools (Grafana or similar) | ❌ No experience |
| Testing (Jest / Mocha, unit + integration) | ⚠️ Have it but not visible on CV |
| SQL + ORM (Sequelize / TypeORM / Prisma) + Redis | ⚠️ Drizzle ORM ✅, Redis no production |
| Git proficiency | ✅ |
| Self-starter / ownership | ✅✅ (Tech Lead, ~70% ownership) |
| Communicator / documentation | ✅ (technical writing, mentoring) |

### Nice-to-have

| Requirement | Status |
| --- | --- |
| Microservices architecture | ⚠️ Implicit (PrimeUI multi-surface) |
| Performance monitoring / optimization | ⚠️ Implicit (caching, scale) |
| CI/CD | ⚠️ Yes but not in CV explicitly |
| **AI tools + LLM providers** | ✅✅✅ Major overmatch |
| Terraform | ❌ |

## Open questions / risks

1. **Location**: posting says Poland; Oleg is GMT+7 / Deel contractor. Needs explicit confirmation from recruiter before any deep investment.
2. **Compensation**: not listed for this role. Comparable Poland Full-Stack listing is 5600-7600 EUR gross/mo. Oleg's floor is 6K EUR net.
   - UoP at top of range (~7600 gross) ≈ ~5400 net — below floor.
   - B2B / contractor at top of range (~7600 gross) ≈ ~7000 net — meets floor.
   - Mid-level entry at bottom (~5600 gross) — below floor in both cases.
3. **Role level**: posting frames the role as mid → senior growth track. Argue for senior placement in cover letter using PrimeUI tech lead context.

## Tailoring decisions

vs. base `base/oleg_proskurin_fullstack_techlead_cv.md`:

- **Title line**: changed from "Senior Full-Stack Engineer & Tech Lead" to "Senior Node.js Backend Engineer & Tech Lead" — leads with what the posting screens for.
- **Summary**: reframed around Node.js / TS backend + AI orchestration as a backend concern. Removed mention of Frontend / Serverless / eCommerce as primary buckets. Kept the consumer-scale number (75M+) prominent.
- **Skills**: restructured into 4 categories with new order:
  1. Backend & APIs (was buried inside "Data & Infrastructure")
  2. AI Engineering (kept, slight rewording to frame as a backend concern)
  3. Infrastructure & Delivery (Docker / docker-compose explicit — no K8s)
  4. Full-Stack adjacent (compressed Web & CMS / eCommerce together to keep density, since they are not the focus)
- **PrimeUI bullets**: reordered to lead with AI generation layer (Node.js backend) and public API + code-export pipeline. Added explicit "Owned the Node.js server runtime end-to-end" bullet that names WebSocket streaming, schema validation, retry/recovery, third-party API integrations — direct mapping to the day-to-day.
- **FocusReactive / Tipico bullet**: rewritten to lead with the scale number (75M+ req/month) — Hostinger explicitly looks for "production-level engineering from real challenges at scale".
- **Honest gaps**: NOT padded. Did NOT add Kubernetes, RabbitMQ/BullMQ/PubSub, Redis production, or Grafana — Oleg has only docker-compose level on K8s and exploratory contact with queues/Redis. Will address in cover letter as "willing to ramp on".

## Cover letter — points to hit

1. Open with: "I'm currently Tech Lead on PrimeUI, which is structurally and product-wise the same shape as the Horizons platform — AI-native, multi-surface, Node.js backend with multi-model orchestration. The day-to-day in this posting describes my current job."
2. Address location upfront: "I work remotely from GMT+7 as a Deel contractor with W-8BEN; is this role open to candidates outside Poland, or is Polish residency / EU work authorization required?"
3. Address compensation upfront if comfortable: "Could you share the compensation range and contract type (UoP vs B2B)?"
4. Address gaps honestly: "I'm strong on Node.js / TypeScript / PostgreSQL and on AI/LLM orchestration. I have Docker + docker-compose in production but no Kubernetes; I'm familiar with queue systems and Redis but have not run them at scale. Happy to ramp on those during the first months."
5. Production scale story: Tipico 75M req/month is the anchor.

## Timeline

- 2026-05-30 — CV tailored, location & comp questions open
- 2026-MM-DD — applied