Sr. Android Engineer (Remote)

Who We Are (Mode.Inc)

Mode.Inc is the parent company of a portfolio of technology businesses, including Mode Mobile, the creator of EarnOS, a transformational software platform that turns ordinary smartphones into "EarnPhones". This innovation empowers users worldwide to monetize everyday mobile activities such as streaming, gaming, and shopping. We enable users to profit from their data and attention, rather than letting only tech giants benefit. What sets us apart is our inclusive approach, converting users into earners, facilitating over $150M in earnings and savings, and going a step further by turning earners into owners by awarding stock ownership in Mode.Inc based on their usage. We have attracted over 40 million users across 170 countries.

For additional insights, check out information about our reward-based super app, Mode Earn App, which also powers the reward engine for our proprietary smartphone, Mode Earn Phone.

Our Team and Culture Drive Our Success

Our team is the heart of our culture.  We value innovation, collaboration, and curiosity, with a passion for getting things done.  We strive to hire and cultivate the best team members and foster a culture of open communication and transparency.  We are driven and hard-working but also committed to having fun along the way.  We allow OKRs to guide us, assume positive intent, sometimes agree to disagree and commit, honor our commitments, seek to accomplish more with less, and encourage everyone to speak up as our team owns our company’s success.

You can read more about our team and how we work here.

The Role

We’re looking for a passionate, senior Android engineer to help us bring a new portfolio of Android launchers to life. You’ll be the driving engineer behind Arrow Arcade Launcher, Mode.Inc’s first home-screen launcher, built around an embedded Unity game and monetized through home-screen ads, search, and in-game ads. Just as importantly, you’ll help architect the reusable launcher platform that powers the variants that follow it (QR Code, AppLock, and EarnOS launchers), so we build the core once and ship many. You’ll own projects end to end, from architecture through Google Play release, working closely with our product, design, and game teams, and mentoring other Android developers along the way. Once the launcher portfolio is established, you’ll continue with the team across our broader Android products, including Applock Pro, one of our top-rated apps with over 100M downloads on Google Play. This role is equal parts deep launcher engineering (native home screen, Unity-as-a-Library integration, performance) and platform thinking (modular, reusable, and Google Play policy-compliant). We are an AI-native company, and you’ll be expected to use modern AI coding and agentic tools as a force multiplier in your everyday engineering work.

Who You Are and What You’ll Do

• You are a native Turkish speaker, fluent in English, who will be working in a Turkish team but will also communicate with the international teams.
• Build and ship native Android launchers, the home screen, app grid, app drawer, folders, wallpaper, themes, and widgets, as the primary product surface.
• Integrate Unity games into the launcher via Unity-as-a-Library, running the game as an embedded Activity in its own process to keep the launcher light.
• Own home-screen performance: fast Home-button response, fast game cold start, and disciplined memory management to avoid OOM kills.
• Design the launcher as a modular, reusable platform so future variants (QR Code, AppLock, EarnOS) inherit the core with minimal rework.
• Integrate monetization, home-screen/newsfeed display ads, search, and in-game rewarded/interstitial ads, in a way that stays within Google Play policy and protects ad quality.
• Take projects from planning through technical implementation, deployment, and post-deployment.
• Write high-quality, stable, maintainable, and well-tested code.
• Advocate for unit/integration testing
• Switch between working solo and collaboratively to complete projects quickly.
• Meet and work with the product and monetization teams to understand the customer’s needs.
• Take part in the code review process.
• Have a knowledge of the background/foreground services, Android Overlay, WorkManager, Profiler and analyzing ANR.
• Use AI coding assistants and agentic developer tools (for example, Claude Code) to accelerate delivery across Kotlin, Android, and launcher work, minimizing manual coding to exceptional cases while holding a high bar for correctness, performance, security, and reliability.
• Apply strong judgment about when to rely on AI for speed and when to apply independent engineering review, especially for launcher performance, system-level behavior, and Google Play policy-sensitive code.
• Continuously improve personal and team workflows for AI-assisted development, including prompting, code review, testing, documentation, and debugging.

Technology

• We have a modern Android project, written primarily in Kotlin, Coroutines, and Dagger. We plan to start with Jetpack Compose in the project.
• The launcher is built natively on standard Android launcher APIs.
• The embedded game ships via Unity-as-a-Library (a published Unity title), and monetization runs on AdMob / Google Mobile Ads and Unity Ads.
• Our CI/CD is automated through GitHub Actions, and we release weekly.
• We are an AI-native team: AI coding assistants and agentic developer tools (for example, Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and Codex) are a standard, expected part of how we build and ship.

What You Bring to the Team

• The company and project excites you!
• You have 6+ years of experience building large, world-class Android apps, preferably with experience using:
  • Kotlin
  • Jetpack Compose
  • Coroutines
  • Dagger
  • MVVM
  • Clean Architecture
  • WorkManager
  • Android Overlay
  • Background/foreground services
  • ANR analysis and solutions
  • Using Profiler
• Hands-on experience bringing custom Android launchers or home-screen replacements to life, ideally including:
  • Home screen, app grid, app drawer, folders, wallpaper and theme systems
  • Embedding Unity via Unity-as-a-Library and running it as a separate-process Activity
  • Memory and startup profiling for long-running processes
  • Ad SDK integration (AdMob / Google Mobile Ads, Unity Ads)
  • Google Play policy for launchers and utility apps, and compliant ad placement experience
• You’re a product-focused engineer, and your #1 priority is solving problems for users.
• Deep hands-on experience with AI-assisted and agentic development workflows (GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, and similar), including practical use in code generation, refactoring, debugging, test creation, and navigating large codebases.
• Comfort operating as an AI-native engineer who treats modern AI tools as a productivity multiplier while keeping full ownership of architecture, implementation quality, and outcomes, knowing how to supervise AI-generated output for quality, maintainability, security, and production readiness.
• You're passionate about automated testing and continuous delivery.
• You’re excited to deliver high-quality features at a fast pace.
• You have exceptional organizational and analytical skills leading to confident, independent delivery.
• You’re a direct and empathetic communicator.
• You respect all of your teammates and managers, and you are open to criticism.
• You’re comfortable with a little startup chaos.
• Alignment with our core values:
  • ​​Accountable: You take ownership of your responsibilities, demonstrating trustworthiness and self-discipline. You are consistent in your work, transparent in your actions, and communicate effectively. You follow through on commitments and strive for continuous improvement.
  • Action-driven: Identify what is most important, agree on scope, execute in a timely manner, and drive the greatest impact.  You take initiative, roll up your sleeves, and get things done.
  • Caring: You genuinely care about yourself and others, our business and craft, our mission and vision, and are passionate in heart and mind. You understand the importance of our team and strive to create a positive, supportive work environment.
  • Curious: You focus on the ‘why,’ learn and expand your knowledge, explore new ideas, and generally make things better.  You're a lifelong learner with a thirst for knowledge and a constant desire to improve.
  • Thorough: Your work is thoughtful, impactful, timely, accurate, and complete.  You pay attention to detail, are meticulous, and ensure quality work and compliance.
• Nice to Have: 
  • App-lock, privacy, or security utility experience. You’ll likely work across Applock Pro (100M+ downloads) as the platform grows, so this is a real plus, but it is not required to start.
  • Unity or game-development exposure beyond integration.
  • QR/barcode scanning, or rewards/earn (EarnOS-style) product experience, mapping to future launcher variants.
  • Familiarity with APK/AAB size optimization.
  • Contributions to open-source launchers.

We are an AI-native company, and we are especially excited about candidates who already work in an AI-native way. That means using AI tools to accelerate research, prototyping, testing, debugging, and exploration across our Android and launcher work, while applying strong engineering judgment to what actually ships.

The strongest candidates know how to work productively with AI, evaluate outputs critically, and improve team effectiveness without compromising quality, security, performance, or user trust. You manage AI tools as part of your workflow, using them as a multiplier rather than a crutch, and you keep ownership of architecture, implementation quality, and outcomes.

We welcome thoughtful use of AI tools in preparing your application materials and learning about Mode Mobile. During live interviews and core technical assessments, we may set specific rules for AI usage depending on what we are evaluating. In some cases, we may also ask you to demonstrate how you use AI tools effectively in your day-to-day development workflow.

We Believe in the Following Workplace Norms

• Allow OKRs to Guide Us
• Assume Positive Intent
• Agree to Disagree & Commit
• Set New Precedents
• Accomplish More with Less
• Hold Yourself & Others to High Standards
• Speak Up
• Be Resourceful
• Follow the 80/20 Rule

What We Are Offering

• We are a 100% remote-first, global company.
• A competitive compensation package.
• We offer generous perks & benefits to team members. 
• Participation in the Company's equity plan (for full-time team members).
• We provide individual bonuses in accordance with our Company Bonus Program.
• Work with energetic, passionate, and results-driven people.
• Celebrate team members' personal and work milestones.
• Remote social activities, including virtual coffee buddies. 
• Bonusly - We use Bonusly as a way to recognize and reward team members for their hard work and commitment.
• Weekly Wednesday Get Stuff Done Days (No Meetings).
• Open PTO, generous Company Holidays, and Wellness Days (for full-time team members).

If we just described you and your perfect role, we'd love to talk with you.  We have a lot to accomplish this year and look forward to making headway and creating success together!

Mode.Inc does not accept/pay fees for unsolicited resumes from third-party agencies/vendors.

Our company is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer. We are committed to providing a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We celebrate diversity and strive to create an inclusive environment for all team members.