Principal Backend Engineer, Payments Platform

This position is posted by Jobgether on behalf of a partner company. We are currently looking for a Principal Backend Engineer, Payments Platform in the United States.

As a Principal Backend Engineer, you will define the technical direction and architecture for a next-generation payments platform powering millions of global transactions. This role combines deep hands-on engineering with high-level strategic influence across multiple teams. You’ll design scalable, reliable, and secure systems that support seamless money movement while mentoring senior engineers and driving technical excellence organization-wide. It’s a rare opportunity to lead complex, high-impact initiatives in a collaborative and innovative environment that values both technical mastery and business insight.

Accountabilities

• Define and drive the long-term architecture and technical strategy for the payments platform, ensuring scalability, resilience, and reliability.
• Design and oversee complex backend systems that support high-volume global payment operations.
• Evaluate and modernize existing systems, determining when to reuse, rebuild, or replace infrastructure components.
• Remain hands-on by contributing to production code, reviewing complex designs, and troubleshooting critical issues.
• Partner with cross-functional teams across product, security, and compliance to ensure cohesive and compliant system design.
• Champion operational excellence through observability, performance optimization, and robust monitoring practices.
• Mentor Staff and Senior Engineers to elevate technical standards and foster leadership growth across teams.
• Collaborate closely with business leaders to align technical strategies with product and customer outcomes.
• Introduce and implement industry best practices and emerging technologies to continuously improve system performance and reliability.

Requirements

• 12+ years of software engineering experience, including leadership of complex distributed systems in production environments.
• Proven success as a Principal Engineer or Architect influencing technical direction across large-scale organizations.
• Deep expertise in building and operating scalable, reliable, and secure backend systems.
• Strong proficiency in one or more modern backend languages such as C#, Java, Golang, or C++.
• Hands-on experience with cloud-native platforms, preferably AWS, and strong understanding of cloud infrastructure design.
• Advanced knowledge of SQL and NoSQL databases and experience designing large-scale data models.
• Demonstrated ability to define multi-year technical strategies and deliver incremental business value.
• Domain expertise in payments, fintech, or other highly regulated industries.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to influence senior technical and business stakeholders.
• Proven track record in mentorship, technical leadership, and elevating engineering standards.

Benefits

• Competitive annual salary range: $224,000 – $302,000, based on experience and location.
• Generous paid leave, including wellness and mental health days, plus statutory holidays.
• Up to 26 weeks of paid parental leave for primary caregivers.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, plus disability coverage.
• Fertility and family planning financial support.
• 401(k) plan with company matching contributions.
• Employee Share Plan and performance-based incentives.
• Hybrid or fully remote work flexibility for West Coast candidates.
• Dedicated budget for professional development and continuous learning.
• Supportive, inclusive culture that values diversity, collaboration, and innovation.

Jobgether is a Talent Matching Platform that partners with companies worldwide to efficiently connect top talent with the right opportunities through AI-driven job matching.

When you apply, your profile goes through our AI-powered screening process designed to identify top talent efficiently and fairly.
🔍 Our AI evaluates your CV and LinkedIn profile thoroughly, analyzing your skills, experience, and achievements.
📊 It compares your profile to the job’s core requirements and past success factors to determine your match score.
🎯 Based on this analysis, we automatically shortlist the three candidates with the highest match to the role.
🧠 When necessary, our human team may perform an additional manual review to ensure no strong profile is missed.

The process is transparent, skills-based, and free of bias, focusing solely on your fit for the role. Once the shortlist is completed, we share it directly with the company that owns the job opening. The final decision and next steps (such as interviews or additional assessments) are then made by their internal hiring team.

Thank you for your interest!

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