Fintech Engineering Lead

Fintech Engineering Lead who can build a high-performance, reliable, and secure B2C financial services application from the ground up, with deep, directly leverable domain expertise in at least one core fintech system (ledgering, payments processing, stablecoin infrastructure, or risk/fraud), strong backend engineering in a Python/FastAPI stack, and the ability to set engineering standards alongside technical founders.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and implementation of core backend systems for a consumer banking and crypto wallet product operating internationally
• Build and scale a Python (FastAPI) monolith backed by Postgres and Redis on AWS, with strong API design and operational discipline
• Own system design decisions for high-integrity money movement workflows (balances, ledger entries, payments, reconciliation, idempotency)
• Integrate with external banking service providers, crypto wallet providers, auth vendors, and payment rails; ensure correctness and resilience
• Set engineering standards and best practices (testing, reviews, incident readiness, security, performance) and raise the quality bar across the team
• Implement robust reliability and security foundations (observability, on-call readiness, secrets management, least privilege, data protection)
• Build fraud/risk-aware systems where applicable (limits, monitoring, anomaly signals, operational controls) depending on domain focus
• Make pragmatic architecture decisions about when to split services for performance (Rust/Go optional) while keeping velocity high
• Collaborate closely with technical founders to shape technical vision, architecture, and roadmap execution in a senior-only team
• Work in-office in San Francisco; relocation candidates are acceptable; be ready to ship quickly with high ownership

Required Skills

• GitHub profile required for submission
• 5+ years building and shipping fintech software in production with deep expertise in at least one: ledgering, payments processing, stablecoin infra, or risk/fraud management
• Hands-on backend engineering experience building and operating production systems (not management-only)
• Strong Python backend experience and modern API development (FastAPI preferred; REST APIs)
• Strong experience with Postgres and Redis in production
• Strong AWS experience operating backend systems (deployment, scaling, security/IAM basics, reliability fundamentals)
• Experience building systems that handle real money at scale (correctness, auditability, reconciliation mindset)
• Strong communication and ability to work with a small senior team in a fast-moving environment

Preferred Skills

• Full-stack flexibility (ability to contribute across iOS/Android/Web integration points as needed)
• Experience with stablecoins, crypto wallet infrastructure, or cross-border payments
• Experience using Rust and/or Go for performance-critical services
• Experience building early-stage products from scratch (first-principles ownership vs maintenance-only work)