Senior Backend Engineer

Teya

Hello. We’re Teya. Teya was founded on a simple belief: local businesses deserve better. They are the cafés, restaurants, salons, shops and entrepreneurs that bring character to our high streets, create jobs and keep communities moving. Yet for too long, financial services has made life harder for them - with clunky tools, poor support and complexity that gets in the way of running a business. Teya exists to change that. We’re building a financial platform for local businesses across Europe - one built around simple tools, thoughtful design and real human support. Our Members rely on us to help them run their business with confidence, and that responsibility shapes the way we work. We move fast. We care about quality. We stay close to the detail. And we believe great performance and genuine hospitality should go hand in hand. If you want to build meaningful products, solve real problems and make a genuine difference for local businesses, we’d love to hear from you YOUR MISSION Small businesses are the backbone of our communities — yet they remain underserved by traditional banks and legacy payment providers. As a Principal Backend Engineer, you will play a defining role in changing that. Your mission is to design and build the resilient, scalable fintech infrastructure that underpins our most critical business initiatives. This isn’t about owning a single service — it’s about owning outcomes. You will drive the technical success of the platforms that power payments, merchant onboarding, transaction processing, and operational workflows across Europe. You’ll operate at the intersection of engineering and business strategy, shaping systems that must be secure, compliant, highly available, and capable of scaling with rapid growth. The decisions you make will directly influence how quickly we can launch new products, enter new markets, and serve thousands of merchants. This role goes beyond technical leadership. You will define and evolve the architectural foundations that multiple teams depend on, bringing clarity to ambiguity and ensuring our most important initiatives succeed. WHAT YOU’LL DO * Own and drive the architecture behind our most critical platforms, ensuring they scale with the business and unlock new capabilities * Design and evolve high-scale, cloud-native systems powering payments and merchant experiences * Lead the development of resilient, secure, and compliant services for high-volume transaction processing * Shape and drive adoption of modern backend practices (Java 17/21, Spring Boot 3, Kotlin, clean architecture) * Architect event-driven systems (Kafka) that enable scalable, decoupled domains across teams * Define and enforce standards for API-first development (REST/gRPC) and domain-driven design (DDD) * Set the bar for availability, performance, fault tolerance, and observability across critical systems * Partner deeply with Product, Data, and leadership to translate business priorities into scalable technical strategy * Lead cross-organisational initiatives that are essential to company growth and market expansion * Influence engineering direction through hands-on contribution, design leadership, and mentorship * Bring structure to ambiguity across technical, regulatory, and operational domains WHAT YOU BRING * 8+ years of experience building and operating distributed, production-grade backend systems * Proven track record operating at Senior Staff or Principal level, driving architecture across multiple teams or domains * Deep expertise in Java (17+), Spring Boot, and modern backend engineering practices * Strong experience with microservices, event-driven architecture, and asynchronous systems * Experience building systems for high throughput, low latency, and reliability, ideally in fintech or transaction-heavy environments * Strong grounding in system design, data structures, and performance trade-offs * Hands-on experience with AWS, Docker, and Kubernetes in production environments * Proven ability to implement observability, resilience patterns, and CI/CD best practices * Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence and align stakeholders * A track record of mentoring senior engineers and leading through ambiguity   The Perks * We trust you, so we offer flexible working hours, as long it suits both you and your team; * Health Insurance; * Physical and mental health support through our partnership with MyFitness; * 25 days of Annual leave (+ Bank Holidays); * Possibility to visit other Teya offices to meet colleagues in instances when travel is safe and appropriate; * Friday lunch in the office; * Friendly, comfortable and high-end work equipment and informal office environment; * Hybrid work mode policy. Teya is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, or background can thrive and do their best work. We believe that a diverse team leads to better ideas, stronger outcomes, and a more supportive workplace for all. If you require any reasonable adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process whether for interviews, assessments, or other parts of the application—we encourage you to let us know. We are committed to ensuring that every candidate has a fair and accessible experience with us.

Teya

Hello. We’re Teya. Teya was founded on a simple belief: local businesses deserve better. They are the cafés, restaurants, salons, shops and entrepreneurs that bring character to our high streets, create jobs and keep communities moving. Yet for too long, financial services has made life harder for them - with clunky tools, poor support and complexity that gets in the way of running a business. Teya exists to change that. We’re building a financial platform for local businesses across Europe - one built around simple tools, thoughtful design and real human support. Our Members rely on us to help them run their business with confidence, and that responsibility shapes the way we work. We move fast. We care about quality. We stay close to the detail. And we believe great performance and genuine hospitality should go hand in hand. If you want to build meaningful products, solve real problems and make a genuine difference for local businesses, we’d love to hear from you Your Mission As a Software Engineer at Teya, you will play an important role in building and improving the technology that empowers small and medium-sized businesses across Europe. You will work alongside experienced engineers on diverse, cross-functional teams, contributing to the design, development, and maintenance of core components of our systems. Your work will involve various aspects of our business, from payments processing and core banking to merchant lifecycle management and internal operations, and you'll have the opportunity to learn and grow while directly contributing to our merchants' success. Responsibilities: * Develop, and maintain clean, efficient, and well-tested code to support business needs, focusing on reliability and performance. * Take ownership of features and small projects throughout the development lifecycle, including design, implementation, testing, and deployment, under the guidance of senior engineers. * Collaborate with cross-functional teams (including product, design, and operations) to understand requirements and contribute technical insights. * Contribute to building tools and integrating systems to enhance operational efficiency and product effectiveness. * Participate in code reviews, giving and receiving constructive feedback to improve code quality. * Learn and apply new technologies and best practices in software development, with support from senior team members. * Assist in troubleshooting and resolving issues related to our systems. * Contribute to process improvements within the team, focusing on code quality, testing, and efficient development workflows. * Document your work and technical decisions clearly for both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Requirements: * 2+ years of professional software development experience, with a good understanding of backend systems and software design principles. * Proficiency in at least one of the following languages: Java or Kotlin. Experience with multiple languages is a plus. * Familiarity with object-oriented programming (OOP) principles, data structures, and algorithms. * Experience with databases (relational and/or non-relational). * Understanding of version control (Git). * Strong problem-solving skills and a desire to learn and grow. * Good communication and collaboration skills. * Experience working in an Agile/Scrum development process. * Ability to work well as part of a team and independently in a fast-paced environment. * Fluent in English. Nice to have: * Degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field. * Previous experience in the Payments Industry, fintech, or Location and Business Recommendation Services platforms. * Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS, Kubernetes, Helm). * Experience with current or specific frameworks, SDKs, APIs, and libraries relevant to Teya's technology stack (e.g. Laravel, Spring, Reactor). * Familiarity with authorisation systems (e.g., RBAC, ABAC, SpiceDB). * Experience with Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) or Test-Driven Development (TDD). * Experience with CI/CD pipelines. The Perks * We trust you, so we offer flexible working hours, as long it suits both you and your team; * Health Insurance; * Physical and mental health support through our partnership with MyFitness; * 25 days of Annual leave (+ Bank Holidays); * Possibility to visit other Teya offices to meet colleagues in instances when travel is safe and appropriate; * Friday lunch in the office; * Friendly, comfortable and high-end work equipment and informal office environment; * Hybrid work mode policy. Teya is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, or background can thrive and do their best work. We believe that a diverse team leads to better ideas, stronger outcomes, and a more supportive workplace for all. If you require any reasonable adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process whether for interviews, assessments, or other parts of the application—we encourage you to let us know. We are committed to ensuring that every candidate has a fair and accessible experience with us.

GoCardless

About us GoCardless is a global bank payment company. Over 100,000 businesses, from start-ups to household names, use GoCardless to collect and send payments through direct debit, real-time payments and open banking.  GoCardless processes US$130bn+ of payments annually, across 30+ countries; helping customers collect and send both recurring and one-off payments, without the chasing, stress or expensive fees. We use AI-powered solutions to improve payment success and reduce fraud. And, with open banking connectivity to over 2,500 banks, we help our customers make faster, more informed decisions. We are headquartered in the UK with offices in London and Leeds, and additional locations in Australia, France, Ireland, Latvia, Portugal and the United States. At GoCardless, we're all about supporting you! We’re committed to making our hiring process inclusive and accessible. If you need extra support or adjustments, reach out to your Talent Partner — we’re here to help!  And remember: we don’t expect you to meet every single requirement. If you’re excited by this role, we encourage you to apply! THE ROLE Fraud prevention is an ever-evolving puzzle, making it one of the most rewarding and impactful areas in fintech. At GoCardless, our Fraud Prevention team develops the intelligent systems that protect our platform, our merchants, and their customers. As a Senior Data Scientist, you will guide the design and delivery of models that operate in real time across our global payment network. You’ll work at the intersection of machine learning, graph-based detection, and behavioural modelling to stay ahead of changing patterns turning research into production systems that make a tangible difference in the fight against financial crime. You’ll collaborate closely with Engineers, Fraud Analysts, and Product Managers to help shape the technical roadmap as we expand into new markets. Our stack is centred around Google Cloud Platform and Vertex AI, using Python, SQL, and BigQuery to build and support high-performance models at scale. WHAT YOU'LL DO * Contribute to the full model lifecycle, from initial discovery and feature engineering through to production, experimentation, and continuous monitoring. * Design and refine real-time ML systems that reduce false positives and ensure a smooth, secure experience for legitimate customers. * Foster a responsive feedback loop, adapting models as patterns evolve to ensure our defences remain robust and effective. * Help shape the technical direction of fraud prevention ML at GoCardless, exploring new approaches as we grow globally. * Support the team’s growth through technical mentorship, knowledge sharing, and a commitment to high-quality code. WHAT EXCITES YOU * Solving complex, dynamic problems: Developing systems that can adapt and respond to changing environments. * End-to-end ownership: Seeing a project through from a conceptual business need to a live, impactful solution. * Strategic influence: Contributing to the ML roadmap and helping determine what we build next, rather than just how we build it. * Holistic Data Science: Engaging in deep-dive analysis, prototyping, and live experimentation. * Modern Infrastructure: Building production-grade models on GCP and Vertex AI, with the flexibility to explore advanced architectures. WHAT EXCITES US * You hold a degree (or PhD) in a STEM discipline, or bring equivalent depth through commercial experience. * You have hands-on experience with modelling approaches such as deep learning, graph-based methods, or sequence models. While fintech experience is great, we value transferable skills from fields like cybersecurity or risk modelling. * You have a track record of deploying models in production that create measurable value. * You can translate complex ML concepts into clear, practical solutions for stakeholders across the business. * You enjoy writing clean code and helping the team thrive through thoughtful reviews and shared learning.   Base salary range: €64,000 - €96,000   Base salary ranges are based on role, job level, location, and market data.  Please note that whilst we strive to offer competitive compensation, our approach is to pay between the minimum and the mid-point of the pay range until performance can be assessed in role. Offers will take into account level of experience, interview assessment, budgets and parity between you and fellow employees at GoCardless doing similar work. (SOME OF) THE GOOD STUFF * Wellbeing - stay healthy with dedicated support and medical cover * Work away scheme - gives you the option to work away from your country of residence for up to 90 days in any 12 month period * Adaptive Working - allows you to work flexibly, around your lifestyle * Equity - all permanently employed GCs get equity to help you make a valuable contribution * Parental leave - to suit everyone embarking on life's great adventure * Learning Budget - lead your own development with an annual learning budget * Time off - generous holiday allowance, + 3 annual volunteer days, + 4 annual business-wide wellness days (‘GC Fridays’) LIFE AT GOCARDLESS   We're an organisation defined by our values; We start with why before we begin any project, to ensure it’s aligned with our mission. We act with integrity, always. We care deeply about what we do and we know it's essential that we be humble whilst we do it. Working this way creates the GC magic- the reason we all love showing up to work.  DIVERSITY & INCLUSION As of April 2025, we had 806 employees (GeeCees) globally, with 524 based in the UK, 163 based in Latvia and 119 across our other offices. To ensure that we're representative of the world around us - and to be able to review relevant benchmarks - we ask GeeCees to voluntarily disclose diversity data. This year, the proportion of GeeCees providing data increased to 88% (up from 79% in 2024). With regards to diversity within GoCardless, we can see GeeCees identifying as: Asian, Black, Mixed or Other — 25%  Neurodiverse — 9%  LGBTQIA+ — 9%  Disabled — 1%  Average age — 33 Female — 45% Male —  55%  We’re rooting for you during your application and GoCardless aims to provide reasonable adjustments to make our recruitment process as remarkable and accessible as we can. Please speak to your Talent Partner if you need extra support. If you want to learn more, you can read about our Employee Resource Groups and objectives here Sustainability We’re committed to reducing our impact on the environment, leaving a more sustainable world for future generations. Check out our sustainability action plan here. Find out more about Life at GoCardless via Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.