Lead Engineer - Rafiki
Your mission As a Lead Backend Engineer, you'll play a key role in shaping Rafiki's backend architecture and ensuring we continue to deliver reliable, high-performing payment infrastructure. You'll lead critical engineering efforts, mentor teammates, and work closely with cross-functional teams. In your first few months, you'll take the lead on projects like:
- Scaling Treasury Tooling
Build internal tools that give our traders and treasury ops teams real-time visibility into balances, flows, and provider allocations-empowering faster and smarter funding decisions across markets. - Upgrading Finance Infrastructure
Help design and implement a scalable ledger and reconciliation system to bring accuracy, auditability, and automation to FX, disbursements, and collections. - Launching New Financial Products
Develop backend infrastructure for innovative products like post-funding models, credit lines, and client settlement in hard currencies, while Rafiki manages FX risk and liquidity.
- Lead the development of Go-based backend services, ensuring high performance, reliability, and scalability
- Design and evolve our customer-facing APIs, powering integrations that allow clients to send, receive, and convert funds seamlessly
- Build modular systems that enable rapid expansion into new markets with diverse regulatory and operational requirements
- Implement critical compliance functionality, including KYB, identity verification, AML, and fraud detection
- Automate operational workflows and partner failover systems to minimise downtime and support overhead
- Use data and insights to drive product and engineering decisions
- Mentor engineers, drive technical excellence, and contribute to a strong engineering culture
- Services are written in Go, deployed in AWS ECS and communicate with our app with gRPC
- Our app is written in Dart with Flutter and is available on both Android and iOS
- Our NALA for Business product is web-only and written in React and TypeScript.
- We use Postgres, Kafka, Redis and Vault
- We use and leverage AWS as much as possible, and we manage it with Terraform
- We write unit and integration tests, do code reviews and deploy multiple times a day
- We use Agile frameworks and also use Jira to manage
- Design-First Thinking
You value clarity before code. You love making architecture diagrams, writing RFCs, and visualising systems. You prefer collaborative planning over jumping straight into implementation and you guide others to do the same. - Stakeholder-Driven but Critical
You're confident gathering requirements and probing for clarity. You challenge proposals that don't make technical sense, working with PMs and stakeholders to shape robust, realistic solutions. - 🧼 Quality Code Advocate
You care deeply about design patterns, single responsibility principles, reusable code, and great API design. You write testable, maintainable systems and expect the same from those around you. - Pragmatic and Strategic
You know when to build for the long-term and when to cut corners responsibly. You're comfortable with some technical debt, if there's a plan to resolve it and you push back when shortcuts put the product at risk. You communicate trade-offs clearly and diplomatically.
- You have at least 5+ years of experience building highly reliable and scalable backend services in Go
- You have worked in a scale / start-up environment and enjoy delivering awesome products quickly
- Experience with RDBMSs such as Postgres, MySQL etc.
- Experience with message-brokers technologies such as Kafka, RabbitMQ etc, working within event-driven architectures.
- You have excellent knowledge of the best practices in designing, developing and deploying those services in a cloud environment
- You have experience working asynchronously with global teams using tools like Slack/Teams/Jira as well as other modern communication systems
- Passionate about our product and the mission that we are on
- You are fluent in written and spoken English
- You have experience working in Fintech and Payments
- You have experience working in a tech startup
- Experience in infosec
- Experience in creating robust, well-polished and documented server-to-server APIs for customers access (E.g. REST/GraphQL)
- 35 Days Off : Enjoy an amazing 35 days of holidays to unwind and explore. (27 days + 8 Bank holidays in the UK).
- Birthday Leave: Celebrate your special day with a bonus day off to take off in that month.
- Enhanced Parental Leave - We offer 16 weeks of full pay for the primary caregiver and 4 weeks of full pay for the secondary caregiver (After a 6-month probationary period)
- Global Workspace : Get access to WeWork locations worldwide.
- Learning Budget : Fuel your growth with $1000 annually for learning and development.
- Hybrid Working : We work in our Canary Wharf Office three days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday).
- Sarabi : Themed snacks and Friday lunch focused on building great working relationships with the team.
- Monthly Socials : Join fun social events every month for great times.
- Free Coffee : Enjoy barista-style coffee at your fingertips.
Recommended Jobs
Hollister Co. - Assistant Manager, Foubert's Place - Soho
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. is a global, digitally led omnichannel specialty retailer of apparel and accessories catering to kids through millennials with assortments curated for their specific lifesty...
Casting Contracts Manager
Do you have significant experience in theatre administration, contracting or producing? Are you an efficient administrator with superb organisational skills? Can you work in a fast-paced team and env...
Workflow Coordinator / Document Production Specialist
Owen Reed is looking to recruit a Workflow Coordinator/Document Production Specialist to support a team for a top law firm. As a Workflow Coordinator / Document Production Specialist, you will: ...
Electrician
Strong Group Recruitment are working on behalf of our client who are looking for Electricians around London on a permanent self employed basis Start: ASAP Hours: 8:00am - 17:00p...
Store Manager (North West London)
Store Manager NW London / West London Our client is one of the fastest growing companies in the UK in their field. They are currently looking for a Store Manager to join the team in the NW Lo...
Global Trade Senior Manager, London : £80 - 95k guide
This Big 4 firm has impressive year on year growth and is looking for a top quality professional to join the Customs and Global Trade team in London. The team is one if the biggest Global Trade team...
Psychology Teacher - Outstanding School - Bexley
*Psychology teacher required to work on a full-time position *Psychology teacher required to work within an Outstanding Independent school *Psychology teacher to join a highly successful and well-...
Ventilation Supervisor
DCUK Ventilation Supervisor Covering London Join Our Team and Make a Difference! We are currently seeking a Ventilation Supervisor to join our dedicated team, covering the London area. If y...
Locum Cardiac Physiologist
Globe Locums About Globe Globe Locums, the UK’s medical recruitment agency run by clinicians for clinicians have the following Cardiac Physiologist job available: Cardiac Physiologist Job De...
Opex Business Controlling Manager
If you’ve worn a pair of glasses, we’ve already met. We are a global leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of ophthalmic lenses, frames, and sunglasses. We offer our industry stake...