Principal Backend Engineer

## About the Role As a Principal Backend Engineer at Teya, you will play a critical role in shaping the company's fintech infrastructure, driving technical strategy, and leading cross-functional teams. You will be responsible for designing and building scalable, secure, and compliant systems that power payments, merchant onboarding, and transaction processing across Europe. Your expertise in Java, Spring Boot, and cloud-native systems will be essential in driving the company's technical vision and ensuring the successful delivery of critical business initiatives. The Principal Backend Engineer role is a senior leadership position that requires a deep understanding of fintech, payment processing, and software development. You will work closely with the product, data, and leadership teams to translate business priorities into scalable technical strategies, drive adoption of modern backend practices, and influence engineering direction through hands-on contribution, design leadership, and mentorship. Teya is a fast-growing company with a strong mission to support small, local businesses across Europe. As a Principal Backend Engineer, you will be part of a talented team of engineers, product managers, and designers who are passionate about creating innovative solutions to real-world problems. ## What You Will Do - Own and drive the architecture behind Teya's 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 We Are Looking For - 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 algorithms - Excellent communication, leadership, and collaboration skills - Ability to drive technical strategy and lead cross-functional teams - Experience with cloud-native systems, containerization (Docker), and orchestration (Kubernetes) ## Nice to Have - Experience with Adjust and Excel - Knowledge of fintech regulations and compliance requirements - Familiarity with agile development methodologies and DevOps practices - Experience with machine learning or data science applications - Certification in cloud computing (AWS, GCP, Azure) ## Benefits and Perks - Competitive salary and benefits package - Opportunity to work with a talented team of engineers, product managers, and designers - Collaborative and dynamic work environment - Flexible working hours and remote work options - Professional development opportunities and training budget - Access to the latest technologies and tools - Recognition and reward for outstanding performance - Comprehensive health insurance and wellness programs - Generous parental leave and family support policies

- Tip: Showcase your expertise in Java, Spring Boot, and cloud-native systems by providing specific examples of your experience and achievements.

• Tip: Highlight your ability to drive technical strategy and lead cross-functional teams by describing your experience in previous roles.
• Tip: Be prepared to discuss your approach to system design, data structures, and algorithms, and how you apply these principles in your work.
• Tip: Demonstrate your understanding of fintech regulations and compliance requirements, and how you ensure that your systems meet these standards.
• Tip: Show enthusiasm for Teya's mission and values, and explain how your skills and experience align with the company's goals.
• Tip: Prepare to discuss your experience with agile development methodologies and DevOps practices, and how you contribute to a collaborative and dynamic work environment.
• Tip: Be ready to provide examples of your experience with machine learning or data science applications, and how you apply these skills in your work.