Staff Software Engineer, GTPN Platform

Airwallex3 days ago

Location

KR - Seoul

Type

Full Time

Salary

USD 180,000 – 250,000

Level

Staff

Role

Staff Engineer

Posted

Jun 26, 2026

Full TimeStaff

The role

Summary

Join Airwallex's Global Treasury and Payment Network (GTPN) team as a Staff Software Engineer and architect distributed payment systems serving 200,000+ businesses across 150+ countries. This role demands deep expertise in building fault-tolerant financial infrastructure, multi-currency reconciliation systems, and global settlement routing at scale. You'll contribute to technical strategy across a distributed engineering organization while mentoring high-performing teams and driving platform-wide architecture decisions in a fast-paced fintech environment.

What you'll do

Architect Distributed Payment Systems at Global Scale: Design and evolve core payment infrastructure spanning real-time local clearing, SWIFT integration, and proprietary treasury routing across 150+ countries. Establish technical standards and architectural patterns that enable reliable, scalable payment processing while managing complexity across multiple financial networks and settlement mechanisms.

Solve Complex Financial Integrity Problems: Build idempotent, fault-tolerant systems handling multi-currency reconciliation, asynchronous settlement, and compensation logic across unreliable banking partners. Implement robust error handling and recovery mechanisms that maintain financial accuracy and consistency even under adverse network conditions and partner system failures.

Own Reliability and Observability of Payment Network: Define service-level agreements (SLAs), design systems for graceful degradation during partner outages, and build comprehensive observability infrastructure that surfaces real-time payment health metrics. Establish monitoring, alerting, and incident response protocols that enable rapid detection and resolution of payment platform issues.

Drive Data-Informed Platform Optimization: Leverage payment telemetry and transaction data to optimize routing algorithms, identify performance bottlenecks, and measure the impact of infrastructure changes on settlement speed and conversion rates. Use analytics to make evidence-based decisions that improve platform efficiency and customer experience.

Contribute to Technical Direction and Strategy: Drive design reviews and RFC (Request for Comments) processes for platform-wide architectural changes. Lead technical discussions across distributed engineering hubs in the US, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, setting standards and establishing best practices for the global GTPN engineering organization.

Mentor and Elevate Engineering Teams: Set high technical and quality standards while coaching and mentoring peer engineers and junior team members. Foster a culture of technical excellence, continuous learning, and knowledge sharing across the organization, building capacity and capability within the global engineering team.

What we look for

Technical

Distributed Systems ArchitectureAdvanced expertise in designing scalable, fault-tolerant distributed systems with deep understanding of consistency models, idempotency patterns, eventual consistency, and handling failure scenarios across unreliable network conditions.

Financial Systems and Settlement LogicProven experience building financial transaction systems with expertise in reconciliation, multi-currency handling, settlement processes, and regulatory compliance requirements in payments and treasury operations.

Real-time Data Processing and AnalyticsStrong background in designing observability and telemetry systems, stream processing for real-time analytics, and building data-driven decision frameworks for infrastructure optimization and performance tuning.

Large-scale Backend System DesignDemonstrable expertise architecting high-throughput, low-latency backend systems handling millions of transactions, with understanding of database optimization, caching strategies, and API design at scale.

System Reliability and OperationsDeep knowledge of SLA definition, incident response frameworks, graceful degradation patterns, circuit breakers, and operational excellence practices for mission-critical financial infrastructure.

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or Related FieldFormal education in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, or equivalent technical discipline providing foundational knowledge in algorithms, data structures, and system design principles.

Experience

7+ Years Software Engineering in Modern EnvironmentsExtensive experience working with modern software development practices, continuous integration and deployment, and cloud-native architectures in high-growth, innovative technology organizations.

Leadership and Technical Impact at ScaleProven track record as a technical leader or staff-level engineer driving architectural decisions, leading cross-functional initiatives, and delivering measurable business impact through technical excellence and innovation.

Fintech or Payments Platform ExperienceBackground working on payments, financial infrastructure, or fintech platforms, with familiarity with banking networks, settlement systems, currency exchange, or cross-border financial transactions.

Global or Distributed Team CollaborationExperience working effectively with distributed engineering teams across multiple geographies and time zones, establishing communication patterns and technical standards that transcend regional boundaries.

Skills

Required skills

Backend Systems ArchitectureExpert-level ability to design complex backend systems with focus on scalability, reliability, and performance, including microservices architecture, API design, and asynchronous processing patterns.

Database Design and OptimizationDeep expertise in relational and distributed database design, query optimization, transaction handling, sharding strategies, and selecting appropriate database technologies for different use cases.

System Design and Technical LeadershipAdvanced capability in system design, architectural decision-making, RFC processes, and providing technical direction that balances innovation with operational stability and maintainability.

Incident Response and TroubleshootingSkilled in diagnosing complex system failures, root cause analysis, and implementing systematic solutions that prevent recurrence of issues in production environments.

Mentoring and Knowledge SharingDemonstrated ability to elevate engineering capabilities through mentoring, code review, documentation, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement and technical excellence within teams.

Nice to have

Cloud Platform ExpertiseHands-on experience with major cloud platforms (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure) including infrastructure-as-code, containerization, Kubernetes orchestration, and cloud-native architectural patterns.

SWIFT and Banking Network IntegrationFamiliarity with SWIFT standards, international banking protocols, and experience integrating with legacy banking infrastructure and real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems.

Data Engineering and AnalyticsBackground in building analytics platforms, data pipelines, and leveraging telemetry to drive business and technical insights for system optimization and strategic decision-making.

Open Source ContributionsActive involvement in open-source projects demonstrating technical depth, community collaboration, and ability to write production-quality code that meets industry standards.

Compliance and Security ArchitectureUnderstanding of regulatory requirements in fintech (AML, KYC, PCI-DSS), data security practices, and designing systems that maintain compliance while optimizing performance.

Compensation & benefits

Salary

USD 180,000 – 250,000 (annual)

Stock options

Available

Benefits

Equity and Stock Options

Participate in Airwallex's growth as a valued team member with meaningful equity compensation in a fintech company valued at US$8 billion, backed by leading investors including Sequoia, Salesforce Ventures, and others.

Professional Development and Learning

Commitment to continuous career growth with opportunities to develop technical expertise, leadership skills, and exposure to cutting-edge financial technology innovations within a scaling organization.

Global Career Opportunities

Access to positions across Airwallex's 26 offices worldwide, enabling geographic flexibility and international career progression within a truly global organization.

Collaborative Engineering Culture

Work alongside 2,200+ talented engineers and product teams driven by ambition and innovation, with access to cross-functional collaboration across distributed hubs in the US, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.

Mission-Driven Work

Direct impact on revolutionizing global financial services for 200,000+ businesses worldwide, including leading companies like Brex, Rippling, Navan, and Qantas with your infrastructure contributions.

Inclusive and Diverse Workplace

Equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and merit-based hiring, with accommodations provided for individuals with disabilities or special accessibility needs.

Interview process

1
Initial Application Review — Your resume, cover letter, and professional background are reviewed by the recruiting team to assess alignment with Staff Engineer level requirements, technical depth, and fintech domain expertise.
2
Recruiter Screening Call — Preliminary 30-minute call with a recruiter covering your background, career trajectory, interest in the GTPN platform role, and logistics. This is an opportunity to ask questions about Airwallex culture and team structure.
3
Technical Architecture Interview — 60-90 minute session with a senior engineer or architect discussing distributed systems design, specific experience building financial infrastructure, and approach to solving complex technical problems at scale.
4
System Design Deep Dive — In-depth technical interview exploring your ability to design large-scale payment systems, handle edge cases, discuss tradeoffs between approaches, and communicate architectural decisions clearly to distributed teams.
5
Leadership and Collaboration Discussion — Conversation with a senior leader or engineering manager assessing your technical leadership philosophy, experience mentoring teams, approach to cross-functional collaboration, and alignment with Airwallex's operating principles and culture.
6
Product and Business Acumen — Discussion with product or operations leadership to understand your perspective on financial product challenges, customer impact considerations, and how you think about business metrics alongside technical optimization.
7
Final Executive Conversation — Interview with senior leadership or department head covering long-term vision, strategic thinking about platform evolution, and mutual fit discussion regarding career growth and impact opportunities at Airwallex.