Backend Engineer (Python / API)

About Astra

Astra is a high-impact engineering team dedicated to building mission-critical financial infrastructure. Our fintech platform is designed to support payment processing, fraud detection, and financial compliance for businesses managing over 100 million dollars in weekly transaction volume. We pride ourselves on maintaining an uptime of 99.9% or higher, processing complex cross-border payments, and coordinating seamlessly with multiple third-party financial services while adhering to strict regulatory standards. Our innovative approach and commitment to excellence enable us to deliver reliable, scalable, and secure financial solutions that empower our clients to operate confidently in a dynamic global marketplace.

About The Role

We are seeking a highly experienced Staff Backend Engineer to join our remote team in the United States. In this role, you will be responsible for architecting and building complex financial systems that handle millions of dollars daily. You will serve as a core engineer, designing cross-domain solutions that coordinate payments, fraud detection, compliance, and user management within our distributed microservices architecture. This position requires deep systems thinking, technical leadership, and a strong ability to solve complex engineering challenges that involve multiple domains and external integrations. Your contributions will directly influence the scalability, reliability, and security of our platform, supporting our mission to deliver innovative financial services.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering experience building complex, production-level systems
• 3+ years of technical leadership experience, including mentoring, architecture decisions, and cross-team coordination
• Proven experience in systems engineering, solving complex cross-domain challenges
• Strong foundation in algorithms, data structures, and computer science fundamentals
• Experience with distributed systems, event-driven architectures, and microservices
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field required
• Master's degree in Computer Science or Engineering from an accredited university highly preferred
• Proficiency in backend development with Python (Python 3), including web frameworks and APIs
• Experience with database design, including NoSQL and SQL databases
• Familiarity with cloud infrastructure platforms such as Google Cloud Platform or similar
• Knowledge of architecture patterns like domain-driven design, clean architecture, and CQRS
• Ability to design scalable, maintainable systems balancing performance and business needs
• Preferred experience in financial systems, including payment processing, fraud detection, or compliance systems
• Understanding of financial regulations such as AML, KYC, PCI DSS, or similar
• Experience with banking integrations, financial APIs, and money movement systems
• Experience working on high-scale systems processing large transaction volumes
• Proficiency in coordinating multiple external service integrations

Responsibilities

• Architect and implement critical financial systems, including payment processing, fraud detection, and compliance module,s handling large transaction volumes
• Lead the design and development of cross-domain solutions that integrate payments, fraud detection, user management, and compliance systems within a distributed microservices architecture
• Drive technical decision-making to shape the platform's architecture and establish best practices for a growing engineering team
• Mentor junior engineers, fostering a culture of high-quality coding standards, design patterns, and engineering excellence
• Optimize system performance, reliability, and scalability across distributed microservices
• Collaborate closely with product, compliance, and other cross-functional teams to ensure systems meet business objectives and regulatory requirements
• Participate in code reviews, system design discussions, and technical documentation to promote knowledge sharing
• Stay updated with the latest industry trends and incorporate innovative solutions to improve platform capabilities

Benefits

• Competitive compensation package with equity options in a rapidly growing fintech company
• Remote-first work environment with flexible working arrangements
• Opportunity to work on impactful projects that shape the future of financial technology
• Professional growth through leading technical decisions and mentoring team members
• Access to modern cloud technologies and a cutting-edge tech stack
• Collaborative and inclusive company culture that values diversity and initiative
• Flexible work hours to support work-life balance

Equal Opportunity

Astra is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive environment. We celebrate diversity and are dedicated to creating a workplace where all employees are valued and have equal access to opportunities regardless of race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law.