Lead Engineer - Payments

Bespoke Careers; Sydney; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Bespoke Careers is helping a leading engineering organisation hire multiple Lead Engineers to shape the future of payments technology in Sydney and Melbourne.

You will drive architecture, own key platform decisions and lead high-impact initiatives while remaining hands-on with Java, Spring Boot, and cloud-native microservices. This role offers a path to technical leadership and real influence on payments infrastructure.

Qualifications

• Hands-on Java and Spring Boot building modern distributed systems.
• Cloud-native apps on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Expertise in microservices, event-driven architectures and distributed systems.
• Experience delivering large-scale, high-throughput payments platforms.
• Leadership experience mentoring engineers and driving technical direction.

Responsibilities

• Drive architecture and technical direction across a modern, cloud-native payments platform.
• Design and build scalable, resilient Java microservices running on Google Cloud.
• Lead complex engineering initiatives from concept through to production.
• Influence platform strategy, architectural decisions and engineering best practices.
• Mentor and develop engineers through technical leadership, design reviews and coaching.
• Champion innovation, reliability, performance, security and operational excellence across the platform.

Skills

Java

Spring Boot

Microservices

Event-driven architecture

Distributed systems

API design

NoSQL databases

Leadership

Tools

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Job description

Lead Engineer – Payments | Sydney & Melbourne

We're partnering with a leading engineering organisation to hire multiple Lead Engineers to help shape the future of its payments technology.

This is a rare opportunity to join a team at the forefront of payments innovation, building technology that will continue to scale and evolve over the coming years. You'll work on highly available, high-throughput payment systems while remaining hands-on with modern engineering and playing a key role in defining the future direction of the platform.

This isn't a role where you'll simply deliver tickets. You'll have a genuine voice in platform strategy, architecture and engineering standards, working alongside Principal Engineers to solve complex technical challenges and influence how the platform evolves.

We're looking for engineers who thrive on ownership, enjoy challenging the status quo, and want to help build the next generation of payments technology.

What you'll be doing

• Drive architecture and technical direction across a modern, cloud-native payments platform.

• Design and build highly scalable, resilient Java microservices running on Google Cloud.

• Lead complex engineering initiatives from concept through to production.

• Influence platform strategy, architectural decisions and engineering best practices.

• Mentor and develop engineers through technical leadership, design reviews and coaching.

• Champion innovation, reliability, performance, security and operational excellence across the platform.

What you'll bring

• Extensive hands-on experience with Java and Spring Boot, building modern distributed systems.

• Strong experience developing cloud-native applications on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

• Deep expertise in microservices, event-driven architecture, distributed systems and API design.

• Proven experience designing and delivering large-scale, high-throughput payments platforms, with a strong understanding of payment processing and financial transaction systems.

• Experience with NoSQL databases and building highly available, resilient platforms.

• A track record of leading complex engineering initiatives while remaining hands-on with software development.

• The confidence to influence technical direction, challenge ideas, contribute to architecture discussions and drive engineering excellence.

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage and influence stakeholders across engineering and the wider business.

Please note: This is a specialist opportunity requiring recent hands-on payments engineering experience combined with hands-on engineering leadership. We're looking for engineers who want to influence platform strategy, drive innovation and make a genuine impact. Only candidates with recent payments engineering experience will be contacted.

Location: Permanent opportunities available in Sydney and Melbourne.