Engineering Team Lead - Identity

Solaris SE; Berlin; On-site; EUR 100,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Home office budget

Learning & development budget €1000 /y

Meal allowance

Deutschland ticket subsidy

28 vacation days

Opportunity to work abroad up to 12 w/

Job summary

Solaris SE, based in Berlin, seeks an Engineering Team Lead (BKYC) to steer business onboarding, risk monitoring platforms, and identity pipelines. You will influence architecture, lead 5-6 engineers, and collaborate with product owners to align with Solaris strategy. A strong fintech background and cloud-native experience are essential.

You will drive technical design, ensure secure, scalable backend services, and mentor engineers while delivering high-impact results in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent, or equivalent professional experience.
• 8+ years building and shipping software with strong stack proficiency.
• 1–2+ years in leadership roles (staff engineer, team lead, etc.).
• Proven ability to lead design and architecture discussions for complex systems.
• Experience guiding technical direction and aligning with architecture strategy.
• Proficiency in one or more programming languages and scalable product development.
• Extensive experience with cloud-native apps on major platforms (GCP/AWS/Azure).
• Strong backend security practices and reliable, maintainable systems.
• Ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and balance technical/product goals.
• Excellent English written and spoken communication.

Responsibilities

• Lead a single engineering team of 5-6 engineers and guide career growth.
• Set roadmap with product owners and stakeholders aligned to Solaris strategy.
• Write and review code, ensure architectural sanity and on-time delivery.
• Foster team health, ownership, and high engineering standards.

Skills

Team leadership

Software engineering

Architectural design

Cross-functional collaboration

English communication

Ownership & delivery

Education

Bachelor's in Computer Science or equivalent

Tools

GCP

AWS

Azure

Job description

Solaris is Europe’s leading embedded finance platform, pioneering Banking-as-a-Service to bridge the gap between financial technology and licensed banking. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Berlin, Solaris enables fintechs, digital ecosystems, and multinationals to embed accounts, cards, lending, and payments directly into their own products, creating seamless financial experiences for their users. As a fully licensed German bank, Solaris combines the highest standards of IT security and regulatory resilience with a modular, highly scalable infrastructure.

Today, Solaris is driving the next evolution of financial services by transitioning into an AI-native banking platform, ensuring European businesses can deploy secure, adaptable financial products at scale.

Why join Solaris?

• We are fundamentally redesigning banking processes around AI orchestration, standardized modular building blocks, and embedded regulatory compliance.
• We combine tech and banking in dedicated hubs - driving the technology infrastructure out of Berlin and banking operations out of Frankfurt.
• Through our internal mobility, growth opportunities, and the Solaris Academy, we offer continuous learning tracks, AI ambassador mentorship, and upskilling to keep your skills ahead of the curve.
• We foster a workplace rooted in integrity, proactive risk management, and equality actively driving initiatives like DEI initiatives.

About The Role

Accelerating business customer onboarding while staying ahead of evolving EU regulatory frameworks (AMLR) is one of our highest technical priorities. As Engineering Team Lead (BKYC), you will lead the software architecture and engineering team responsible for our business onboarding, periodic review, and risk monitoring platforms. You will tackle complex technical challenges -such as automating corporate hierarchy analysis, optimizing identity verification pipelines, and ensuring seamless integration with our downstream banking systems. If you have a strong engineering background in fintech, BaaS, or compliance-driven domains, and a passion for leading engineering teams to solve complex, high-impact problems, this role offers direct influence over our platform’s scalability and success.

Your Role

Team Leadership and Management

• Lead and manage a single engineering team of 5-6 engineers.
• Recruit, mentor, and guide software engineers in their career growth and provide tailored feedback.
• Proactively cultivate team health, enhance engineer skillsets, ensure service ownership, and optimize team composition.

Technical Excellence

• Be hands-on technically, writing and reviewing code that adheres to quality and architectural standards.
• Champion high engineering standards, promoting consistency across codebases, and implementing best practices within your team while aligning with Solaris's technical vision.
• Be responsible for ensuring the sanity of architecture, operational excellence, and quality, while delivering results on time.

Collaboration and Strategy

• Work closely with product owners, staff engineers, other engineering leads and stakeholders to define and set your team's roadmap in alignment with Solaris strategy.
• Assume full ownership of your team's scope, addressing the needs of various stakeholders and functions across Solaris.
• Empower the team to operate self-sufficiently within the broader Engineering organization.

We'd love to see

• A bachelor degree in Computer Science or equivalent, or professional experience in Software Engineering
• 8+ years of professional experience building and shipping software, with deep proficiency in our stack
• At least 1-2 years of experience in a formal or informal leadership capacity (e.g., Staff Engineer, Team Lead, etc.,).
• Demonstrate ability to lead technical design and architecture discussions for complex systems./Orchestrate the technical direction for the given scope, as well as the alignment with architecture strategy and quality requirement of the services within the domain.
• Proficiency in one or more of our programming languages with a proven track record of developing scalable products.
• Extensive experience in the development and operation of cloud-native applications across major platforms (GCP, AWS, or Azure).
• Strong expertise in building and operating distributed systems, prioritizing performance, reliability, and maintainability.
• Demonstrated leadership in technical projects or teams (e.g., Tech Lead, Team Lead).
• Solid understanding of security best practices for backend and cloud services.
• Ability to lead cross-functional initiatives, effectively balancing technical and product objectives.
• Strong command of English both written and verbally within a business context
• A strong sense of ownership and a focus on delivering value to our users./Guide and build teams of engineers to deliver business value
• Ability to clearly articulate technical concepts to both engineering and non-engineering stakeholders and to provide clear, empathetic feedback.
• Ability to recognize, articulate and foster growth opportunities for engineers.
• Comfortable working with AI tools, thinking critically about AI outputs, and contributing to a culture of responsible AI use. We expect you to demonstrate comfort with AI-assisted workflows and a willingness to continuously develop their AI capabilities as the technology evolves.

Benefits

• Home office budget.
• Learning & development budget of €1000 per year and a transparent growth framework to support your career goals.
• Competitive salary and a variable remuneration program.
• Monthly meal allowance.
• Deutschland ticket subsidy.
• 28 vacation days, increasing by 2 days after 2 years and 3 days after 3 years with Solaris.
• Opportunity to work abroad for up to 12 weeks per year.

While job ads usually paint an ideal picture of a candidate, studies show that most applicants meet an average of 60% of the criteria. Unfortunately, many promising candidates tend to apply only if they meet all the criteria. So if you think you have what it takes, but don't necessarily meet every single item in the job description, please contact us anyway. We'd love to talk with you and find out if you might be a good fit for us.

At Solaris, we are committed to nurturing an inclusive environment, where all Solarians feel valued, respected and supported. We are dedicated to building a diverse workforce that reflects the diversity of our communities. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of color, ethnicity, religion, sex, origin, disability, marital status, citizenship, or gender identity. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.

If your application is successful, you will be required to complete pre-employment background checks through our screening provider Zinc. These include, but not limited to identity verification, educational records, references, a criminal record check, etc. The processing is based on Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR. Please see below Privacy Information for Job Applicants for details, including recipients, retention, and your rights.

Information on data processing:

DE: https://www.solarisgroup.com/gdpr_notice_de

EN: https://www.solarisgroup.com/gdpr_notice_en

The annual gross salary range for this position is:

€100.000 - €120.000 EUR