Senior Software Engineer (Backend)

Kernel; Auckland; Hybrid; NZD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Parental leave top up

Professional development support

Dog-friendly environment

Office snacks and coffee

Job summary

Kernel is a New Zealand fintech redefining how Kiwis grow their wealth. We’re seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to own the design, delivery and health of backend services powering our investment platform.

You’ll mentor peers, influence architecture and collaborate with Product and Design to deliver meaningful customer outcomes. Deep expertise in C#/.NET, AWS and API design is essential for reliability and performance.

Qualifications

• Experience building and operating backend systems in production.
• Strong proficiency in C#/.NET and cloud-based architectures.
• Ability to design scalable APIs and robust data models.
• Proven track record mentoring engineers and driving engineering best practices.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and operate backend services powering Kernel's investment platform.
• Own solutions from concept through production with focus on scalability and security.
• Contribute to architecture and technical decision-making across systems.
• Design APIs and data models supporting web and mobile experiences.
• Champion testing, observability and code quality.
• Mentor and support other engineers through coaching and code reviews.
• Collaborate with Product, Design and Engineering to deliver customer outcomes.

Skills

C#/.NET

AWS

API design

Distributed systems

Mentoring

Tools

Terraform

TypeScript

CI/CD

Job description

About Kernel Kernel is one of New Zealand's fastest growing fintechs, helping Kiwis build long term wealth through KiwiSaver, managed funds, savings products and investing. Our team combines deep financial services expertise with modern technology to build products that genuinely improve people's financial wellbeing. We value ownership, pragmatism, collaboration and high standards, and we're investing in both our platform and our people as we continue to grow.

As part of this growth, we're investing heavily in our engineering capability and looking for experienced Senior Backend Engineers to help scale our platform, influence technical direction, and raise engineering capability across the team. This is an exciting opportunity to join a high performing engineering environment where you'll solve complex technical problems, mentor other engineers, and build products used by thousands of New Zealanders.

About The Role

As a Senior Backend Engineer, you'll own the design, delivery and ongoing health of the systems you build. You'll contribute to technical decisions that impact multiple systems, help shape engineering best practice, and be a trusted source of technical guidance for other engineers. Working across the full software lifecycle, you'll build scalable, secure and maintainable solutions while helping lift capability across the engineering team through mentoring, collaboration and thoughtful code reviews.

What You’ll Do

• Design, build and operate backend services that power Kernel's investment platform
• Own solutions from concept through to production, balancing scalability, security, performance and maintainability
• Contribute to architecture and technical decision making across multiple systems
• Design and evolve APIs and data models that support web and mobile experiences
• Champion engineering excellence through testing, observability and code quality
• Mentor and support other engineers through coaching, collaboration and code reviews
• Work closely with Product, Design and Engineering teams to deliver meaningful customer outcomes

You’ll be great if you bring

• Strong commercial experience building and operating backend systems in production environments
• Expertise in C#/.NET and modern software engineering practices
• Experience building cloud-native solutions in AWS
• Strong understanding of API design, distributed systems and scalable architecture
• Experience owning systems in production, with a focus on reliability, security and performance
• Sound technical judgement and the ability to navigate ambiguity and complexity
• Experience influencing technical decisions and engineering best practice
• A passion for mentoring others and helping raise the capability of those around you

Bonus things you could bring along to the role

• Exposure to F# or functional programming concepts would be highly advantageous
• Experience with TypeScript, CI/CD practices and Infrastructure as Code tools such as Terraform would also be beneficial

Why You’ll Love it at Kernel

• It's rare in software engineering to work on products you can be a direct customer of. At Kernel, you'll build technology that helps Kiwis, like you, grow their wealth
• Help shape one of New Zealand's most ambitious fintech platforms
• Work on products that directly impact the financial futures of thousands of Kiwis
• Influence engineering standards, technical direction and team capability
• Join a high performing team that values ownership, trust and continuous improvement
• Enjoy the best of both worlds with a flexible hybrid setup, connect in person while keeping the freedom to work from home a couple of days each week (minimum 3 days/week in the office)
• Health insurance, parental leave top up, and professional development support
• Extra staff holidays, office snacks, coffee, and a dog friendly environment

Join our team

If you're an experienced engineer who enjoys ownership, mentoring others and building high quality systems at scale, we0d love to hear from you.

Visit our careers page for more on working at Kernel and follow us on LinkedIn & Instagram to stay connected.