Head of Engineering (FinTech)

Deel; Portugal; On-site; EUR 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A global fintech company in Portugal is looking for a Head of Engineering to lead their financial infrastructure. You will define and execute the technical strategy while ensuring scalability and compliance across payment systems. The ideal candidate has proven expertise in fintech systems, deep knowledge of payments infrastructure, and strong leadership skills. This role offers a chance to influence the company's IPO journey and work at the intersection of finance and technology.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as Head of Engineering / Director / Senior EM in fintech or financial systems.
• Built or scaled systems in companies like Stripe, Adyen, PayPal, Wise, Revolut, or similar.
• Deep experience with payments infrastructure, ledger/accounting systems.

Responsibilities

• Own the Fintech Engineering Vision.
• Define and execute the technical strategy for Deel’s financial infrastructure.
• Build a scalable, modular architecture across payments, ledger, treasury, and compliance.

Skills

Backend expertise (Node.js / TypeScript)

Payments infrastructure

Distributed systems understanding

Financial systems knowledge

Leadership

Product mindset

Job description

Role Overview

You will lead the engineering organization responsible for Deel’s end-to-end financial infrastructure, including:

• Payments orchestration & PSP integrations
• Wallets & regulated entity flows (FBO / safeguarding)
• General Ledger & accounting automation
• Treasury, FX, and liquidity systems
• Billing, invoicing, and revenue flows
• Reconciliation & financial data integrity
• Fincrime & compliance systems

This role sits at the intersection of engineering, product, finance, and compliance, with direct impact on Deel’s ability to scale globally and meet IPO-grade standards.

What You’ll Do

• Own the Fintech Engineering Vision
• Define and execute the technical strategy for Deel’s financial infrastructure
• Build a scalable, modular architecture across payments, ledger, treasury, and compliance
• Drive the evolution toward real-time, event-driven financial systems
• Lead Product-Centric Engineering and partner with Product, Finance, Treasury, and Compliance
• Ensure teams deliver business outcomes, not just features; embed product thinking into engineering culture
• Drive clarity on what gets built, why, and in what order
• Build for scale, accuracy, and reliability; design systems handling high transaction volumes and global scale
• Ensure idempotency, consistency, and fault tolerance across financial flows
• Lead architecture for wallet-to-wallet, wallet-to-payout flows, multi-currency handling, and high-throughput payment processing
• Deliver IPO-grade financial infrastructure and drive engineering execution across core pillars: Controls, Compliance, Accounting

Must Have

• Proven experience as Head of Engineering / Director / Senior EM in fintech or financial systems
• Built or scaled systems in companies like Stripe, Adyen, PayPal, Wise, Revolut, Coinbase, or similar
• Deep experience with payments infrastructure, ledger/accounting systems, high-scale distributed systems
• Experience in regulated environments: KYC / AML, compliance systems, financial reporting constraints

You Bring

• Technical Leadership — Strong backend expertise (Node.js / TypeScript preferred, or similar)
• Deep understanding of distributed systems, event-driven architectures, and data reconciliation
• Financial Systems Understanding — Payments/PSP, double-entry accounting, General Ledger design, reconciliation at scale, FX and multi-currency flows, treasury operations
• Execution at Scale — Experience scaling systems with billions in transaction volume, high concurrency, idempotency guarantees, strong audit trails
• Product Mindset — Translate business problems into technical solutions with strong prioritization and delivering real customer and business value
• Leadership — Experience managing multiple teams and senior leaders; strong communication across technical and non-technical audiences; ability to operate in high-growth, ambiguous environments

Why Join

• Build one of the most advanced global fintech stacks
• Operate at massive scale across multiple regulated entities
• Play a key role in Deel’s IPO journey
• Work on problems at the intersection of payments, compliance, accounting, and infrastructure

Total Rewards

Our workforce deserves fair and competitive pay with scalable benefits, rewards, and perks that reflect our commitment to inclusivity and access for all. Benefits vary by country and role.