Lead Software Engineer

Cygnify; Singapore; On-site; SGD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Cygnify seeks a hands-on Software Development Lead with deep expertise in banking, fintech, and AI-enabled software. The role starts as a hands-on IC, owning architecture, development, and delivery, and grows into leading an engineering team as the org scales.

You will work closely with Product and AI/ML teams to translate complex financial requirements into scalable AI-driven solutions and modern software architectures.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or related field.
• 8–12+ years of hands-on software development experience in banking/fintech.
• Strong experience building enterprise-grade software and integrating AI/ML into production.
• Proficient in Java, Python, C++, C#, or Go.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, test, deploy, and maintain AI-powered software for banking.
• Own full software development lifecycle from design to production support.
• Collaborate with Product, AI/ML, QA, DevOps and business teams.
• Translate banking requirements into scalable technical solutions.
• Progressively assume engineering leadership responsibilities.

Skills

Java

Python

C++

C#

Go

AI/ML integration

Cloud platforms

CI/CD

APIs & microservices

Software architecture

Problem-solving

Communication

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Cloud platforms

CI/CD

Containers

Distributed systems

Job description

We are looking for a hands‑on Software Development Lead with deep experience in banking, financial services, or fintech, combined with strong expertise in AI and modern software engineering.

This is an opportunity for a senior software engineer who enjoys being close to the technology and wants to grow into a broader engineering leadership role. The successful candidate will initially operate as a hands‑on Individual Contributor (IC), taking ownership of architecture, software development, technical problem-solving, and delivery. As the engineering organisation grows, the role will evolve into a Software Development Lead responsible for technical direction, mentoring, and eventually building and leading an engineering team.

The ideal candidate has a strong understanding of how banking products, processes, and technology platforms work and can translate complex financial requirements into scalable AI‑enabled software solutions.

Key Responsibilities

Hands‑on Software Development

• Design, develop, test, deploy, and maintain AI‑powered software solutions for banking and financial services.
• Take ownership of the full software development lifecycle, from technical design and development through production deployment and support.
• Write clean, scalable, maintainable, and production‑ready code.
• Work hands‑on with backend services, APIs, databases, integrations, and distributed systems.
• Conduct code reviews and establish strong engineering practices and development standards.
• Troubleshoot complex technical issues and drive effective solutions.
• Work closely with Product, AI/ML, QA, DevOps, and business teams to deliver high‑quality products.
• Develop software applications that integrate AI/ML and Generative AI capabilities into banking products and workflows.
• Work with AI/ML engineers and data teams to integrate models into production applications.
• Support development of AI‑enabled capabilities such as intelligent automation, decision support, conversational AI, knowledge systems, document intelligence, customer engagement, and financial workflows.
• Understand how AI models interact with application architecture, APIs, data pipelines, security, and production systems.
• Evaluate technical trade‑offs around model performance, latency, scalability, reliability, security, and cost.
• Help build production‑grade AI systems that are reliable, explainable, and suitable for enterprise banking environments.
• Apply strong domain knowledge across banking and financial services to software architecture and product development.
• Work with complex banking workflows and systems across areas such as:
• Core banking
• Digital banking
• Payments
• Lending
• Customer onboarding / KYC
• Transaction processing
• Risk and compliance
• Financial data and analytics
• Wealth or investment platforms
• Understand the technical and operational requirements of highly regulated financial institutions.
• Design solutions with appropriate consideration for security, data privacy, compliance, auditability, reliability, and availability.
• Translate banking requirements into practical and scalable technical solutions.

Technical Architecture & Engineering

• Contribute to the architecture and technical direction of AI‑powered banking platforms.
• Design scalable APIs, microservices, event‑driven systems, and distributed applications.
• Make sound technical decisions around performance, scalability, reliability, security, and maintainability.
• Work with cloud technologies and modern software engineering practices.
• Establish engineering standards for testing, CI/CD, deployment, observability, and production reliability.
• Identify technical risks and proactively address architecture and engineering challenges.

Future Engineering Leadership

• Start as a hands‑on IC and progressively take on broader technical leadership responsibilities.
• Mentor engineers and provide technical guidance as the team expands.
• Establish development standards, engineering practices, and technical processes.
• Participate in technical planning, architecture reviews, and engineering roadmap discussions.
• Ultimately lead a software development team, including technical direction, resource planning, delivery, mentoring, and performance development.
• Partner with Product and business leadership to translate company objectives into achievable technical roadmaps.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related discipline.
• 8–12+ years of hands‑on software development experience, preferably with substantial experience in banking, financial services, or fintech.
• Strong professional experience developing enterprise‑grade software for banking or financial institutions.
• Strong programming skills in one or more modern languages such as Java, Python, C++, C#, or Go.
• Strong understanding of software architecture, system design, algorithms, data structures, APIs, databases, and distributed systems.
• Hands‑on experience with AI/ML or Generative AI‑enabled applications.
• Experience integrating AI/ML models into production software or enterprise applications.
• Strong understanding of cloud platforms, microservices, APIs, CI/CD, containers, and modern software development practices.
• Experience working with complex, highly available, secure, and regulated technology environments.
• Strong problem‑solving and analytical skills.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work with both technical and business stakeholders.