Head of Developer Platform

Davis Talent Search (Payments, Wealth Management, Fintech, Crypto Jobs); New York (NY); Remote; USD 150,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

A fast-growing payments technology company is looking for a leader to develop its developer tools and self-service platform. The ideal candidate will have over 8 years of experience in building developer platforms and SDKs, with proficiency in TypeScript, Node, and React. Responsibilities include managing a small team and ensuring robust product delivery. This role emphasizes a strong engineering focus with an aim to streamline developer experience. It's a unique opportunity to work in a dynamic, startup-like environment with significant growth potential.

Qualifications

• 8+ years building developer platforms/portals, SDKs, or API products used at scale.
• Fluency in TypeScript/Node and a modern React stack.
• Comfort owning roadmap, writing code, and managing a small team.

Responsibilities

• Own architecture and delivery of the developer platform end to end.
• Define schemas and allowlists for agent actions; enforce security and privacy.
• Build and mentor a small, senior, cross-functional team.

Skills

Building developer platforms/portals

Fluency in TypeScript/Node

Strong iOS experience

Security/compliance literacy

Instrumenting product funnels and reliability

Managing a small team in a startup

Tools

React

AWS

Terraform

GitHub Actions

Job description

Prefer NYC, but open to US based remote candidates.

Management

Will lead a small team of 3-4 people. (All remote in US.)

• Dev team that is building MMS & backend.
• Remote customer support & solutions team (integrating with Pylon)

Reports to

CIO

The Company

We are the infrastructure layer enabling Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android devices, empowering platforms, PayFacs, and ISVs to launch mobile payment solutions quickly and at scale. Merchants can accept payments directly on their phones without additional hardware. Our SDK integrates with leading acquirers such as Payroc, TSYS, Fiserv, and Elavon, allowing clients to go live in weeks.

We hold direct contracts with Apple as both a GSP and PSP, supporting Tap to Pay on iPhone programs and offering a white-label platform ideal for ISVs and small app developers. The company is a small but fast-growing team currently raising new funding rounds and focused on expanding via successful EMV Level 3 certifications, critical for client onboarding and market growth.

You won’t need all on day one.

• Frontend: React/Next.js, TypeScript, Tailwind; component library (shadcn/ui).
• Mobile/SDK: Swift (iOS), optional Kotlin (Android later).
• Infra: AWS (ECS/Lambda), IaC (Terraform), CI/CD (GitHub Actions), feature flags (LaunchDarkly), Observability (OpenTelemetry).

The Opportunity

This role leads development of our developer tools and self-service platform. It is an external developer facing role that combines product ownership with hands on engineering. The person in this role will write code, build the platform, and eventually hire and lead a small team while using AI to keep the team lean. We currently serve large enterprise customers that require significant onboarding and support. As the company grows, it expects to bring on many smaller customers where that level of support is not practical. To support this shift, we are prioritizing a self-service developer experience. This role will design and build the developer portal, SDKs, onboarding automation, and AI workflows that allow developers to sign up, integrate, and launch without human involvement. The position starts as a hands on individual contributor responsible for shipping an MVP and owning the developer platform. Over time, the person will hire a small team and set the technical foundation for the developer ecosystem.

What You’ll Build (first 6–12 months)

• Dev Portal & Identity: orgs/projects, SSO, API keys, environments (sandbox/cert/prod), usage & billing surfaces.
• SDKs & Starters: iOS SDK (Swift Package), “Hello World” sample app, backend token-service templates (Node/Go).
• Automation & Agents (MVP):
  • Onboarding Copilot (NBAs, pre-filled configs)
  • Token Service Verifier (JWT fuzz/boundary tests)
  • Integration Orchestrator (one-click end-to-end tests)
  • App Store Lint Agent (entitlements/copy checks)
• Observability & Reliability: launch dashboard, prepare latency/error heatmaps, incident hooks (Slack/PagerDuty).
• Internal Apple Ops Interface (PSP-only): surface status/milestones while our ops run KEKs/TPIDs/certs behind the scenes.
• Docs/DevRel Surfaces: quickstarts, cookbooks, Postman collections, code snippets, “why it failed & how to fix” UX.

Responsibilities

• Own architecture and delivery of the developer platform end to end (frontend, backend, auth, data model, CI/CD).
• Define schemas and allowlists for agent actions; enforce security, privacy, and auditability.
• Partner with Payments Platform (HSM/translate) to ensure encrypted payload tests and token flows are bulletproof.
• Collaborate with Ops to abstract Apple workflows (PSP-side) cleanly into portal milestones.
• Establish success metrics (activation, automation %, reliability) and improve them sprint over sprint.
• Build and mentor a small, senior, cross‑functional team; set code quality, testing, and documentation standards.

Success Milestones

• ≤ 60 minutes median to “Hello World” from sign‑up.
• ≥ 70% of production requests auto‑approved via automated checks (no human tickets).
• P95 prepare() < 700 ms; prepare failure < 0.3% in production.
• App Store rejections attributable to our SDK = 0.
• Tickets < 2 per 1k terminals; Concierge resolves ≥ 70% without escalation.

Qualifications, skills, and experience

What’s Required:

• 8+ years building developer platforms/portals, SDKs, or API products used at scale (Stripe/Plaid/GitHub/FinTech analogs).
• Fluency in TypeScript/Node (backend) and a modern React stack (frontend).
• Strong iOS experience: Swift/Swift Package Manager, entitlements, app review hygiene; shipping SDKs/starters to third parties.
• Security/compliance literacy: OAuth/JWT, key management basics, audit logging, PII/PCI minimization.
• Experience instrumenting product funnels and reliability (metrics, tracing, alerting) and acting on them.
• Comfort owning roadmap + writing code + managing a small team in a fast‑moving startup.

Nice to Have:

• Payments background: card‑present flows, SoftPOS/Tap to Pay, processor integrations, HSM concepts (you don’t need to write HSM code).
• Agentic/automation systems: building production‑safe agents, tool schemas, and guardrails.
• Experience with billing systems (Stripe or equivalent) and usage‑based metering.
• Familiarity with Apple’s TTPOI ecosystem (KEKs, terminal profiles) at a conceptual level; as PSP we abstract it, but signals help.