Principal Backend Engineer, Push Platform Lead

Arbitrum; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Aave Labs is seeking a Principal Backend Engineer to lead the Push engineering team, a regulated, non-custodial on‑ramp/off‑ramp product. You will shape the technical direction, ensure security and auditability, and mentor engineers across the stack.

The role requires 8+ years in backend engineering, strong distributed system skills, and hands-on leadership to balance product and regulatory needs while delivering high‑reliability services.

Qualifications

• 8+ years backend engineering with leadership experience.
• Experience with distributed, event-driven systems handling real money.
• Experience with regulated fintech and compliance requirements.
• Strong API design and relational DB knowledge (PostgreSQL).
• Rust preferred; Go/Java/C++ acceptable.

Responsibilities

• Define engineering roadmap translating product, regulatory, and operational requirements.
• Design resilient backend services for on‑ramp/off‑ramp workflows, including settlement and notifications.
• Lead integrations with open-banking, payments, identity, compliance, and blockchain providers.
• Maintain secure development practices, architecture reviews, testing, observability, and on-call ownership.
• Remain hands-on in the codebase for complex architecture and critical production issues.

Skills

Backend engineering

Rust

Go

Java

C++

API design

PostgreSQL

Distributed systems

Security

Leadership

Job description

Aave Labs is seeking a Principal Backend Engineer to lead the Push engineering team, a regulated, non-custodial on‑ramp/off‑ramp product. You will shape the technical direction, ensure security and auditability, and mentor engineers across the stack.

The role requires 8+ years in backend engineering, strong distributed system skills, and hands-on leadership to balance product and regulatory needs while delivering high‑reliability services.