Principal Engineer - Digital Assets

Early Warning Services LLC; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 207,000 - 276,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare coverage

401(k) retirement plan

Unlimited paid time off

Paid parental leave

Family planning support

Job summary

A financial technology company is looking for a technical leader to drive architectural design and manage cross-functional teams focused on payment solutions. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in software development, specifically within the FinTech realm, demonstrating leadership and technical expertise. This position offers a hybrid work model, allowing for flexibility and collaboration within teams across various locations, including San Francisco.

Qualifications

• Fifteen or more years of experience in complex software projects, with at least eight in FinTech.
• Deep technical understanding of digital asset systems including security and scalability.
• Proven experience leading design of large-scale payment platforms.
• Hands-on experience in designing and developing using Java and RESTful services.

Responsibilities

• Own architectural design for money movement and digital asset settlement systems.
• Mentor engineers and guide teams in building secure payment solutions.
• Collaborate with product management to craft product strategies.
• Support commitment to risk management and data integrity.

Skills

Architectural design

Technical leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Public speaking

Cloud platforms

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field

M.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science

Tools

Java

Microservices Architecture

AWS

Spring Boot

CI/CD tools (e.g., Jenkins, Git)

Job description

At Early Warning, we've powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting‑edge solutions like Zelle, Paze, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses.

Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment.

Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States for any employer at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship.

Overall Purpose

This position is a hands‑on, individual contributor technical leader involved in setting the standards ensuring excellence in quality of outputs across multiple teams. Responsible for partnering with cross‑functional teams and providing input to a broad range of initiatives. A technical expert that is continuously learning and keeping abreast of new technologies and industry best practices and finding ways to bring those practices into the engineering organization.

Essential Functions

• Own architectural design and technical patterns for cross‑border money movement and digital asset settlement systems.
• Resolve complex technical and scalability challenges across distributed, regulated payment platforms.
• Mentor engineers and guide teams in building secure, resilient, and compliant global payment solutions.
• Partner with product management to craft product strategy, create product descriptions and ensure alignment to technology roadmaps.
• Be a thought leader: a senior point of expertise on software engineering issues, industry trends and developing technologies. Be a role model to others on the team. Coach and mentor team members.
• Takes ownership for creating technical product design and architecture.
• Creates and conducts presentations for small‑to‑medium size groups.
• Works closely with customers to understand their needs and create a partnership for making Early Warning products better.
• Partners with software engineering, product, and architecture to shape engineering approaches, share knowledge and experience.
• Develop, scope and shape a departmental‑wide technical vision for the future.
• Collaborate and build relationships cross‑functionally to influence and motivate others; serve as an internal catalyst for progressive, strategic and successful change management.
• Support the company's commitment to risk management and protecting the integrity and confidentiality of systems and data.

Minimum Qualifications

• Education and/or experience typically obtained through a Bachelor's degree in computer science or related technical field.
• Fifteen or more years of experience in designing and developing complex software projects with at least eight or more years in FinTech domain.
• Proven experience leading the design and evolution of complex, large‑scale payment or cross‑border transaction platforms in regulated environments.
• Deep technical understanding of digital asset or stablecoin‑based systems, including security, scalability, and operational reliability considerations.
• Experience in leading cross‑functional teams to create technical solutions.
• Effective communicator with exceptional public speaking skills. Comfortable presenting to all levels within the company.
• Knowledge of Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) best practices, software development methodologies (Agile, Scrum, LEAN etc) and DevOps practices.
• Proven track record designing and building complex end‑to‑end systems (full stack developer).
• Hands‑on experience in designing and developing using one or more of the following technologies
  • Java RESTful Web Services (Java, J2EE, JUnit, and Tomcat.)
  • Experience in Microservices Architecture.
  • Open Source Frameworks - Spring Boot, Spring Core
  • Messaging frameworks such as Kafka, Tibco EMS or JMS
  • Oracle PL/SQL
  • JavaScript and scripting frameworks (JQuery, AngularJS)
• Hands‑on experience in test automation at various levels of testing (unit, component, integration and functional tests).
• Proven experience in OOA/OOD.
• Experience with CI/CD pipeline implementation including GIT, Chef, Maven, Jenkins etc.
• Solid understanding of modern Cloud platforms such as AWS, Google Cloud or MS Azure.
• Experience of working with code repositories (e.g. Git, SVN), bug tracking tools (e.g. Jira, Bugzilla) and Wikis (e.g. Confluence).
• Background and drug screen.

Preferred Qualifications

• M.S., or Ph.D. in Computer Science or another technical field.
• Knowledge of Splunk, Altiris & Zabbix.
• Hands‑on Experience in working with AWS.
• Experience with various Database design and architectures.
• Expertise in TerraForm and/or other cloud orchestration technologies.
• Experience with Monitoring & Alerting systems like AppDynamics.
• Experience with other computer languages like C#, Ruby, Python, and PHP.
• Knowledge of ACH/EFT.
• Knowledge of real time payment networks (RTP, FedNow).

Physical Requirements

Working conditions consist of a normal office environment. Work is primarily sedentary and requires extensive use of a computer and involves sitting for periods of approximately four hours. Work may require occasional standing, walking, kneeling and reaching. Must be able to lift 10 pounds occasionally and/or negligible amount of force frequently. Requires visual acuity and dexterity to view, prepare, and manipulate documents and office equipment including personal computers. Requires the ability to communicate with internal and/or external customers.

Employee must be able to perform essential functions and physical requirements of position with or without reasonable accommodation.

Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States at the date of hire.

The above job description is not intended to be an all‑inclusive list of duties and standards of the position.

The base pay scale for this position in:
San Francisco, CA in USD per year is: $207,000 - $276,000.
Additionally, candidates are eligible for a discretionary incentive plan and benefits.

Some of the Ways We Prioritize Your Health and Happiness

• Healthcare Coverage-Competitive medical (PPO/HDHP), dental, and vision plans as well as company contributions to your Health Savings Account (HSA) or pre‑tax savings through flexible spending accounts (FSA) for commuting, health & dependent care expenses.
• 401(k) Retirement Plan-Featuring a 100% Company Safe Harbor Match on your first 6% deferral immediately upon eligibility.
• Paid Time Off -Unlimited Time Off for Exempt (salaried) employees, as well as generous PTO for Non‑Exempt (hourly) employees, plus 11 paid company holidays and a paid volunteer day.
• 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave
• Maven Family Planning - provides support through your Parenting journey including egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, postpartum, early pediatrics, and returning to work.
• AndSOmuch more! We continue to enhance our program, so be sure to check our Benefits page here for the latest. Ourteamcan share more during the interview process!

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Early Warning Services, LLC ("Early Warning") considers for employment, hires, retains and promotes qualified candidates on the basis of ability, potential, and valid qualifications without regard to race, religious creed, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, protected veteran or disability status or any factor prohibited by law, and as such affirms in policy and practice to support and promote equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and municipal laws. The company also prohibits discrimination on other bases such as medical condition, marital status or any other factor that is irrelevant to the performance of our employees.