Principal Software Architect – Lending / Credit Platform

KN Group; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

KN Group in San Francisco seeks a Principal Software Architect to lead architecture for the lending and credit platform. You will define the overall system architecture, core frameworks, and engineering standards, guiding teams in the U.S.

and collaborating with teams in China for feature delivery. The ideal candidate has deep hands-on experience in large-scale platforms, strong leadership, and fluency in Mandarin/English to coordinate with global teams.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in software engineering with strong architecture experience.
• Hands-on ability to move between architecture and implementation.
• Strong understanding of microservices, APIs, databases, distributed systems, cloud infrastructure and security.
• Experience in lending/fintech/financial systems is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end architecture design of lending and credit systems.
• Translate business requirements into scalable, reliable architecture.
• Define core technical frameworks, architecture principles and engineering standards.
• Lead design and implementation of critical platform components and core services.
• Design systems supporting onboarding, credit, origination, decisioning and servicing workflows.
• Collaborate with Product/Risk/Business/Engineering to evolve platform architecture.
• Gradually build and lead a core architecture/engineering team in Silicon Valley.
• Provide clear technical specs, interface definitions and development standards for implementations.
• Conduct architecture and design reviews for consistency, scalability and security.
• Drive long-term technical roadmap and platform modernization.

Skills

System architecture

Microservices

Distributed systems

APIs

Cloud infrastructure

Technical leadership

Stakeholder management

Mandarin/English bilingual

Job description

We are looking for a highly experienced Principal Software Architect to lead the architecture design of our lending and credit platform.

This role will serve as a key technical leader in the U.S., responsible for defining the overall system architecture, core technical frameworks, and engineering standards for our lending business. The architect will work closely with business and product teams to translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions.

Over time, this role will also help build a small core engineering team in Silicon Valley focused on architecture, core system design, and critical implementation, while collaborating closely with our engineering teams in China for broader feature development and delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end architecture design of lending and credit systems, including core services, data architecture, APIs, system integrations, and infrastructure.
• Translate lending business requirements into scalable, reliable, and maintainable technical architecture.
• Define core technical frameworks, architecture principles, engineering standards, and system boundaries.
• Lead the design and implementation of critical platform components and core services, rather than only providing high-level architectural guidance.
• Design systems supporting key lending workflows such as customer onboarding, credit assessment, loan origination, decisioning, account servicing, repayment, collections, and related integrations.
• Work closely with Product, Risk, Business, and Engineering teams to continuously evolve the platform architecture based on business growth.
• Gradually build and lead a core architecture and engineering team in Silicon Valley.
• Collaborate with engineering teams in China, providing clear technical specifications, architecture guidance, interface definitions, and development standards for feature implementation.
• Conduct architecture reviews and technical design reviews to ensure consistency, scalability, security, performance, and engineering quality across distributed teams.
• Evaluate technology choices and drive long-term technical roadmap and platform modernization.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with substantial experience in system architecture and large-scale platform design.
• Strong hands-on engineering background; able to move between architecture design and critical implementation.
• Strong understanding of microservices, APIs, databases, distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, security, and system integration.
• Experience in lending, consumer finance, fintech, banking, credit, or other financial systems is strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with the end-to-end lending lifecycle and systems such as LOS, loan management/servicing, credit decision engines, payment/repayment, risk systems, or collections is a strong plus.
• Experience building systems from 0 to 1 or leading major architecture transformation projects.
• Ability to work effectively with globally distributed engineering teams and convert architecture decisions into clear, executable technical requirements.
• Strong technical leadership, communication, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Fluent Mandarin and English communication skills strongly preferred, given the extensive collaboration with engineering teams in China.
• Based in or willing to work in the Silicon Valley / San Francisco Bay Area.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is not purely an enterprise architect who focuses on documentation and governance. We are looking for someone who has personally built complex financial systems, can own architecture decisions at the platform level, and is still sufficiently hands-on to lead the implementation of critical components.

Experience at a fintech company, digital lender, consumer finance company, bank technology organization, or financial infrastructure company would be particularly relevant. Experience working across U.S. and China engineering teams would be a significant advantage.