Principal Software Engineer, Receiver Products

Remitly PHL Operations Inc.; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 240,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible PTO

Health + 401k

Parental & medical leave

Mental Health benefits

ESPP

Continuing education

Job summary

Remitly is seeking a Principal Engineer on the Receiver Products team to be the technical architect and hands-on builder for a new generation of financial services enabling receivers to save and spend in their home countries.

You will design scalable backend services, define APIs, and mentor engineers while partnering with product, design, compliance, and business teams to turn ambitious ideas into reliable systems.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of software engineering experience.
• Led zero-to-one technical efforts—greenfield service design or launches.
• Backend engineering focus: SOA, event-driven, REST/async APIs, databases.
• Security/compliance sense in regulated fintech/payments contexts.
• Ability to influence across teams and stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience with payments infrastructure (card rails, ACH, real-time payments).
• Familiarity with AML/KYC frameworks and SOC 2/PCI-DSS considerations.
• Collaborations with financial partners and API integrations.
• Open-source contributions or engineering community involvement.

Responsibilities

• Architect and build receiver financial services backends end-to-end.
• Define APIs, data models, and event-driven architectures for scale.
• Integrate with money-movement platforms and ensure data consistency.
• Champion security, AML/KYC, and regulatory compliance from day one.
• Scale systems, set SLOs, runbooks, and foster blameless post-mortems.
• Mentor senior engineers and author RFCs/ADRs for standards.

Skills

Software engineering

Zero-to-one

Backend engineering

Security/compliance

Influence without authority

Communication

Payments fintech

AML/KYC familiarity

APIs & data modeling

Open-source contributions

Job description

Job Description: At Remitly, we believe everyone deserves the freedom to access, move, and manage their money wherever life takes them. Since 2011, we've tirelessly delivered on our promise to customers sending money globally, providing secure, simple, and reliable ways to manage their money, ensuring true peace of mind. Whether it's supporting loved ones back home, growing a business across continents, or pursuing new opportunities abroad, we're not just here to move money— we're here to move our global customers forward. We're looking for builders, reimaginers, and global thinkers who want to work at the intersection of technology, trust, and transformation. If that's you and you're ready to do the most meaningful work of your career—we invite you to join over 2,800 passionate Remitlians worldwide who are united by our vision to transform lives with trusted financial services that transcend borders.

About the Role

As a Principal Engineer on the Receiver Products team, you will be the technical architect and hands‑on builder for a new generation of financial services designed for the people who receive remittances. You'll work at the intersection of zero-to-one product creation and large‑scale, highly reliable systems — designing and shipping new capabilities that enable receivers to not just collect funds but to save and spend them safely within their own countries. This is a rare opportunity for an engineer who loves the energy of a startup, the rigor of regulated financial infrastructure, and the responsibility of building products that directly improve people's lives. You'll set the technical direction, define architectural standards, mentor engineers across multiple teams, and collaborate closely with product, design, compliance, and business partners to make ambitious ideas real.

You Will

• Architect & Build Receiver Financial Services — Lead design and delivery of backend services enabling receivers to save and spend in their home countries. Define APIs, data models, and event‑driven architectures built to serve tens of millions of users, owning end‑to‑end technical decisions on system design.
• Integrate with Remitly's Money‑Movement Platform — Partner with core platform teams to connect receiver‑side capabilities with global disbursement, FX, liquidity, and compliance infrastructure. Maintain end‑to‑end data consistency and contribute to platform‑wide standards for cross‑service communication and failure handling.
• Champion Security, Trust & Compliance — Embed AML, KYC, and local regulatory requirements from day one. Design with least‑privilege access, encryption, and audit trails as defaults; lead threat‑modeling and drive vulnerability remediation across your service surface.
• Scale with Confidence — Build systems that handle millions of daily active receivers without sacrificing latency or correctness. Establish SLOs, error budgets, and operational tools; drive a culture of on‑call hygiene, runbooks, and blameless post‑mortems.
• Elevate the Engineering Org — Mentor senior and staff engineers, lead design reviews, and shape the receiver segment's technical roadmap. Author RFCs and ADRs that influence engineering standards, and partner with engineering and product to deliver executable technical plans.

You Have

• 12+ years of software engineering experience, including significant time designing and operating distributed systems at scale.
• Demonstrated experience leading zero‑to‑one technical efforts — greenfield service design, platform bootstrapping, or new‑market technical launches.
• Deep expertise in backend engineering: service oriented architectures, event‑driven architectures, RESTful and async APIs, and relational or distributed databases.
• Strong security and compliance sensibility, particularly in regulated industries (fintech, banking, payments, or healthcare).
• Proven ability to influence without authority — driving alignment across engineering, product, legal, and operations stakeholders.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; comfortable presenting to both technical and executive audiences.
• Nice to Have Experience building financial products for emerging markets (LATAM, Sub‑Saharan Africa, South/Southeast Asia, or similar).
• Background in payments infrastructure: card rails, ACH, real‑time payment networks, mobile money, or digital wallets.
• Familiarity with AML/KYC frameworks, PCI‑DSS, or SOC 2 compliance in a software context.
• Experience working with partner financial institutions, fintechs, or licensed payment processors via API integration.
• Contributions to open‑source or engineering community through publications, talks, or tooling.

Compensation Details

The starting base salary range for this position is typically $240,000 -$300,000.

In the U.S., Remitly employees are shareholders in our Company and equity is part of our total compensation plan. Your recruiter can share more information about medical benefits offered, as well as other financial benefits and total compensation components offered with this role.

Our Benefits

• Flexible paid time off
• Health, dental, and vision + 401k plan with company matching
• Paid parental, medical, military and family care leave
• Mental Health & Family Forming Benefits
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
• Continuing education benefits

Our Connected Work Culture

Driving Innovation, Together At Remitly, we believe that true innovation sparks when we come together. Our Connected Work Culture fosters dynamic in‑person collaboration, where ideas ignite and challenging problems find solutions faster. For corporate team members, we have an in‑office expectation of at least 50% of the time monthly, typically achieved by coming in three days a week. This creates a consistent, meaningful overlap that supports team norms and business needs. Managers also have the flexibility to set higher expectations based on their team's specific needs. These intentional in‑office moments are vital for deepening relationships, fueling creativity, and ensuring your impact is felt where it matters most.

Remitly is an E‑Verify Employer

Remitly is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Remitly is a leading digital financial services provider for immigrants and their families in over 170 countries around the world. Remitly helps immigrants send money home in a safe, reliable and transparent manner. Its digitally‑native, cross‑border remittance app eliminates the long wait times, complexities and fees typical of traditional remittance processes. Building on its strong foundation, Remitly is expanding its suite of products to further its mission and transform financial services for immigrants all around the world.