Senior Architect, Software Engineering — Gateway Platform

Western Union; Austin (TX); Hybrid; USD 155,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid Time Off

Medical Insurance

Tuition Assistance

Parental Leave

401K plan

Job summary

Western Union in Austin, TX seeks a Senior Architect on the Gateway Engineering team to lead API design and hands-on development for the partner ecosystem, enabling money transfers, bill payments, money orders, and other financial services at global scale.

You will drive SOAP-to-REST migrations, define standards, and mentor teams while leveraging AI coding agents to accelerate modernization, testing, and observability in line with product goals.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree with 8+ years of experience in software engineering.
• 10+ years of professional experience or 8+ years with a Master’s.
• 6+ years designing RESTful APIs and microservices at enterprise scale.
• 5+ years building backend apps with Java and Spring Boot (Spring Cloud/Data/Security).
• Experience leading SOAP-to-REST migrations.

Responsibilities

• Lead architectural design of APIs used by partners for financial activities.
• Drive migration of legacy SOAP-based services to RESTful APIs with onboarding, versioning, and deprecation planning.
• Define and govern API design standards across the Gateway platform.
• Build applications, workflows, and tools using AI coding agents to improve productivity.
• Improve modernization, testing, observability, and engineering productivity with AI.
• Promote engineering excellence via Agile, TDD, code reviews, and CI/CD.
• Estimate effort, plan implementations, and coordinate rollouts across regions.
• Support incidents and releases.

Skills

RESTful APIs

Java

Spring Boot

Kafka

Docker

Kubernetes

Observability

PostgreSQL

NoSQL

Education

Bachelor’s in Computer Science or related field

Master’s degree in a related field

Tools

AWS API Gateway

Apigee

Kong

Job description

Position location

Austin, TX

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Western Union will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.

Western Union is seeking Senior Architect on the Gateway Engineering team, you will lead the design and hands-on development of the APIs that power Western Union's partner ecosystem — money transfers, bill payments, money orders, and other financial services at global scale. You bring deep technical expertise and the leadership to match: writing code alongside your team, setting the standards they work within, and shaping the culture that makes it all sustainable. You work closely with product and engineering to build a platform that is stable, efficient, and built to last. You are a classically trained engineer who treats AI-native development as a force multiplier — and you lead by example.

Role Responsibilities

• Lead the architectural design of APIs used by Western Union's partners to initiate money transfers, bill payments, money orders, and other financial activities.
• Drive the migration of partner integrations from legacy SOAP-based services to modern RESTful APIs, including client onboarding, versioning strategy, and deprecation planning.
• Define and govern API design standards — including versioning, backward compatibility, contracts, error handling, and developer experience — across the Gateway platform.
• Build applications, workflow automations, internal tools, and basic agents using AI coding agents within Western Union's product and platform areas.
• Use AI to accelerate modernization, testing, documentation, observability, and engineering productivity.
• Drive engineering excellence through Agile methodologies, TDD, thorough code reviews, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Estimate engineering effort, plan implementations, and coordinate rollouts with cross-functional and cross-regional impact.
• Support engineering incidents and releases.

Role Requirements

• Bachelor’s in computer science or related fields with 10+ years of professional experience or master’s with 8+ years of experience. Equivalent work experience is allowed.
• 6+ years of professional experience designing and implementing RESTful APIs and microservices-based architectures deployed at enterprise scale.
• 5+ years of professional experience building backend applications and microservices using Java and Spring Boot framework (including Spring Cloud, Spring Data, Spring Security).
• Previously lead a SOAP-to-REST migration.
• Experience with event-driven integrations using Apache Kafka, JMS, or equivalent Pub/Sub frameworks.
• Professional experience with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience with observability and monitoring frameworks (e.g., Dynatrace, Splunk, or similar).
• Professional experience with relational databases (PostgreSQL, Oracle) and/or NoSQL data stores.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Payments, FinTech, or Financial Services domains — particularly with partner or third-party API ecosystems.
• Hands-on experience with AI coding agents (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code) in a production engineering context.
• Experience with API gateway platforms (AWS API Gateway, Apigee, Kong, or similar).
• Experience with NoSQL databases (Couchbase, Cassandra, or similar).

Work Shift

HYBRID - Western Union values in-person collaboration, problem solving, and ideation whenever possible. We believe this fosters common ways of working and supports how we execute initiatives for our customers. The expectation is to work from the office a minimum of three days a week.

Benefits

You will also have access to short-term incentives, multiple health insurance options, accident and life insurance, and access to best-in-class development platforms, to name a few (https://careers.westernunion.com/global-benefits/). Please see the location-specific benefits below and note that your Recruiter may share additional role-specific benefits during your interview process or in an offer of employment.

Your United States – Specific Benefits Include

• Paid Time Off
• Medical, Dental and Life Insurance
• Tuition Assistance Program
• Student Loan Repayment (below manager level only)
• Parental Leave
• One day volunteer time off
• $0 Money Transfer Fee Discount Code – Quarterly
• Recognition Program “Game Changers”
• Employee Discount Program
• Global Adoption Assistance
• Global Scholarship Awards Program
• 401K plan

For residents of Colorado, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania: Please do not respond to any questions on this initial application that may seek age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You may also redact this information from any materials you submit during the application process. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

Salary

Annual base salary range is $155,000 – 180,000 USD per year. Total on-target compensation includes a base salary and short-term that align with individual and company performance. Actual salaries will vary based on candidates’ qualifications, skills, and competencies.

We are passionate about honoring our employee's identity and fostering a feeling of belonging. Our commitment is to provide an inclusive culture that celebrates the unique backgrounds and perspectives of our global teams while reflecting the communities we serve. We do not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, religion, political affiliation, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, or veteran status. The company will provide accommodation to applicants, including those with disabilities, during the recruitment process, following applicable laws.

Estimated Job Posting End Date

08-31-2026

This application window is a good-faith estimate of the time that this posting will remain open. This posting will be promptly updated if the deadline is extended or the role is filled.