Senior Backend Engineer

United States Digital Space LLC; United States; Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

United States Digital Space LLC is seeking a senior backend engineer to design, develop, and maintain scalable services and APIs. You will review code and design documents, optimize databases and queries, and contribute to testing and monitoring to ensure reliability at scale.

Ideal candidates bring 5+ years of backend experience with Java/Kotlin/Scala, cloud platforms, and microservices. You will work in a remote-first environment with global collaboration and strong emphasis on secure,

Qualifications

• 5+ years designing and developing backend applications
• Experience with cloud infrastructure and microservices architectures
• Strong problem solving and independent learning abilities
• Expertise in REST API design for mobile/web
• Proficient in Agile development processes

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain robust backend services, APIs, and data integration layers.
• Review design documents, perform code reviews, and guide other teams on implementation choices.
• Write clean, efficient code following established standards and best practices.
• Improve code quality, performance, and security through thorough reviews.
• Design and optimize database schemas and queries for high performance.
• Contribute to testing infrastructure and improve code coverage.
• Troubleshoot issues across development and production environments.
• Advance monitoring and alerting to improve availability and response times.

Skills

Problem solving

Independent learning

Strong drive

Agile development

Tools

Java

Kotlin

Scala

Spring

AWS/GCP/Azure

Microservices

REST API

Docker

Kubernetes

MariaDB

Kafka

Job description

About the company

the company is AI-native credit infrastructure for the global majority, combining proprietary risk intelligence with an expanding network of capital and distribution partners to power credit access at scale. Backed by more than $500 million in funding, the company has distributed more than $7 billion in capital to more than 13 million customers across Africa, Latin America, and Asia—building one of the most robust datasets on thin-file borrowers anywhere in the world. Our mission is simple yet bold: to unleash the economic power of the global majority. We are looking for daring, data-driven leaders passionate about building the trust and credit infrastructure for the global majority.

Our pioneering work and proven impact have earned us consistent recognition, including being named to:

CNBC’s Disruptor 50 for five years.

CNBC’s World's Top Fintech Companies for two consecutive years.

Forbes’ Fintech 50 list for nine consecutive years.

Visionary investors, persuaded by the economic power of the global majority, have committed half a billion dollars in equity and debt to the company's success.

Given the global nature of our team, we operate on a remote-first approach with office hubs in Santa Monica, CA (HQ); Nairobi, Kenya; Mexico City, Mexico; Manila, the Philippines; and Bangalore, India.

Most Talazens join us because they connect with our mission. If you are energized by the impact you can make at the company, we’d love to hear from you!

What You’ll Do

• Design, develop, and maintain robust backend services, APIs, and data integration layers that power key product features.
• Review design documents, perform code reviews, and weigh in on implementation choices from other technical teams.
• Write clean, efficient, and easily maintainable code, strictly adhering to established coding standards and best practices.
• Enhance overall code quality, performance, and security by participating in thorough code reviews.
• Design and optimize database schemas and queries to guarantee high performance and system reliability.
• Contribute to the testing infrastructure to increase code coverage for backend modules.
• Troubleshoot and resolve technical issues quickly and effectively across both development and production environments.
• Advance monitoring and alerting capabilities of backend modules to allow proactive improvements to availability and response times.

What You’ll Need

• 5+ years of hands-on experience in designing and developing applications using Java, Kotlin, and/or Scala. This includes exposure to a web framework like Spring.
• Developed and launched large scale consumer applications with the backend on cloud infrastructure (AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure) using microservices architecture paradigms.
• Proven problem-solving abilities and a strong drive for independent learning and work.
• Expert knowledge in REST API design and development for mobile/web use.
• Expert knowledge in architecture & system design.
• Expert proficiency in Agile development process

Nice to Have

• Exposure to containerization technologies, such as Docker or Kubernetes.
• Familiarity with MariaDB.
• Familiarity with Kafka.
• Familiarity with production monitoring tools, including logging (e.g., SumoLogic, Kibana), basic APM (Application Performance Monitoring) tools, and observability frameworks such as OpenTelemetry.

CompensationAdditional Information

Our vision is to build a new financial ecosystem where everyone can participate on equal footing and access the tools they need to be financially healthy. We strongly believe that inclusion fosters innovation and we’re proud to have a diverse global team that represents a multitude of backgrounds, cultures, and experience. We hire talented people regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.