Senior Software Engineer, Data Platform & AI Enablement

Airwallex; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Airwallex is seeking a Platform Engineer in Seattle to advance our next-generation infrastructure for real-time AI enablement and global data services. You will lead architectural decisions and build high-availability systems powering multi-region operations.

The role emphasizes performance tuning, scalable AI workflows, and mentorship within a high-impact engineering team, driving cutting-edge technology across a distributed platform.

Responsibilities

• Architect & Build: Lead technical decision-making and custom development for core infrastructure components, extending from foundational storage to high-availability service layers.
• Systems Optimization: Deep-dive into performance tuning and systems internals- such as state management, checkpointing, and exactly-once semantics to ensure millisecond-level accuracy at global scale.
• AI Infrastructure: Develop and integrate the "Knowledge Platform," enabling AI-driven products through scalable vector indexing, agentic workflows, and real-time data streaming.
• Distributed Systems at Scale: Own the full SDLC for high-performance distributed systems (batch and streaming) that process petabytes of data across 30+ global regions.
• Engineering Rigor: Advocate for elite software engineering practices, contributing to shared tooling, SDKs, and automation frameworks that enhance the productivity of engineering teams company-wide.
• Mentorship: Act as a technical beacon and mentor

Job description

About Airwallex

Airwallex is the only unified payments and financial platform for global businesses. Powered by our unique combination of proprietary infrastructure and software, we empower over 250,000 businesses worldwide - including Brex, Navan, Qantas, SHEIN and many more - with fully integrated solutions to manage everything from business accounts, payments, spend management and treasury, to embedded finance at a global scale.

Proudly founded in Melbourne, we have a team of over 2,300 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 27 offices around the globe. Valued at US$11 billion - backed by world-leading investors including T. Rowe Price, Visa, Mastercard, Robinhood Ventures, Sequoia, Salesforce Ventures, DST Global, and Lone Pine Capital, Airwallex is leading the charge in building the global payments and financial platform of the future. If you're ready to do the most ambitious work of your career, join us.

Attributes We Value

We hire successful builders with founder-like energy who want real impact, accelerated learning, and true ownership. You bring strong role-related expertise and sharp thinking, and you're motivated by our mission and operating principles. You move fast with good judgment, dig deep with curiosity, and make decisions from first principles, balancing speed and rigor.

You're humble and collaborative; turn zero-to-one ideas into real products, and you "get stuff done" end-to-end. You use AI to work smarter and solve problems faster. Here, you'll tackle complex, high-visibility problems with exceptional teammates and grow your career as we build the future of global banking. If that sounds like you, let's build what's next.

Location

Seattle

Who You Are & Role Overview

The Platform Engineering team is architecting Airwallex's next-generation foundational infrastructure. We are moving beyond standard pipelines to build a high-performance, distributed ecosystem that powers real-time AI enablement and global financial data.

We aim to push the boundaries of distributed storage, stream processing, and service-layer interfaces. We are looking for "Engineers' Engineers" - builders who enjoy diving into the internals of distributed systems, optimizing JVM performance, and implementing robust architectural patterns like Lakehouse and real-time data.

In This Role, You Will

• Architect & Build: Lead technical decision-making and custom development for core infrastructure components, extending from foundational storage to high-availability service layers.
• Systems Optimization: Deep-dive into performance tuning and systems internals- such as state management, checkpointing, and exactly-once semantics to ensure millisecond-level accuracy at global scale.
• AI Infrastructure: Develop and integrate the "Knowledge Platform," enabling AI-driven products through scalable vector indexing, agentic workflows, and real-time data streaming.
• Distributed Systems at Scale: Own the full SDLC for high-performance distributed systems (batch and streaming) that process petabytes of data across 30+ global regions.
• Engineering Rigor: Advocate for elite software engineering practices, contributing to shared tooling, SDKs, and automation frameworks that enhance the productivity of engineering teams company-wide.
• Mentorship: Act as a technical beacon and mentor