Staff Backend Architect: Payments & Crypto Infra

Ppl3; New York (NY); On-site; USD 190,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

Ppl3, a fast-growing fintech infrastructure startup, is seeking a Staff Backend Engineer to take technical ownership of core infrastructure powering payments, settlement and transaction routing across multiple blockchains and providers.

This hands-on senior IC role influences architecture, engineering standards and technical direction, while mentoring engineers and collaborating closely with product teams to deliver reliable, scalable backend systems.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience building production backend systems.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems, API design, databases and cloud infrastructure.
• Proven experience owning complex architecture and driving engineering decisions.
• Track record delivering reliable, high-performance systems at scale.
• Experience operating at Staff level or equivalent scope.
• Comfortable in a fast-moving startup environment.

Responsibilities

• Architect high-performance, low-latency backend systems.
• Design scalable APIs and distributed services for payments.
• Address transaction routing, settlement, security and reliability.
• Set engineering standards and drive technical decisions.
• Collaborate with product and engineering to deliver infrastructure.
• Mentor engineers and provide technical leadership without management.

Skills

Backend architecture

Distributed systems

API design

Cloud infrastructure

Mentoring

Hands-on engineering

Tools

PostgreSQL

Redis

Kubernetes

Docker

AWS

Job description

Ppl3, a fast-growing fintech infrastructure startup, is seeking a Staff Backend Engineer to take technical ownership of core infrastructure powering payments, settlement and transaction routing across multiple blockchains and providers.

This hands-on senior IC role influences architecture, engineering standards and technical direction, while mentoring engineers and collaborating closely with product teams to deliver reliable, scalable backend systems.