Staff Backend Engineer, Agentic AI

Airwallex; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Airwallex is seeking an experienced Staff Backend Engineer based in San Francisco. You will design the backbone of our intelligent finance systems, ensuring scalable services and resilient APIs. The ideal candidate has over 8 years of backend experience with Python and a deep understanding of database design.

This role offers the opportunity to tackle complex challenges at the intersection of systems and AI, building intelligent products that drive global financial operations.

Qualifications

• 8+ years backend experience with Python at scale.
• Deep knowledge of SQL/NoSQL database design.
• Experience with distributed systems, event‑driven architectures, or microservices.
• Familiarity with GCP services (Pub/Sub, Cloud Run, Cloud SQL, BigQuery, KMS, etc.).
• Strong grasp of security and compliance best practices.
• Passion for building the backend that powers intelligent products.

Responsibilities

• Design and operate distributed, event‑driven systems that process high‑volume, high‑sensitivity financial data.
• Build typed, production‑grade APIs and services in Python (FastAPI + Pydantic).
• Own data architecture end‑to‑end schema design and event models.
• Develop resilient infrastructure primitives that enhance reliability.
• Work at the intersection of systems and AI to improve product data continuously.
• Ship platform foundations, not one‑off features.
• Partner closely with ML + product teams to productionize ideas.
• Help define the architecture of an AI‑native financial stack.

Skills

Backend experience with Python at scale

SQL/NoSQL database design

Distributed systems

Event-driven architectures

Microservices

Familiarity with GCP services

Security and compliance best practices

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 200,000 businesses worldwide – including Brex, Rippling, 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 2,200 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 26 offices around the globe. Valued at US$8 billion and 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.

About the Team

This team designs intelligent, autonomous systems that eliminate financial operations for companies globally. We automate everything from bookkeeping and reconciliation to tax, payroll, forecasting, and document understanding: turning hours of work into seconds. The team blends deep research pedigree with proven industry experience. We operate with high standards, are tool-agnostic, and expect engineers to own problems end-to-end. We collaborate closely, push boundaries responsibly, and ship exceptional work quickly. You’ll solve unprecedented technical challenges using unique, end-to-end financial datasets no one else in the industry has.

About the Role

As a Staff Backend Engineer, you’ll design the backbone of our intelligent finance systems: scalable services, resilient APIs, and thoughtful data models. Our backend is primarily Python on GCP, and your work will ensure we can move quickly while maintaining enterprise‑grade reliability and security.

What You’ll Do

• Design and operate distributed, event‑driven systems that process high‑volume, high‑sensitivity financial data with strict correctness and latency guarantees.
• Build typed, production‑grade APIs and services in Python (FastAPI + Pydantic) that power agentic workflows, AI copilots, and real‑time financial infrastructure.
• Own data architecture end‑to‑end schema design, event models, ledger primitives, and storage layers optimized for auditability, traceability, and scale.
• Develop resilient infrastructure primitives (queues, retries, idempotency, observability, backpressure handling) that let teams ship fast without sacrificing reliability.
• Work at the intersection of systems + AI, building feedback loops where product data continuously improves models and models autonomously improve system behavior.
• Ship platform foundations, not one‑off features internal frameworks, SDKs, and tooling that accelerate every engineer in the org.
• Partner closely with ML + product teams to productionize research‑grade ideas into real customer‑facing systems.
• Help define the architecture of an AI‑native financial stack not bolting AI onto software, but designing software assuming AI is a first‑class runtime.

This role is based in San Francisco.

What You’ll Need to have

• 8+ years backend experience with Python at scale.
• Deep knowledge of SQL/NoSQL database design.
• Experience with distributed systems, event‑driven architectures, or microservices.
• Familiarity with GCP services (Pub/Sub, Cloud Run, Cloud SQL, BigQuery, KMS, etc.).
• Strong grasp of security and compliance best practices.
• Passion for building the backend that powers intelligent products.

Equal opportunity

Airwallex is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and anyone seeking employment at Airwallex is considered based on merit, qualifications, competence and talent. We don’t regard color, religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, ancestry, citizenship, sex, marital or family status, disability, gender, or any other legally protected status when making our hiring decisions. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.