Staff Engineer - Payments (Mobile & Terminal Experiences)

Adyen; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 235,000 - 317,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

RSUs

Job summary

Adyen in Chicago is seeking a Staff Engineer for Payments (Mobile & Terminal Experiences) to lead the evolution of our payment experiences across mobile apps, SDKs, and terminals. You will shape technical direction, own critical architectures, and mentor engineers while collaborating with product and design teams to deliver secure, scalable solutions.

You will drive strategy for cross-platform mobile architectures, partner with hardware vendors, and champion observability and reliability across

Qualifications

• 10+ years of hands-on software engineering in production environments.
• Mobile development experience on Android (Kotlin) or iOS (Swift).
• Ability to cross-train across mobile platforms.
• Strong ownership and problem-solving in distributed systems.

Responsibilities

• Build the next generation of payment experiences across devices and surfaces.
• Architect and drive long-term technical strategy for mobile apps, SDKs, terminals, and backend systems.
• Resolve reliability, performance, security, and payment-flow challenges at global scale.
• Partner with Product/Design/Legal to translate goals into executable plans and prototypes.
• Establish APIs and integration patterns enabling cross-functional teams.
• Mentor engineers and develop technical talent across levels.
• Elevate observability, testing, and operational excellence with partners.

Skills

Staff-level leadership

Mobile development

Cross-platform

Collaboration & influence

SDK design

Distributed systems

Tools

Android (Kotlin)

iOS (Swift)

Job description

Staff Engineer - Payments (Mobile & Terminal Experiences)

Chicago

This is Adyen

Adyen provides payments, data, and financial products in a single solution for customers like Meta, Uber, H&M, and Microsoft - making us the financial technology platform of choice. At Adyen, everything we do is engineered for ambition.

For our teams, we create an environment with opportunities for our people to succeed, backed by the culture and support to ensure they are enabled to truly own their careers. We are motivated individuals who tackle unique technical challenges at scale and solve them as a team. Together, we deliver innovative and ethical solutions that help businesses achieve their ambitions faster.

As a Staff Engineer in the Payments organization, you will act as a trusted advisor and shape the future of how businesses and shoppers interact with Adyen's payment platform. Operating at the intersection of mobile technology, point-of-sale systems, and backend services, you will drive the technical direction for our Terminal and Mobile experiences.

This is a highly hands-on technical leadership role. You will architect unified shopper journeys, solve complex challenges across the payments ecosystem, and multiply the impact of the teams around you. By driving technical decisions through ambiguity and establishing foundational architecture, you will lead the evolution of Adyen's next generation of payment experiences.

What you'll do

• Build the next generation of payment experiences: Help Adyen evolve beyond traditional terminal and mobile boundaries toward seamless shopper and merchant experiences across devices, applications, and payment surfaces.
• Architect & Innovate: Define and drive the long-term technical strategy for complex payment experiences spanning mobile apps, SDKs, payment terminals, and distributed backend systems.
• Solve Complex Problems: Lead the resolution of challenging technical issues involving reliability, performance, security, payment flows, and device compatibility at a global scale.
• Drive Strategic Alignment: Act as a strategic partner to Product, Design, Legal, and other stakeholders. Translate ambiguous business goals into executable plans, balance short-term delivery with long-term investments, and confidently push back using data and prototypes (POCs) to drive consensus.
• Lead Across Boundaries: Establish clear architectural boundaries, APIs, and integration patterns that enable cross-functional teams to move independently.
• Develop Technical Talent: Mentor engineers across levels. Tailor your coaching to help Senior Engineers tackle complex problems independently, while demystifying internal systems and explaining the "why" behind decisions for Junior Engineers.
• Champion Engineering Excellence: Raise the bar for observability, testing, and operational excellence. Work internally and with external technology partners (e.g., OS providers, hardware vendors) to ensure robust, secure integrations.

Who you are

• Experience: 10+ years of hands-on software engineering experience in modern production environments, with a proven track record operating at a Staff-level scope.
• Mobile Expertise: 5+ years of direct, hands-on mobile development experience with proven proficiency in either Android (Kotlin) OR iOS (Swift). You have shipped and owned production mobile code, not just directed it.
• Cross-Platform Mindset: A strong willingness and demonstrated ability to cross-train onto the mobile platform you don't currently specialize in. You must be comfortable working across platform boundaries.
• Collaborative Leadership: A proactive relationship-builder who can set technical direction and influence without formal authority, manage diverse stakeholders across time zones, and build alignment on difficult technical decisions.
• Technical Depth: Deep understanding of mobile architecture, SDK design, concurrency, performance, and large-scale distributed systems. Experience building and maintaining merchant-or consumer-facing SDKs.
• Platform Thinking: The ability to generalize complex processes into simple, flexible services and SDKs that support multiple products and teams.
• Strong Ownership: A self-starter mindset with the ability to identify critical problems, determine what needs to change, and drive solutions to completion.

This role's annual base salary range is $235-$317k, plus RSUs. To learn more about our compensation philosophy.

Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion commitments

Our unique approach is a product of our diverse perspectives. This diversity of backgrounds and cultures is essential in helping us maintain our momentum. Our business and technical challenges are unique, and we need as many different voices as possible to join us in solving them - voices like yours. No matter who you are or where you're from, we welcome you to be your true self at Adyen.

Studies show that women and members of underrepresented communities apply for jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. Does this sound like you? If so, Adyen encourages you to reconsider. We look forward to your application!

Ensuring a smooth and enjoyable candidate experience is critical for us. We aim to get back to you regarding your application within 5 business days. Our interview process tends to take about 4 weeks to complete, but may fluctuate depending on the role. Don’t be afraid to let us know if you need more flexibility.

Adyen is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status or any legally protected status.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

You must be work authorized in the United States without the need for new visa sponsorship. The company can support visa transfers but will not sponsor individuals for H-1B CAP applications.