Staff Software Engineer

Radley James; New York (NY); On-site; USD 225,000 - 290,000; Full time

Job summary

Radley James partners with a venture-backed FinTech company in New York City seeking a Staff Backend Engineer to own core backend architecture and help scale the platform.

This is a hands-on role with significant technical ownership and direct influence over engineering decisions, allowing you to build systems used by demanding institutional clients.

Qualifications

• Strong experience designing and building production-grade backend systems.
• Expertise in Java, Spring Boot or comparable backend technologies.
• Proven experience scaling PostgreSQL databases and optimising performance.
• Strong hands-on experience with AWS in production environments.
• Solid understanding of distributed systems, API design, system reliability and scalability.
• Ability to take ownership of complex technical challenges from architecture through implementation.
• Comfortable working in a small, fast-moving engineering team with considerable autonomy.
• Previous FinTech or financial services experience is advantageous, but not essential.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop and scale high-performance backend services supporting complex financial workflows.
• Take ownership of backend architecture, scalability, reliability and performance optimisation.
• Build and optimise distributed services capable of handling growing transaction volumes and data-intensive workloads.
• Improve database performance, data access patterns and overall system efficiency.
• Develop and maintain cloud infrastructure to support secure, resilient production environments.
• Help establish the technical foundations for AI-driven functionality and automation.
• Work closely with senior leadership to shape engineering priorities and long-term architecture.
• Contribute to technical standards, architectural decisions and engineering best practices.

Skills

Backend design

Java and Spring Boot

PostgreSQL performance

AWS production

Distributed systems

API design

Reliability

Ownership & autonomy

FinTech experience beneficial

Job description

Location: New York City (Onsite)

Employment: Full-time

The Opportunity

We're partnering with an ambitious, venture-backed FinTech company that's modernising critical infrastructure across financial services.

They're building a next-generation technology platform that replaces fragmented, manual processes with scalable, intelligent systems. With a lean engineering team and experienced leadership, they're looking for a Staff Backend Engineer to take ownership of core backend architecture and help scale the platform through its next phase of growth.

This is a highly hands-on position offering significant technical ownership, direct influence over engineering decisions and the opportunity to build systems used by demanding institutional clients.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop and scale high-performance backend services supporting complex financial workflows.
• Take ownership of backend architecture, scalability, reliability and performance optimisation.
• Build and optimise distributed services capable of handling growing transaction volumes and data-intensive workloads.
• Improve database performance, data access patterns and overall system efficiency.
• Develop and maintain cloud infrastructure to support secure, resilient production environments.
• Help establish the technical foundations for AI-driven functionality and automation.
• Work closely with senior leadership to shape engineering priorities and long-term architecture.
• Contribute to technical standards, architectural decisions and engineering best practices.

What We're Looking For

• Strong experience designing and building production-grade backend systems.
• Expertise in Java, Spring Boot or comparable backend technologies.
• Proven experience scaling PostgreSQL databases and optimising performance.
• Strong hands-on experience with AWS in production environments.
• Solid understanding of distributed systems, API design, system reliability and scalability.
• Ability to take ownership of complex technical challenges from architecture through implementation.
• Comfortable working in a small, fast-moving engineering team with considerable autonomy.
• Previous FinTech or financial services experience is advantageous, but not essential.

Why Consider This Opportunity?

• Competitive compensation: $225K-$290K base salary plus equity.
• Technical ownership: Shape the architecture and scalability of a growing financial technology platform.
• High-impact engineering: Work on complex backend challenges with meaningful production requirements.
• Direct influence: Collaborate closely with company leadership and help define engineering direction.
• AI innovation: Contribute to infrastructure supporting intelligent automation and emerging AI capabilities.
• Early-stage opportunity: Join a small team where individual contributions have a direct impact on the product and business.