Technical Lead / Architect

Tenarai; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 210,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Tenarai is seeking a hands-on Technical Lead / Architect to direct the design, development, and delivery of a large-scale fintech risk platform. You will mentor an engineering team while remaining deeply involved in coding, design reviews, and critical decisions.

The role emphasizes distributed, event-driven systems built with Java 17/21, Spring Boot, Kafka, and AWS, with fintech risk, fraud, onboarding, and compliance domains core to the platform.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience.
• 3+ years in Technical Lead / Architect / Engineering Lead roles.
• Experience leading and managing software engineering teams.
• Hands-on development with Java 17/21, Spring Boot, microservices, and REST APIs.
• Deep experience with Apache Kafka and event-driven architectures.
• Strong cloud-native experience designing on AWS.
• Proven ability to design scalable, secure, resilient distributed systems in fintech contexts.
• Ability to own architectural direction while contributing to coding and delivery.
• Experience collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders (Product, Risk, Compliance, Data Science).

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a team of software engineers building fintech risk platforms.
• Own the technical architecture, design, development, and delivery of onboarding and lifecycle risk monitoring solutions.
• Remain hands-on with coding, PoC development, troubleshooting, and critical implementation decisions.
• Design scalable microservices and event-driven systems using Java 17/21, Spring Boot, Kafka, and AWS.
• Build real-time and near-real-time risk assessment, fraud detection, and compliance capabilities.
• Translate product and risk requirements into scalable technical designs and plans.
• Lead architecture discussions, design reviews, and engineering best practices.
• Mentor engineers and support the team’s technical growth and performance.
• Collaborate with Product, Risk, Compliance, Data Science, ML, and Engineering stakeholders.
• Support integration of risk rules, AI-assisted investigations, and automated workflows.
• Improve manual-review processes with automation and earlier risk decisioning.
• Ensure platform reliability, security, observability, data integrity, and performance.
• Participate in production support, incident resolution, and long-term improvements.

Skills

Technical leadership

Architecture design

Team mentoring

Communication

Distributed systems

REST APIs

Problem solving

Tools

Java 17/21

Spring Boot

Apache Kafka

AWS

Job description

Technical Lead / Architect – FinTech Risk Platform

Location: Mountainview, CA

Work Model: Hybrid 3 days work from office

Technology Stack: Java 17/21, Spring Boot, Apache Kafka, AWS, AI/GenAI

About the Role

We are seeking a hands-on Technical Lead / Architect to lead the design, development, and delivery of large-scale fintech risk-management platforms.

The platform supports merchant onboarding, fraud prevention, risk assessment, compliance, and lifecycle monitoring across payments, bill pay, and payroll products.

This role combines technical architecture, hands-on development, team leadership, and delivery ownership. The selected candidate will lead and mentor an engineering team while remaining actively involved in coding, technical design, code reviews, troubleshooting, and critical implementation decisions.

The ideal candidate will have strong experience building distributed, event-driven platforms using Java, Spring Boot, Kafka, and AWS, along with relevant experience in fintech, payments, fraud, risk, or merchant onboarding.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a team of software engineers responsible for building and enhancing fintech risk platforms.


• Own the technical architecture, design, development, and delivery of solutions supporting merchant onboarding and lifecycle risk monitoring.


• Remain hands-on with coding, proof-of-concept development, technical troubleshooting, and implementation of critical platform components.


• Design scalable microservices and event-driven systems using Java 17/21, Spring Boot, Apache Kafka, and AWS.


• Build real-time and near-real-time capabilities for risk assessment, fraud detection, policy evaluation, compliance, and automated decisioning.


• Translate product, business, risk, and compliance requirements into scalable technical designs and implementation plans.


• Lead architecture discussions, technical design reviews, code reviews, and engineering best practices.


• Assign work, guide technical execution, remove engineering blockers, and ensure timely delivery.


• Mentor engineers and support the technical growth and performance of the team.


• Partner with Product, Risk, Compliance, Data Science, Machine Learning, and Engineering stakeholders.


• Support the integration of fraud rules, risk models, AI-assisted investigations, and intelligent workflow automation.


• Improve manual-review processes by introducing earlier and more automated risk decisioning.


• Ensure platform reliability, security, scalability, observability, data integrity, and performance.


• Participate in production support, incident resolution, root-cause analysis, and long-term platform improvements.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience.


• 3+ years of experience as a Technical Lead, Lead Engineer, Technical Architect, or Engineering Lead.


• Experience leading and managing software engineering teams.


• Strong hands-on development experience with Java 17/21, Spring Boot, microservices, and REST APIs.


• Deep experience with Apache Kafka and event-driven architectures.


• Strong experience designing and building cloud-native applications on AWS.


• Proven experience designing scalable, secure, resilient, and high-performance distributed systems.


• Ability to own technical architecture while remaining actively involved in development and delivery.


• Strong experience with technical design, code reviews, troubleshooting, and production support.


• Experience working with cross-functional teams, including Product, Architecture, Data Science, Risk, Compliance, or business stakeholders.


• Strong leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills.

Domain Experience

Candidates should have experience in one or more of the following areas:

• Fraud detection and prevention


• Merchant onboarding or underwriting


• Risk assessment and decisioning


• Fraud-policy or business-rules platforms


• Compliance technology


• Transaction or account monitoring


• Bill pay, payroll, or SMB financial products

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with Data Science and Machine Learning teams to productionize fraud or risk models.


• Experience integrating GenAI, Agentic AI, LLM-based solutions, or intelligent workflow automation.


• Experience with case-management systems, investigation workflows, and manual-review processes.


• Knowledge of modern observability, CI/CD, cloud-native security, and platform-engineering practices.


• Experience building high-volume financial transaction-processing systems.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is a hands-on technical leader who can manage and mentor an engineering team while actively contributing to architecture, design, coding, troubleshooting, and delivery.

This person should combine strong Java, Kafka, AWS, and distributed-systems expertise with practical experience in fintech risk, fraud, payments, merchant onboarding, or compliance. They should be comfortable owning both the technical direction of the platform and the day-to-day execution of the engineering team.