Advanced Solution Engineer (Payments product team)

The Advanced Solution Engineer plays a critical role in establishing and growing the internal Payments Product Team to progressively shadow and transition responsibilities from the existing vendor team. The role is responsible for leading technical onboarding, reverse engineering product flows, understanding payment architecture, and enabling long-term internal ownership of the product lifecycle.The candidate is expected to possess strong experience in fintech/payment systems, secure transaction processing, payment switch integrations, and enterprise-grade backend engineering. This role requires close collaboration with vendor teams, business stakeholders, infrastructure, security, and PMO teams to ensure scalable, secure, and highly available payment systems. Key Responsibilities:DEVELOPMENT OF THE AREA:Design, develop, and maintain secure and scalable payment services and transaction processing systems.Lead the design, development, and optimization of payment channel integrations including ISO 8583 socket channels, HTTP/REST APIs, and payment gateway connections with acquiring banks and settlement institutionsWork closely with vendor teams to understand and document existing payment workflows, transaction routing, settlement processes, reconciliation flows, and operational procedures.Implement secure transaction processing mechanisms including encryption (3DES, AES), message signing, DUKPT key management, tokenization, HSM integrations, and certificate/token-based authentication.Design scalable microservices and backend APIs to support payment applications, POS/Terminal Management, vPOS, and Pay-by-Link capabilities.Improve system reliability, transaction throughput, fault tolerance, and payment success rates.Participate in architecture discussions for high-availability systems, disaster recovery, and production scalability.Establish secure coding practices and ensure alignment with PCI DSS and enterprise security standards. CONTROL OF TASKS:Review and validate technical deliverables, APIs, transaction flows, and system architecture documentation.Lead troubleshooting and root cause analysis for transaction failures, timeout issues, integration bottlenecks, and production incidents.Ensure all deliverables comply with coding standards, security controls, and operational best practices.Coordinate with PMO, QA, Security, Infrastructure, and UAT teams during deployment, testing, and release cycles.Monitor production system health, transaction integrity, and SLA compliance. STRATEGIC & LEADERSHIP TASKS:Mentor and guide junior and mid-level engineers within the Payments Product Team.Define technical learning roadmaps and knowledge transfer objectives for long-term vendor independence.Contribute to technical strategy, scalability planning, and modernization initiatives.Participate in roadmap planning, technical estimation, and architecture governance discussions.Support management in building long-term internal product ownership strategy and reducing vendor dependencyPromote engineering best practices including clean architecture, SOLID principles, observability, and CI/CD automation. MANAGEMENT OF EMPLOYEES:Lead and coordinate the activities of internal product engineering resources across development and support functions.Assign technical tasks, learning objectives, and documentation responsibilities.Support continuous learning and domain understanding within the payments ecosystem.Facilitate effective collaboration between internal teams and vendor resources. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS:Education & ExperienceBachelor’s degree in computer science, Software Engineering, or related field7 - 10 years of software development experienceMinimum 3 - 5 years of hands-on experience in payment systems, fintech platforms, or financial servicesCore Technical SkillsPayment Domain Expertise (Must Have):Expert-level proficiency in Node.js and Java (JDK 8+) with microservices architectureDeep understanding of RESTful API design, asynchronous processing, and event-driven architecturesDeep experience with ISO 8583 message processing and payment switch integrationProven experience integrating third party payment gateways and acquiring banksStrong knowledge of POS/Terminal Management Systems and transaction lifecycle managementHands-on experience with HSM integration, DUKPT, key injection, and cryptographic operationsUnderstanding of tokenization, vPOS, Pay by Link, and secure payment methodsWorking knowledge of PCI DSS requirements, secure coding practices, and encryption standards (3DES, AES, RSA)Databases & Messaging:Hands-on experience with SQL databases (MSSQL, PostgreSQL) and NoSQL databases (Redis, Firebase)Strong SQL skills including query optimization and transaction managementHands-on experience with message queues (Kafka, RabbitMQ) for transaction processingInfrastructure & DevOps:Familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes, and containerized deploymentsExperience with CI/CD pipelines Understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure) is a plusPreferred QualificationsExperience with payment switch platforms (IRIS, Postilion, Base24, or similar)Knowledge of Visa, Mastercard, American Express, UnionPay, or local scheme (1LINK, mada) certifications and integrationFamiliarity with EMV standards, contactless payments, and card-present transactionsExperience with fraud detection systems and transaction monitoringFrontend experience with React.js or modern JavaScript frameworksPCI DSS, EMV, or ISO 20022 certifications are highly valued COMPETENCIES AND SKILLS:Strong analytical mindset with ability to understand complex payment ecosystems and reverse-engineer legacy systemsProven leadership capabilities with experience mentoring junior engineers and managing cross-functional technical initiativesExcellent troubleshooting skills in high-pressure, production-critical environments with strict SLA requirementsStrong ownership mentality focused on long-term product sustainability and reducing technical debtEffective communication skills with ability to coordinate between technical teams, business stakeholders, and vendor partnersExperience in knowledge transfer programs and building internal technical capabilities from vendor-managed systems