Lead Engineer

Job Summary:

Ciphertext Solutions, Inc. is seeking a Lead Engineer to provide technical leadership while remaining deeply hands‑on in building and operating our core platform. This role is responsible for guiding system design, improving engineering standards, and delivering scalable, secure solutions across our frontend and backend systems.

As a senior individual contributor, the Lead Engineer partners closely with Product, DevOps, and Engineering leadership to shape technical direction, mentor engineers, and ensure the long‑term health of the platform. This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who enjoys architecture, ownership, and leading by example in a cloud‑native, compliance‑driven fintech environment.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture

· Own and evolve system architecture across frontend and backend services

· Lead design reviews and make high-impact technical decisions

· Ensure scalability, reliability, and security across distributed systems

· Set and uphold engineering standards, patterns, and best practices

Hands-On Engineering

· Contribute directly to critical backend and frontend codebases

· Lead complex initiatives such as new platform capabilities or major refactors

· Review code with a focus on correctness, security, and maintainability

· Partner with DevOps on infrastructure, CI/CD, and operational excellence

Team Enablement & Mentorship

· Mentor and support engineers

· Provide technical guidance without acting as a people manager

· Help unblock engineers and improve team delivery velocity

· Collaborate closely with Product to shape technical solutions early

Cross-Functional Collaboration

· Work with Product, Security, and Compliance stakeholders

· Translate business requirements into robust technical designs

· Support incident response, root-cause analysis, and system improvements

Required Qualifications

· 8+ years of professional software engineering experience

· Bachelor’s degree in computer science, software engineering, or related field.

· Experience working in fintech, payments, or banking, particularly with core banking integrations.

· Strong experience designing and operating distributed, event-driven systems

· Proven experience leading technical initiatives and mentoring engineers

· Strong understanding of security, compliance, and regulated environments especially PCI DSS

· Deep expertise in Java (Spring Boot or Micronaut) and modern web frameworks (React, TypeScript)

· Solid experience building and consuming RESTful APIs and working with JSON/XML payloads.

· Strong database knowledge with PostgreSQL, MySQL, or similar relational databases.

· Experience with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing (JUnit, Cypress, Jest), and Git workflows.

· Familiarity with agile development practices and working in cross-functional teams.

· Strong analytical skills, growth mindset, and continuous improvement ethos.

Why Join Us?

· Competitive compensation, including performance incentives and a flexible work environment.

· Work on cutting-edge fintech solutions, solving real-world banking and payments challenges.

· Opportunity to work on secure, scalable, cloud-native architectures and modern tech stacks.

· Work with a talented, supportive team driven by a shared commitment to excellence.

· Strong engineering culture focused on code quality, automation, and continuous learning.

Ciphertext Solutions, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other basis protected by law.