Founding Engineer, Payments

PayOS | Remote | $150K–$200K + Meaningful Equity
⠀
The Mission

AI is going to fundamentally change how commerce and payments work.
⠀
PayOS is building the payments infrastructure for that future.
⠀
We’re already working with some of the largest companies in the payments ecosystem, and we’re looking for an exceptional Founding Payments Engineer to help build what comes next.
⠀
This is not a role where you’ll inherit a mature system and work through a backlog.
⠀
You’ll own a major part of the company from the ground up.
⠀
The Opportunity
⠀
We’re looking for someone who really knows payments.
⠀
Not just the APIs. Not just the architecture diagrams.
⠀
Someone who understands how money actually moves, what happens when things break, and how networks, processors, acquirers, issuers, and merchants really operate.
⠀
You’ll own critical payments infrastructure at PayOS, working directly with the founders, customers, and partners to take complex payment capabilities from idea to production.
⠀
You’ll have the autonomy to identify problems, design solutions, build them, ship them, and see customers use what you created.
⠀
Over time, we want you to become the GM of what you build, not simply the engineer responsible for it.
⠀
You might be the person we’re looking for if...
⠀
You’ve spent years deep inside payments and know at least one part of the ecosystem exceptionally well.
⠀
Maybe that’s:
⠀
• Networks: Visa, Mastercard, network APIs, ISO 8583/20022, tokenization, certification
⠀
• Acquiring / Processing: authorization, routing, merchant onboarding, interchange, disputes, settlement
⠀
•** Issuing:** authorization systems, card programs, BIN sponsorship, network connectivity
⠀
• Merchant Payments: building payment products businesses depend on every day
⠀
You don’t need to have done all of these.
⠀
We care much more about depth than checking every box.
⠀
If you’ve spent five years becoming exceptionally good at one corner of payments and want the opportunity to learn and own the rest, we want to talk to you.
⠀
What You’ll Do
⠀
Own Payments
⠀
Architect and build critical payment systems from the ground up. You’ll make decisions that can shape the architecture of PayOS for years.
⠀
Build Things Customers Actually Need
⠀
You’ll work directly with customers and partners, understand their problems, and turn those problems into products.
⠀
Go Deep
⠀
Payments has endless edge cases. You’ll work through difficult integrations, specifications, production issues, and ecosystem constraints where the answer isn’t sitting in documentation.
⠀
Own the Outcome
⠀
Your job doesn’t end when the code ships. You’ll help get products into customers’ hands, understand whether they’re working, and keep improving them.
⠀
Build With AI
⠀
We use the best AI tools available to dramatically increase what a small engineering team can accomplish. We want engineers who combine these tools with deep technical judgment and domain expertise.
⠀
Who Thrives Here
⠀
You want ownership
⠀
You don’t want to be employee #4,000 working on one endpoint.
⠀
You want your fingerprints all over something.
⠀
You’re comfortable without a playbook
⠀
At an early-stage company, sometimes the problem isn’t defined yet. You can go from ambiguity → understanding → architecture → production without waiting for someone to tell you every step.
⠀
You’re obsessed with getting things right
⠀
Payments infrastructure has to work.
⠀
You think naturally about reliability, idempotency, auditability, failure modes, security, and what happens at 2 AM when something goes wrong.
⠀
You care about the business
⠀
The best engineers here won’t just understand the system. They’ll understand the customer, the economics, and why we’re building something in the first place.
⠀
You move fast
⠀
We’re an ambitious, high-intensity team. We care deeply about what we’re building and move with urgency.
⠀
This isn’t the right environment for everyone.
⠀
For the right person, that’s the point.
⠀
What We’re Looking For
⠀
• 5+ years of software engineering experience
⠀
• Significant experience building or operating payment systems
⠀
• Deep expertise in at least one area of the payments ecosystem
⠀
• Strong systems engineering fundamentals
⠀
• Experience building reliable production infrastructure
⠀
• Working knowledge of PCI DSS and payments compliance
⠀
• Ability to communicate with customers and technical partners
⠀
• A strong bias toward ownership and shipping
⠀
You do not need to match every bullet.
⠀
If you’re an exceptional engineer who knows payments deeply, we’d rather talk.
⠀
Why PayOS
⠀
You’ll join early enough that the things you build can become foundational parts of the company.
⠀
You’ll work directly with the founders and some of the most important companies in payments.
⠀
You’ll have real ownership, meaningful equity, and the ability to build things that would normally require a much larger organization.
⠀
And you’ll be working at the intersection of two industries undergoing enormous change:
⠀
AI and payments.
⠀
Compensation & Benefits
⠀
$150K–$200K + meaningful equity
⠀
100% employee-covered health, dental, and vision
⠀
Remote
⠀
How to Apply
⠀
Please don’t send us a standard cover letter.
⠀
Email hiring-ops at payos.ai with:
⠀
Your LinkedIn, GitHub, or portfolio
⠀
The most interesting payments system or product you’ve personally built
⠀
What you specifically owned
⠀
The hardest payments problem you’ve ever had to debug

If you’re the person on your team everyone calls when something weird happens in payments, we want to meet you.