Backend Engineering Intern (Python, FastAPI, credit logic) - Scanwick

ABOUT SCANWICK
Scanwick reads a borrower’s bank and wallet statements, joins every account into one position, and gives Nigerian lenders the evidence behind every figure, before the loan and, with the borrower’s consent, after it. No credit score and no automated decision: the lender decides.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

• Build and fix credit-logic and backend features in Python (FastAPI), with PostgreSQL, SQLAlchemy and Alembic, and background jobs on Celery and Redis.
• Work on the figures a lender reads directly: coverage, income, arrears and affordability, computed to the kobo, with every edge case named and tested.
• Write a test that proves every change, and run the full test suite before you ask for review — including on a branch someone else is also changing.
• Work on real production code through pull requests, each one reviewed by our CTO before it is merged; one task, one branch, one pull request.
• Treat people’s financial data with care: each lender sees only its own borrowers, nothing is read without consent, and nothing sensitive is logged.
• Explain your work clearly in writing, and say plainly when something is not finished or not understood.

WHAT YOU NEED

• Python you have written yourself, in a project you can walk us through line by line.
• Working knowledge of SQL and of building or using HTTP APIs.
• Git, including resolving a real merge without losing someone else’s fix, and writing automated tests (pytest or similar).
• Care with money and edge cases: you know why money is not stored as a decimal float, why a missing figure is not zero, and why a rule that held yesterday needs checking again after every merge.
• This is a backend-only role. If your strongest work is full-stack or mostly frontend, please apply to a role that matches that — we are hiring specifically for depth on the backend.
• Code you write yourself: we do not use AI coding tools at the moment, and the practical task must be done without them.
• Reliable internet and enough time each week to finish what you take on (agreed with you before you start).

GOOD TO HAVE

• FastAPI, async Python, Celery or Redis.
• Anything in fintech, lending, payments, open banking or data protection.
• Experience reading bank statements or credit data, or building for Nigerian users.

WHAT WE OFFER

• Real, owned work on a live product, not practice exercises.
• A weekly call of at least 30 minutes with the founder, and written review of every piece of work you submit.
• Remote, with hours you set within what we agree.
• A certificate of internship at the end, stating your role, dates and the work you actually did, and an honest reference on request.
• Outstanding interns may be offered a staff role

TERMS
Unpaid internship, 4 months, remote, Nigeria. No salary, stipend or equity during the internship. Starting immediately.

HOW TO APPLY

1. Apply with: your GitHub (or the code of one backend project you built), and two or three lines on a bug you found only after it had already been "fixed" once and send you application to [email protected]
2. Shortlisted candidates get a practical test: 24 hours, built from the kind of problems we actually solve, done yourself, without AI tools.
3. Then a 40-minute call where you walk us through your task and change it live.
4. Offer, and the internship agreement. NB: All applications should be sent to [email protected]