Head of Engineering, POS Application Platform

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Kenya.

📋 Description

• Lead the technical strategy and architecture for the POS Application Platform, serving as the domain CTO for all operations on POS devices.

• Develop and oversee the developer experience, platform reliability, foundational frameworks, and squad adoption throughout the organization.

• Set and enforce engineering standards across various POS device types and OEM manufacturers.

• Provide functional leadership to POS engineers integrated within Payments, Onboarding, VAS, Savings, and Loans squads.

• Manage POS observability comprehensively, including monitoring, alerting, and incident response frameworks.

• Propel architecture to accommodate various POS device types, covering onboarding, governance, and platform integration.

• Collaborate with OEM partners and the POS hardware team during the introduction of new device types.

• Grow and enhance the POS platform team through recruitment, mentoring, and organizational structuring.

• Convert platform decisions into tangible business impacts with Product, Payments, and Business leadership across various markets.

• Establish and refine engineering processes, tooling standards, CI/CD pipelines, and metrics for developer productivity.

• Engage in technical, system design, architectural leadership, CTO, and cultural alignment interviews as part of the recruitment process.

⛳️ Requirements

• A minimum of 10 years of practical software engineering experience.

• At least 6 years of experience leading engineering teams through significant growth phases.

• Direct, hands-on experience in developing software that operates on Point-of-Sale terminal devices, particularly at the application layer.

• Strong understanding of EMV standards.

• Experience in navigating payment certification processes like PCI DSS and P2PE.

• Extensive Android engineering expertise in Kotlin and Java.

• Proven track record of building internal engineering platforms, shared libraries, developer tooling, or foundational frameworks utilized by other engineering teams.

• Experience in governing or architecting across various POS device types from diverse hardware manufacturers.

• Familiarity with OEM integrations and large-scale device management.

• Experience in developing or advancing platform engineering functions.

• Proven ability to establish engineering processes, tooling strategies, and cross-squad governance frameworks.

• Demonstrated capability to scale engineering teams and establish the organizational layer beneath you.

• Experience in a company handling high volumes of financial transactions within a regulated environment.

• Fintech background is highly preferred.

• Knowledge of terminal management systems and device observability tools is a significant advantage.

• Backend engineering experience in Java or Spring Boot is a strong plus.

• Experience collaborating directly with OEM vendors on hardware specifications and integration is a bonus.

• Familiarity with C or C++ is an added advantage.

• Experience in multinational or large VC-backed companies is ideal.

• Experience solely at Series A or B stage startups is unlikely to reflect the required scale and complexity.

🏝️ Benefits

• Competitive salary.

• Pension plan.

• Health insurance coverage.

• Annual bonus.

• Additional benefits.

• Environment focused on learning and development.

• Knowledge sharing opportunities.

• Training programs available.

• Regular internal technical discussions.

• People-first culture prioritizing the well-being of team members.

• Inclusive atmosphere where all opinions are valued and voices are heard.