Founding Engineer, Payments

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.

• 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., 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., * Software Engineering: 4 years (Preferred)

Pulled from the full job description Health insurance Vision insurance Dental insurance

Full job description

Founding Engineer, Payments

The Mission

AI is going to fundamentally change how commerce and payments work.

PayOS is building the payments infrastructure for that future., 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@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

Pay: $140,000.00 - $200,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Vision insurance