Principal Engineer - Backend

Are you looking for a super-challenging role designing backend systems that scale to 1000+ TPSs in one of India's fastest growing, profitable near-Unicorns with businesses spanning Lending, E-comm and UPI? Then this is the role for you.

Client Company is a profitable, rapidly scaling unicorn which is extremely well capitalized. Client has a very strong moat in the consumer lending space on the back of which it is entering into additional large markets such as E-comm and UPI.

Client company is now entering its next phase of growth from a fast-scaling startup to a robust, high-scale financial platform serving millions of users daily.

You'll design systems built for 10x100x growth, make the key technical trade-off calls, and stay deeply hands-on. Beyond building, you'll mentor engineers and work directly with founders and product teams to translate business goals into scalable, reliable systems.

This role is an opportunity to

• Shape the next-generation architecture for a high-throughput fintech system
• Build systems designed to scale 10x100x from current volumes
• Solve real-world problems across performance, reliability, and financial-grade security

Responsibilities

• Design and evolve the platform architecture to support 10x100x growth
• Own systems end-to-end from the first design decision to production impact
• Lead system design discussions and set the long-term technical direction for the platform
• Identify scale bottlenecks early and drive solutions
• Mentor and elevate engineers through design reviews, code quality, and architectural thinking
• Partner directly with founders and product teams to turn business priorities into scalable systems
• Operate with high ownership in a fast-paced environment where priorities evolve quickly
• Drive projects independently own timelines, coordinate with teams, and see delivery
• Conduct rigorous code reviews and champion engineering best practices across the team
• Proactively identify gaps in the system and come up with concrete approaches to address them
• Solve technical problems across the company not just confined to a single pod
• Challenge existing architecture with data and reasoning push back when its the right call, and drive adoption of better approaches.

Requirements

• 7-12 years of experience in backend or platform engineering
• Strong computer science fundamentals (preferably from IIT, BITS, NITs)
• Strong proficiency in backend development (Node.js, Java, Go, or equivalent)
• Proven experience scaling systems through high-growth startup phases (1→10 or beyond)
• Track record of building and owning critical platforms or systems from scratch
• Exposure to high-volume transactional systems; fintech or lending is a strong plus
• Bias for action - moves fast, makes sound decisions, owns outcomes end-to-end
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and evolving priorities in a startup environment
• Strong problem-solving skills ability to break down complex technical challenges and arrive at pragmatic, well-reasoned solutions
• Hands-on experience with platform engineering developer tooling, shared services, infrastructure abstractions, or internal platforms