Backend Engineer (International Payments) / Laravel Engineer at HelloMe Limited

About the Role

• We are seeking an experienced and highly motivated Backend Engineer (International Payments) / Laravel Engineer to join our growing cross-border FinTech team. The successful candidate will be responsible for designing, developing, maintaining, and optimizing secure, scalable, and high-performance backend systems that power our international payment infrastructure, digital wallets, remittance services, virtual accounts, foreign exchange platforms, transaction monitoring systems, and related financial technology products.
• This role requires deep expertise in Laravel, API development, international payment rails, banking integrations, payment orchestration, transaction processing, settlement workflows, and financial infrastructure. The successful candidate will build and maintain systems that support seamless cross-border transactions across major global payment networks including SWIFT, SEPA, Fedwire, TARGET2, Faster Payments Service (FPS), ACH, EFT, Open Banking, and other domestic and international payment schemes.
• The Backend Engineer will work closely with Product, Compliance, Operations, Finance, Treasury, QA, DevOps, Banking Partners, and Executive Management to build reliable, secure, compliant, and scalable payment solutions that facilitate global money movement and financial inclusion.
• This position plays a critical role in ensuring transaction reliability, payment processing efficiency, banking connectivity, regulatory compliance, system security, and operational scalability across all payment corridors and jurisdictions.

Key Responsibilities

Backend Development & System Architecture

• Design, develop, test, deploy, and maintain scalable backend applications using Laravel and PHP.
• Build and maintain RESTful APIs and microservices supporting cross-border payment services.
• Develop secure and highly available payment processing systems.
• Design backend services capable of handling high transaction volumes and real-time processing.
• Optimize application performance, database efficiency, and system scalability.
• Implement clean architecture, domain-driven design principles, and coding best practices.
• Maintain comprehensive technical documentation and API specifications.

International Payments & Financial Infrastructure

• Develop and maintain integrations with international payment rails and banking systems.
• Support payment routing, processing, settlement, reconciliation, and transaction lifecycle management.
• Integrate and support global payment networks including:
• SWIFT
• SEPA
• Fedwire
• TARGET2
• Faster Payments Service (FPS)
• ACH
• EFT
• Open Banking APIs
• Correspondent Banking Networks
• Build and maintain multi-currency payment processing systems.
• Support remittance and international money transfer platforms.
• Implement foreign exchange transaction workflows.
• Develop virtual account and digital wallet infrastructure.
• Ensure accurate transaction settlement and reconciliation processes.
• Support treasury and liquidity management integrations.

Banking & Payment Partner Integrations

• Integrate with banks, payment processors, financial institutions, and third-party service providers.
• Develop secure banking APIs and middleware services.
• Support inbound and outbound payment processing.
• Manage webhook services and event-driven payment notifications.
• Troubleshoot payment failures, transaction delays, and settlement issues.
• Support onboarding of new banking and payment partners.
• Maintain payment partner connectivity and service reliability.

Payment Processing & Transaction Management

• Design and implement payment orchestration engines.
• Build transaction authorization, validation, and routing systems.
• Support real-time payment processing and transaction monitoring.
• Develop transaction status tracking and notification services.
• Implement payment retry mechanisms and exception handling processes.
• Support transaction reconciliation and ledger synchronization.
• Monitor payment success rates and processing performance.

Financial Ledger & Reconciliation Systems

• Develop and maintain double-entry ledger systems.
• Build automated reconciliation solutions for payment transactions.
• Support account balance management and transaction posting.
• Implement settlement reporting and financial audit trails.
• Ensure transaction accuracy and financial data integrity.
• Support Finance and Operations teams with reconciliation processes.
• Develop reporting services for financial and operational monitoring.

Security, Compliance & Risk Controls

• Implement secure authentication and authorization mechanisms (OAuth2, JWT, RBAC).
• Develop secure payment processing workflows.
• Implement encryption of sensitive customer and transaction data.
• Support AML, KYC, sanctions screening, and fraud monitoring systems.
• Build audit logging and transaction traceability features.
• Ensure compliance with applicable financial regulations and security standards.
• Support PCI-DSS, data protection, and information security requirements.
• Participate in security reviews, audits, and compliance assessments.

Blockchain & Digital Asset Integration (Where Applicable)

• Support integration with Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payment systems.
• Work with blockchain APIs and wallet infrastructure.
• Support crypto transaction monitoring and verification processes.
• Ensure secure management of digital asset transactions.
• Assist with blockchain-based payment innovations where applicable.

AI, Automation & Transaction Intelligence

• Develop AI-assisted transaction monitoring capabilities.
• Support fraud detection and anomaly detection systems.
• Implement intelligent automation for payment operations.
• Integrate machine learning and AI services into backend workflows.
• Build transaction intelligence and risk-scoring systems.
• Support AI-powered compliance and financial crime monitoring solutions.

Database, Infrastructure & Performance Optimization

• Design and optimize relational and non-relational databases.
• Work with MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB, and related technologies.
• Utilize event-driven architecture and message queues (Kafka, RabbitMQ, SQS).
• Collaborate with DevOps teams on CI/CD pipelines and cloud infrastructure.
• Ensure high availability, fault tolerance, and disaster recovery readiness.
• Optimize backend systems for scalability and performance.

Collaboration & Continuous Improvement

• Collaborate with Product, Compliance, Operations, QA, DevOps, and Engineering teams.
• Participate in sprint planning, code reviews, and agile ceremonies.
• Provide technical recommendations for payment infrastructure improvements.
• Support incident management and production troubleshooting.
• Stay current with developments in international payments, banking technology, AI, and FinTech innovation.
• Perform any other duties assigned by Management.

Requirements & Qualifications

Educational Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related discipline.
• Master's Degree is an added advantage.

Experience Requirements

• Minimum of 3–7 years of backend development experience.
• Minimum of 2–5 years within FinTech, Payments, Banking, Remittance, Foreign Exchange, or Financial Services.
• Proven experience building payment systems and transaction-processing platforms.
• Experience integrating banking APIs and payment gateways.
• Experience supporting international payment operations and cross-border transactions.
• Experience developing wallet, virtual account, remittance, or settlement systems.
• Experience with high-volume financial transaction environments is highly desirable.

Technical Knowledge

• Strong proficiency in Laravel (PHP) and modern backend development practices.
• Strong understanding of international payment rails and banking infrastructure.
• Knowledge of:
• SWIFT
• SEPA
• Fedwire
• TARGET2
• FPS (Faster Payments Service)
• ACH
• EFT
• Open Banking
• Correspondent Banking
• Strong experience with RESTful APIs and microservices architecture.
• Knowledge of transaction processing, settlement, and reconciliation systems.
• Experience with relational and NoSQL databases.
• Experience with Docker, Git, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud platforms.
• Understanding of financial messaging standards including ISO 20022 and SWIFT MT/MX messages.
• Familiarity with AML, KYC, fraud prevention, and financial crime controls.
• Understanding of encryption, API security, OAuth2, JWT, and secure coding practices.
• Experience with blockchain and cryptocurrency systems is an advantage.
• Knowledge of AI-powered automation and transaction monitoring solutions is desirable.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong backend engineering and software architecture skills.
• Excellent problem-solving and analytical abilities.
• Strong understanding of payment systems and financial infrastructure.
• Excellent system design and scalability expertise.
• Strong debugging and troubleshooting capabilities.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively.
• High attention to detail and accuracy.
• Strong stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to perform in a regulated, high-availability environment.
• High ethical standards and professionalism.