Design and operate distributed event-driven backend systems in Python for high-volume financial data. Build typed APIs own end-to-end data and ledger architecture implement resilient infrastructure primitives and partner with ML and product teams to productionize AI-native financial workflows and platform foundations.

About Airwallex
Airwallex is the only unified payments and financial platform for global businesses. Powered by our unique combination of proprietary infrastructure and software we empower over 200000 businesses worldwide - including Brex Rippling Navan Qantas SHEIN and many more - with fully integrated solutions to manage everything from business accounts payments spend management and treasury to embedded finance at a global scale.
Proudly founded in Melbourne we have a team of over 2000 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 26 offices around the globe. Valued at US$8 billion and backed by world-leading investors including T. Rowe Price Visa Mastercard Robinhood Ventures Sequoia Salesforce Ventures DST Global and Lone Pine Capital Airwallex is leading the charge in building the global payments and financial platform of the future. If you're ready to do the most ambitious work of your career join us.
Attributes We Value
We hire successful builders with founder-like energy who want real impact accelerated learning and true ownership. You bring strong role-related expertise and sharp thinking and you're motivated by our mission and operating principles. You move fast with good judgment dig deep with curiosity and make decisions from first principles balancing speed and rigor.
You're humble and collaborative; turn zero-to-one ideas into real products and you "get stuff done" end-to-end. You use AI to work smarter and solve problems faster. Here you'll tackle complex high-visibility problems with exceptional teammates and grow your career as we build the future of global banking. If that sounds like you let's build what's next.
About the Team
This team designs intelligent autonomous systems that eliminate financial operations for companies globally. We automate everything from bookkeeping and reconciliation to tax payroll forecasting and document understanding: turning hours of work into seconds. The team blends deep research pedigree with proven industry experience. We operate with high standards are tool-agnostic and expect engineers to own problems end-to-end. We collaborate closely push boundaries responsibly and ship exceptional work quickly. You'll solve unprecedented technical challenges using unique end-to-end financial datasets no one else in the industry has.
About the Role
As a Staff / Senior Backend Engineer you'll design the backbone of our intelligent finance systems: scalable services resilient APIs and thoughtful data models. Our backend is primarily Python on GCP and your work will ensure we can move quickly while maintaining enterprise-grade reliability and security.
What You'll Do

• Design and operate distributed event-driven systems that process high-volume high-sensitivity financial data with strict correctness and latency guarantees.
• Build typed production-grade APIs and services in Python (FastAPI + Pydantic) that power agentic workflows AI copilots and real-time financial infrastructure.
• Own data architecture end-to-end schema design event models ledger primitives and storage layers optimized for auditability traceability and scale.
• Develop resilient infrastructure primitives (queues retries idempotency observability backpressure handling) that let teams ship fast without sacrificing reliability.
• Work at the intersection of systems + AI building feedback loops where product data continuously improves models and models autonomously improve system behavior.
• Ship platform foundations not one-off features internal frameworks SDKs and tooling that accelerate every engineer in the org.
• Partner closely with ML + product teams to productionize research-grade ideas into real customer-facing systems.
• Help define the architecture of an AI-native financial stack not bolting AI onto software but designing software assuming AI is a first-class runtime.

What You'll Need to have

• 5+ years backend experience with Python at scale.
• Deep knowledge of SQL/NoSQL database design.
• Experience with distributed systems event-driven architectures or microservices.
• Familiarity with GCP services (Pub/Sub Cloud Run Cloud SQL BigQuery KMS etc.).
• Strong grasp of security and compliance best practices.
• Passion for building the backend that powers intelligent products.

Applicant Safety Policy: Fraud and Third-Party Recruiters
To protect you from recruitment scams please be aware that Airwallex will not ask for bank details sensitive ID numbers (i.e. passport) or any form of payment during the application or interview process. All official communication will come from an @airwallex.com email address. Please apply only through careers.airwallex.com or our official LinkedIn page.
Airwallex does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms/recruiters. Airwallex will not pay any fees to search firms/recruiters if a candidate is submitted by a search firm/recruiter unless an agreement has been entered into with respect to specific open position(s). Search firms/recruiters submitting resumes to Airwallex on an unsolicited basis shall be deemed to accept this condition regardless of any other provision to the contrary.
Equal opportunity
Airwallex is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and anyone seeking employment at Airwallex is considered based on merit qualifications competence and talent. We don't regard color religion race national origin sexual orientation ancestry citizenship sex marital or family status disability gender or any other legally protected status when making our hiring decisions. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation please let us know.
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