System Architect

Description

Papaya Global is a rapidly growing, award-winning B2B tech unicorn with an ambitious mission to revolutionize the payroll & payments industry. With over $400M raised from multiple tier-one investors, our innovative technology provides a comprehensive solution for managing global workforces, encompassing everything from hiring and onboarding to managing and paying employees in over 160 countries.

We’re looking for a Software Architect to join our team. As a Senior Software Architect at Papaya, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the architecture of our next-generation payment systems. This position goes beyond system design — it is about defining Papaya’s technological direction in a space that demands performance, scalability, security, and innovation. You will work at the intersection of engineering, product, and DevOps, crafting cutting-edge solutions in a fast-paced environment that relies on cloud infrastructure, security-first principles, and AI-driven intelligence. If you're passionate about building robust systems that serve real-world, global use cases, this role is for you.

Responsibilities:

• Lead architectural design for Papaya’s payments and infrastructure-related systems, ensuring they meet business, scalability, and compliance needs.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, R&D, and DevOps teams to translate business requirements into technical solutions.
• Define and maintain high-level product architecture, focusing on seamless integration, maintainability, and performance.
• Drive the adoption of secure development practices, embedding security principles into all stages of system design.
• Identify and implement emerging technologies and frameworks, with a focus on innovation and future-readiness.
• Support the integration of AI-driven automation and agent-based systems into backend workflows to enhance efficiency and intelligence.
• Define and enforce development standards, best practices, and architectural guidelines.
• Provide technical mentorship and architectural guidance to development teams to ensure implementation aligns with the designed vision.
• Monitor and guide project execution to maintain architectural consistency and system quality.

Requirements

• 5+ years of proven experience as a Software Architect, designing robust, scalable systems.
• 15+ years of hands-on software development experience, with strong proficiency in Java (preferred) or equivalent backend languages.
• Deep expertise in cloud-native architecture, with a strong advantage for candidates experienced in AWS services (e.g., Lambda, ECS, S3, RDS, IAM).
• Proven experience building enterprise SaaS platforms, self-service products, and highly scaled systems.
• Strong grasp of software design patterns, software development life cycles, and system integration strategies.
• Demonstrated ability to drive end-to-end development of complex features — from architecture through delivery.
• Solid understanding of security fundamentals, including encryption, authentication, authorization, data privacy, and secure coding practices.
• Hands-on experience in microservices, event-driven architectures (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ, SQS), and containerized environments (e.g., Docker).
• Familiarity with AI and LLM model integration, particularly for automation and intelligent backend workflows.
• Experience in financial technology (FinTech) or regulated industries is a strong advantage.
• Expertise in software design paradigms such as DDD, TDD, EDD, and principles like KISS, SOLID, DRY, SSOT, and CQS.
• Proficient in SQL/NoSQL databases, and API design using REST and GraphQL.
• Practical experience with Git branching strategies and Agile development practices, including CI/CD pipelines and automation.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field.
• Excellent analytical skills, self-learning capabilities, and the ability to navigate and understand complex systems.
• Strong communication skills in English, both verbal and written.