Principal Engineer (Checkout)

About the role

Come Make an Impact on Millions of Brazilians! At RecargaPay, we're on a mission to deliver the best payment experience for Brazilian consumers and small businesses - by building a powerful digital ecosystem where the banked and unbanked connect, and where consumers and merchants have a one-stop shop for all their financial needs. We serve over 12 million users and process more than USD 4 billion annually. We've been profitable since 2022 and operate our own credit business. We are an AI-first, 100% remote team, scaling in the rapidly changing Brazilian financial market. Our goal? Deliver the best payment experience in Brazil for people and small businesses alike. We value autonomy, ownership, and a bias for action. We're looking for people who are curious, hands-on, and driven by impact - who want to solve real problems, work with strong teams, and rethink what's possible. If you're ready to do your best work, at scale, with purpose - this is your place. As a Principal Engineer, you will define the technical and architectural direction of our backend infrastructure, leading critical projects that drive scalability, robustness and innovation across our systems. You will operate in a dynamic environment, collaborating with executive leadership and guiding engineering teams to achieve our strategic objectives. Key Responsibilities Define and steer medium- and long-term architectural strategies aligned with company goals. Lead technological transformations and modernizations of critical systems, ensuring efficiency, scalability and reliability. Serve as the technical authority for the Engineering and Architecture Chapters, championing best practices and quality standards. Drive large-scale project planning, execution and successful delivery. Partner with executives to translate business vision into technical solutions, evaluating and implementing tools, methodologies and frameworks that enhance efficiency and cross-team collaboration. Mentor senior engineers and technical leaders, fostering a culture of technical excellence and continuous learning. Promote the adoption of AI-assisted engineering practices within your squad and chapter, leveraging tools for code generation, automated refactoring, test case creation, and technical documentation. Identify opportunities where AI can enhance developer productivity, code quality, and team velocity. Promote emerging technologies and engage in benchmarking to keep the organization at the forefront of industry trends. Academic background oriented toward computer science, engineering, or software development disciplines. Experience hands-on engineering roles. Proven hands-on experience with Java (Spring Boot) and PostgreSQL. Working knowledge of Python and asynchronous programming. Knowledge of relational database systems and Object Oriented Programming. Solid understanding of web and mobile application architecture, including security, session management and development best practices. Expertise in Domain-Driven Design and microservices architecture. Ability to design high-performance, scalable and reliable distributed systems. Experience defining and executing architectural roadmaps. Practical experience with AWS and cloud-native development. Solid knowledge of DevSecOps and CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions). Familiarity with streaming technologies such as Kafka. Demonstrated experience profiling and tuning Java applications. Proficiency with production monitoring and observability tools. Practical experience applying AI frameworks in development projects. Ability to learn rapidly and adapt to new technologies in a fast-paced environment. Soft Skills Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders across technical and non-technical teams. Strategic mindset with the ability to translate complex business goals into long-term technical direction. Proven leadership in cross-functional environments, fostering alignment, ownership, and a high-performance culture. Ability to mentor and elevate senior engineers, promoting a culture of continuous learning and technical excellence. Strong decision-making and prioritization abilities under ambiguity, balancing immediate needs with long-term architectural vision. Active contributor to a constructive feedback culture, capable of both giving and receiving feedback to drive improvement. High degree of autonomy and accountability, with a bias for action and results-oriented problem solving. Comfort operating at both strategic and hands-on levels, flexing between system design and stakeholder engagement as needed. Industry-Specific Knowledge You bring practical familiarity with one or more core financial domains, such as lending, payments, credit cards, open finance, fraud prevention, merchant acquiring or investment services, and understand their fundamental workflows and business drivers. You appreciate how these areas intersect and influence revenue, risk management and customer sat