Backend Engineer

Astra

3d • $125,000 - $160,000 • Remote

About The Position

Astra is building mission-critical infrastructure for moving money at scale. Its platform processes billions in annual transaction volume with 99.9%+ uptime and supports real-time transfers, bank debits, card disbursements, and financial compliance systems through APIs and automation tools.

The Backend Engineer will build and ship features across financial systems in a distributed microservices architecture. Working on a small team of experienced engineers, the role spans payments, fraud detection, compliance, and user management, taking features from design through production. The engineer will deliver independently, take on broader cross-domain problems, and gain exposure to architecture decisions in a domain where correctness and reliability matter.

Astra is remote-first and hires only within the U.S. The company values thoughtful collaboration, clarity, and initiative, and is committed to equal opportunity and building a diverse and inclusive team.

Requirements

• At least 3 years of professional software engineering experience building production backend systems.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver features independently, from ambiguous requirements to production, and sound judgment about when to ask for help.
• Solid foundation in algorithms, data structures, and computer science fundamentals.
• Working experience with distributed systems, event-driven architectures, or microservices.
• Ability and willingness to travel up to approximately 15% annually.
• Experience with Python 3 and web frameworks and APIs; Astra uses Flask.
• Experience with SQL and NoSQL databases.
• Experience with Google Cloud Platform or similar cloud platforms.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with domain-driven design, clean architecture, and CQRS.
• Experience with payment processing, fraud detection, or compliance systems.
• Familiarity with AML, KYC, PCI DSS, or similar financial regulations.
• Experience with financial APIs and money movement systems, including ACH and card networks.
• Experience building and maintaining integrations with external services.
• Experience with systems processing high transaction volumes.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, test, and deploy backend features and services across payments, fraud, compliance, and user management; operate and monitor shipped work.
• Build and maintain integrations with banks, card networks, and other third-party services, addressing the edge cases involved in money movement.
• Write and review technical designs for assigned work, participate in architecture discussions, and contribute to the company's domain-driven, event-driven approach.
• Identify and fix bottlenecks and failure modes across microservices, and improve testing and observability quality.
• Collaborate with product and compliance teams to turn business and regulatory requirements into working software.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation with equity in a growing fintech company.
• Remote-first culture with flexible working arrangements.
• Small team with the opportunity to have a direct impact.
• Mission-driven work building infrastructure for financial innovation while meeting regulatory standards.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level