VP Payments Engineering

Paysafe•Jacksonville, FL

About The Position

Paysafe is seeking an exceptional VP of Payments Engineering to lead our core payment processing and gateway infrastructure serving $300B+ in annual transaction volume. This role owns the technical heart of Paysafe's Platform: authorization engine, payment gateway, intelligent routing, and real-time fraud detection serving enterprise and high-volume merchants globally. Why This Role Matters: This is a high-visibility transformation role reporting directly to the SVP Payments Engineering. You will shape Paysafe's competitive positioning while building the platform that serves thousands of Merchants and partners. Direct impact on revenue, retention, and operational efficiency.

Requirements

10+ years in payments technology, with 5+ years in senior leadership roles (Director, VP, or equivalent)
Deep knowledge of payment processing: authorization flows, card networks (Visa, Mastercard, Amex), acquiring, issuing, settlement
Hands-on experience with payment processors: Worldpay, TSYS, Fiserv, or similar
Understanding of fraud and risk management: real-time scoring, 3DS, chargeback management
Knowledge of payment regulations: PCI DSS, PSD2, card network rules, money transmitter licenses
Proven track record building high-scale systems: 2,000+ TPS, 99.99% uptime, sub-100ms latency requirements
Cloud-native architecture experience: AWS (preferred), Kubernetes/EKS; microservices; event-driven architectures
Led major technology transformations: cloud migrations, platform modernizations, legacy system replacements
Strong software engineering fundamentals: data structures, algorithms, distributed systems, databases
Built and scaled engineering teams: 50+ engineers across multiple domains
Managed senior leaders: Directors, Principal Engineers, Staff Engineers
Cross-functional collaboration: Product, Sales, Operations, Finance, Compliance
Stakeholder management: Executive presentations, board updates, customer meetings
Shipped mission-critical systems with zero-downtime requirements
Managed high-stakes events: Super Bowl-scale iGaming traffic, Black Friday, live event processing
Balanced innovation with stability: delivered new capabilities while maintaining operational excellence
Navigated ambiguity and complexity made decisions with incomplete information, adapted to changing priorities

Nice To Haves

Enterprise payment processing (large merchants, complex integrations, SLA commitments)
Fintech or payment startup experience (rapid growth, competitive markets)
Real-time event streaming: Kafka, Kinesis at scale
Database expertise: Oracle, MongoDB, DynamoDB, MemoryDB, Redis
Open-source contributions or technical thought leadership (blog, conferences, patents)
Alternative payment methods: BNPL, wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay), bank transfers, crypto
Developer platform experience: APIs, SDKs, developer portals, technical documentation