Opportunity at
TalaSenior Backend Engineer
Tala operates an AI-native credit infrastructure platform connecting global capital with borrowers in emerging markets across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Recognized by publications including Fortune,…
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About This Role
Tala operates an AI-native credit infrastructure platform connecting global capital with borrowers in emerging markets across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Recognized by publications including Fortune, CNBC, and Forbes, the company has distributed over $9 billion to more than 14 million customers. To support its expansion, Tala is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to join the product development team. This technical leadership position suits an experienced technologist who can operate…
Job Description
Tala operates an AI-native credit infrastructure platform connecting global capital with borrowers in emerging markets across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Recognized by publications including Fortune, CNBC, and Forbes, the company has distributed over $9 billion to more than 14 million customers. To support its expansion, Tala is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to join the product development team.
This technical leadership position suits an experienced technologist who can operate with minimal guidance, set personal technical approaches, and elevate the quality bar across an entire domain. The role involves designing, developing, and maintaining backend services, APIs, and data integration layers while collaborating with a global team across multiple time zones using asynchronous communication. The successful candidate will guide microservices architecture, handle incident response, pay down technical debt, and mentor junior and mid-level engineers.
Responsibilities
- Design, develop, and maintain backend services, APIs, and data integration layers for core product features
- Author and defend engineering design documents (EDDs) for domain services
- Optimize database schemas and queries to ensure high performance and system reliability
- Maintain the engineering bar through thorough code and design reviews
- Define service level indicators (SLIs), service level objectives (SLOs), and alerting thresholds for the domain
- Lead technical incident responses, handle un-runbooked issues, and author root cause analyses
- Drive domain roadmap delivery, participate in sprint planning, and collaborate with business and product stakeholders
- Mentor junior and mid-level engineers and technically lead a team of backend developers
Requirements
- Fluent in English with strong written communication skills
- Hands-on application development experience using Java, Kotlin, or Scala alongside a web framework such as Spring
- Track record of leading and delivering multiple domain-significant projects in production, including large-scale consumer applications utilizing microservices on cloud infrastructure like AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure
- Expert knowledge of REST API design and development for web and mobile usage
- Strong relational database experience with systems such as MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Oracle, or MS SQL
- Strong non-relational database experience with platforms like Cassandra, Redshift, DynamoDB, or HDFS
- Proficiency in Agile development processes and fast-paced environment navigation
Core Skills
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Candidates must have hands-on experience in Java, Kotlin, and/or Scala, along with a web framework like Spring.
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