Principal Full-Stack Engineer — Payments Architecture & Fintech

Specialization: Stripe Connect · Subscription Billing · Incentive Engines · Digital Wallets · Bank Payouts

Job Type: Contract (1099), full-time, remote (US time zones)

Pay: $500 per month to start, paid on the 1st and 15th | Compensation review after launch

About the Role

We are seeking an exceptional, hands-on Principal Full-Stack Engineer to architect and build a sophisticated, secure, two-sided payments platform from the ground up.

Our platform combines B2B subscription revenue with a performance-based affiliate incentive system. Business customers pay recurring subscriptions, while affiliated marketers earn tokens based on verified activities and performance milestones. Eligible tokens convert into monetary rewards and are paid directly to affiliated marketers through integrated banking and payment infrastructure.

This is not a standard Stripe integration.

We need an engineer who understands complex financial workflows, can design the underlying transaction architecture, and has personally built production-grade payment systems handling real money.

Key Responsibilities

• Payment Architecture: Design and build a custom, scalable payments platform integrating Stripe, Stripe Billing, Stripe Connect, and banking/payment APIs.
• B2B Subscriptions: Engineer recurring subscription billing, upgrades, downgrades, failed payments, refunds, disputes, and automated reconciliation.
• Incentive & Token Engine: Architect a rules-based system that tracks verified affiliate performance, awards earned tokens, and converts eligible token balances into monetary payouts.
• Affiliate Payouts: Build secure onboarding, identity verification, payout eligibility, payment scheduling, and bank disbursement workflows.
• Financial Ledger: Design an auditable, double-entry ledger tracking earned incentives, pending balances, approved rewards, reversals, payouts, and financial liabilities.
• Security & Compliance: Implement encryption, access controls, fraud prevention, audit logs, idempotency, webhook security, and appropriate financial compliance controls.
• Full-Stack Development: Personally develop backend services, APIs, databases, administrative dashboards, and user-facing financial interfaces.
• Scalability & Reliability: Engineer for high transaction volumes, concurrency, asynchronous processing, fault tolerance, and reliable payment reconciliation.

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, including substantial hands-on payments or fintech architecture.
• Demonstrated experience architecting and shipping complex payment systems into production.
• Deep expertise with Stripe APIs, Stripe Billing, Stripe Connect, webhooks, and payout workflows.
• Experience integrating bank payment rails, including ACH and third-party banking/payment providers.
• Strong backend expertise in Node.js/TypeScript, Python, Go, or comparable production technologies.
• Strong frontend experience with React, Next.js, or comparable frameworks.
• Expertise in PostgreSQL, transactional databases, financial ledgers, and distributed systems.
• Proven experience designing secure, reliable, auditable financial transaction workflows.
• Ability to independently translate business requirements into architecture and working production software.

Strongly Preferred

• Experience building affiliate commissions, performance incentive engines, marketplace payments, or rewards platforms.
• Experience with earned-value systems, internal tokens, digital wallets, and conversion-to-cash workflows.
• Familiarity with KYC/KYB, AML, sanctions screening, 1099 reporting, and payout compliance.
• Experience designing systems with Stripe Connect and multiple financial service providers.
• Previous experience as a founding engineer, principal engineer, or payments architect at a fintech, marketplace, or SaaS company.

Why This Role Is Urgent

• Launch is weeks away, and member billing has to work on day one.
• We are interviewing now and want our hire working within days of an offer.
• This role will not sit open. When we find the right person, we close it.

If you can start this week, say so in your application.

Who We're Looking For

A rare mix of financial systems architect and hands-on full-stack engineer. Someone who knows exactly where payment systems fail and builds them right the first time.

This is a hands-on engineering position, not an advisory or purely managerial role. You write the code.

People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply

Experience:

• Software development: 3 years (Required)

Work Location: Remote