Lead Backend Engineer - Fintech Platform

As a Lead Backend Engineer at Enigmatic Smile, you will guide the technical direction of our backend services, mentor engineering staff, and deliver high-quality, scalable, and secure software supporting millions of global customers. You will collaborate closely with engineering managers, product teams, and cross-functional stakeholders to architect robust systems, lead complex initiatives, and elevate engineering standards across the organization.

Security Note: Adherence to PCI and ISO policies is a core requirement for all engineering roles.

About Enigmatic Smile

Enigmatic Smile is a fintech scale-up headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland, operating as a distributed team. We support worldwide customers, addressing unique regional requirements through our platform. We are a visionary company enabling customers, retailers, rewards publishers, and banks globally to enhance customer experiences.

Candidate Profile

We seek a candidate who brings leadership, ownership, and strong technical judgment to every project. You are proactive, collaborative, and confident in making architectural decisions that impact multiple teams. You are comfortable mentoring developers, managing priorities, and championing engineering best practices.

Our Way of Working

We are a distributed team, with primary engineering locations in the UK and Portugal, and a wider team spanning multiple continents. Day-to-day work primarily operates within European time zones (GMT ±2). English is our working language. This role is primarily remote, requiring only occasional travel or office visits.

Objectives of this Lead Role:

• Lead the delivery of high-quality backend software that is scalable, performant, and secure.
• Drive architectural design discussions across multiple systems and teams.
• Provide line management and mentorship to backend engineers through code reviews, pairing, and coaching.
• Shape engineering standards, processes, and best practices.
• Collaborate with senior engineers and product teams to ensure solutions are robust, maintainable, and compliant with PCI/ISO requirements.
• Support the QA team and contribute to automated testing strategies.
• Contribute to planning and participate in project management ceremonies.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver business-critical features end-to-end.

Key Responsibilities:

• Architect and build backend services and APIs powering our global fintech platform.
• Own complex technical projects from initial design through to deployment.
• Improve system stability, reliability, and observability across services.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex production issues.
• Advocate for performance optimization, scalability, and security improvements.
• Ensure adherence to internal engineering policies, coding standards, and compliance frameworks.
• Work closely with DevOps engineers to enhance CI/CD pipelines and production infrastructure.
• Contribute to long-term technical strategy and system roadmaps.
• Provide leadership within the backend engineering group, helping shape culture and engineering excellence.

Required Technical Skills & Experience:

• Extensive experience in backend engineering, utilizing PHP as a primary language (Laravel or similar frameworks).
• Strong knowledge of modern development tooling, testing methodologies, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, microservices, caching, queues, and high-throughput API design.
• Experience with Docker, Git/GitHub workflows, and modern cloud environments.
• Strong database experience (MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, or Document-based DBs).
• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to debug complex issues across systems.
• Ability to prioritize, communicate clearly, and lead delivery in a fast-moving environment.
• Understanding of secure development practices, PCI-DSS, and ISO standards (beneficial).

Desirable Experience:

• Experience with Phalcon framework.
• Experience or strong interest in Go or Rust.
• Experience with message brokers (Kafka, RabbitMQ, SNS/SQS, etc.).
• Experience with high-scale, event-driven architectures.
• Experience with performance profiling and optimization.
• Experience mentoring or managing other developers.

Benefits:

As a scaling company, our benefits are evolving. As a minimum, you can expect:

• Salary: £75,000+ DOE.
• Flexible working hours and ability to work abroad.
• Collaborative, security-first engineering culture.
• Professional development and certification support.
• 28 days holiday + local bank holidays.
• Private Medical insurance + cover for dependants (Vitality).