Principal Engineer (Payments)

Principal Engineer (Payments)

Full-Time 75600 - 92400 £ / year (est.) Home office (partial)
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At a Glance

  • Tasks: Lead the technical direction of our payments platform and design scalable payment solutions.
  • Company: Join Masabi, a leader in fare payment technology revolutionising public transport.
  • Benefits: Flexible remote work, competitive salary, and opportunities for career growth.
  • Other info: Collaborative environment with a focus on innovation and technical excellence.
  • Why this job: Shape the future of payments while impacting millions of journeys worldwide.
  • Qualifications: Strong experience in payment systems and distributed architectures.

The predicted salary is between 75600 - 92400 £ per year.

About Us

At Masabi, we’re driving the fare payment revolution, powering the journeys of millions all over the world. We build fare collection platforms that allow riders to seamlessly buy and present tickets for public transport either on their mobile phones, from a ticket machine, or even by tapping their bank card to travel. Our Justride platform is used in over 250 locations globally, including some of the largest cities in the world. With our industry-first mobile ticketing SDK, we’ve partnered with large players in the transport space, including Uber, Moovit and Transit.

Your own journey is important to us too. Choosing a role here means joining a network of innovators from all walks of life; a group of passionate individuals who consistently deliver. Here, you’ll find the tools you need to build the career you want. Whether you’re taking the direct route or trying a new path, we’ll support you no matter what.

The Role

We’re looking for a Principal Engineer - Payments to join Masabi’s Architecture team, with a primary focus on our payments domain. This is a senior role for someone who combines strong technical judgement with deep payments experience. You’ll shape the technical direction of our payments platform while staying close enough to the detail to design, review and support meaningful technical work. Working across the engineering organisation, you’ll act as a senior technical leader within the payments domain: contributing to architecture, guiding complex decisions and helping teams build scalable, resilient systems that support millions of journeys worldwide. The role suits someone who can move between system-level thinking and implementation, who understands trade-offs, can navigate ambiguity and helps turn complex or loosely defined problems into clear, practical technical approaches.

Location

This role is open to candidates based anywhere in the UK, with the flexibility to work fully remotely. For those based in or around London, we also offer the option of hybrid working from our London office.

Responsibilities

  • Shape the technical direction of Masabi’s payments platform, contributing to architecture, standards and engineering best practices.
  • Design and deliver scalable, secure, resilient and cost-effective payment solutions aligned with Masabi’s platform direction.
  • Support teams in building towards a modern, microservices-based architecture while balancing delivery priorities and long-term platform health.
  • Stay close to technical delivery through architecture reviews, design discussions and targeted hands-on contribution where needed.
  • Identify and work through complex technical challenges related to scalability, resilience, operational performance and system evolution.
  • Act as a senior technical advisor across engineering teams, supporting and influencing technical decisions, particularly within the payments domain.
  • Work with external providers and payment partners on integrations, technical alignment and problem-solving.
  • Contribute to technical roadmap planning, prioritisation, technical scoping and architecture discussions for complex initiatives.
  • Produce clear technical documentation and contribute to engineering standards, technical forums and good practices across the organisation.

About You

  • Strong experience working on payment systems, including integrations with PSPs, gateways, EMV, contactless EMV, acquirers, etc.
  • Good understanding of payment flows, transaction lifecycles and system design considerations.
  • Experience designing and evolving distributed systems and microservices architectures.
  • You’ve operated at Principal or Staff level, shaping technical direction across multiple teams or domains.
  • Strong judgement and the ability to balance short-term delivery with long-term architectural outcomes.
  • Comfortable navigating ambiguity and turning complex problems into clear, practical technical approaches.
  • Clear and thoughtful communicator, able to engage both technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Comfortable being hands-on where needed, while maintaining a focus on system-level impact.
  • You have strong experience with cloud platforms (AWS preferred) and modern infrastructure practices.
  • You’ve worked on systems where scale, reliability, performance and cost trade-offs matter, and can navigate those decisions thoughtfully.
  • You’ve contributed to engineering standards, architecture patterns or platform direction.
  • Interest in or exposure to AI-enabled systems, particularly understanding architectural implications in production.

Nice To Have

  • Experience with transit systems or fare payment systems (e.g. tap-to-ride systems).
  • Familiarity with card schemes (e.g. Visa, Mastercard, Interac).
  • Experience working in complex, multi-service or event-driven architectures.

Principal Engineer (Payments) employer: Coinscapture

At Masabi, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work culture that fosters innovation and collaboration. With the flexibility of remote work across the UK and hybrid options for those in London, we empower our employees to shape their careers while contributing to meaningful projects that impact millions of journeys worldwide. Our commitment to professional growth, coupled with a supportive team environment, makes Masabi a truly rewarding place to advance your career in the payments domain.

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Contact Details:

Coinscapture Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Principal Engineer (Payments)

Join Local Tech Meetups

Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at Coinscapture or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!

Contribute to Open Source Projects

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We think you need these skills to ace Principal Engineer (Payments)

Payments Systems Experience
Integration with PSPs
Understanding of Payment Flows
Transaction Lifecycles
System Design Considerations
Distributed Systems Design
Microservices Architectures

Some tips for your application 🫡

Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.

Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Coinscapture.

Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Coinscapture and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!

Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!

How to prepare for a job interview at Coinscapture

Brush Up on Your Coding Skills

For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.

Know Your Tools and Frameworks

Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Coinscapture uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.

Showcase Your Projects

Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.

Prepare for Behavioural Questions

While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.