Senior Backend Engineer

**About Zeal**:
Zeal is addressing the critical challenge of untapped transactional data. At the moment, whenever a transaction is processed on a POS terminal (payment card machine), physical retailers have no idea who the paying customer is, unless they use a loyalty program. Think of when you go to a supermarket and you pay by card, unless you go to a supermarket that has a loyalty program and you get your loyalty card out, the POS terminal doesn't tell the retailer if you're a new or returning customer, demographics, gender, etc. Unlike e-ecommerce, in physical retail customer identification always had to be a separate step because the payment terminal is not built to self-identify the paying customer. Hence, a plethora of valuable data is lost or underutilized. With Zeal's advanced Smart POS plugin, the company integrates with POS terminals globally to provide payment acquirers and ISVs with a unique differentiator for their POS terminals. The merchants of our partners benefit from world-class data, analytics & tools to predict consumer behavior using Artificial Intelligence, enabling merchants to unlock the full potential of transactional data.

**About the Role**:
We're looking for a **Senior Software Engineer (Node.js)** who's passionate about writing clean, scalable, and secure backend systems. This role is perfect for engineers who thrive in fast-paced environments, enjoy leading technical conversations, and want to make a direct impact on product performance and architecture.

As a senior member of our backend team, you'll take ownership of backend services built with **Node.js and Nest.js**, mentor junior engineers, and play a key role in shaping our platform's scalability and performance. You'll collaborate closely with product, frontend, and DevOps teams to deliver high-quality, reliable solutions that support our growth.

**Your Main Responsibilities Are to**:

- Design, develop, and maintain backend services using **Node.js** and **Nest.js**.
- Drive architecture and design decisions for backend systems.
- Ensure code quality through **testing, reviews, and adherence to best practices**.
- Work with **MySQL and MongoDB** to build performant, reliable data layers.
- Optimize backend performance and scalability to handle increasing loads.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to align technical solutions with business objectives.
- Mentor junior engineers and help elevate the overall backend engineering standards.
- Integrate message brokers like **Kafka** or **RabbitMQ** for asynchronous processing.
- Ensure backend systems follow **security best practices** and compliance requirements.
- Contribute to DevOps efforts, including containerization (**Docker**) and **CI/CD** pipelines (**GitHub Actions or similar**).
- **5+ years** of experience in software development, with a focus on backend engineering.
- Deep expertise in **Node.js**, **JavaScript (ES6+)**, and **TypeScript**.
- Strong experience with **Nest.js** or similar modern backend frameworks.
- Proficiency in **MySQL** and **MongoDB**, with an understanding of relational and NoSQL design principles.
- Familiarity with **Docker** and container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes).
- Experience in working with **Git**, CI/CD tools, and Agile/Scrum workflows.
- Knowledge of **software design patterns**, **data structures**, and **system architecture**.
- Solid communication skills in English (both written and spoken).

**Nice to Haves**:

- Familiarity with **event-driven architecture** and asynchronous systems.
- Experience working with **AWS** or other cloud providers.
- Background in **startups** or high-growth environments.
- Experience with **performance profiling** and backend optimization.

**What You'll Love About Us**:

- **Work from Anywhere**: Enjoy the flexibility of remote work or join us in a hybrid setup. Your choice, your comfort.
- ** Competitive Compensation**: We value your talent and offer packages that reflect it.
- ** Collaborative Culture**:Join a team where trust, transparency, and continuous learning are at the heart of everything we do.
- ** Make an Impact**: Have ideas to make things better? Awesome. We're all ears and ready to innovate.
- ** Shape the Future of Fintech**:Work on cutting-edge fintech solutions that impact thousands of users.