Unlimit

backend developer in card processing

In short

Lead backend/processing engineer role owning the end-to-end architecture, operations, and monitoring of the SmartVista card processing ecosystem (FrontEnd, BackOffice, HSM, scheme connectivity) for a global fintech payments infrastructure company. The role covers incident leadership, vendor management, scheme certifications (Visa/Mastercard/UnionPay/Amex), automation (Python, SQL, CI/CD), and introducing AI-driven monitoring and anomaly detection. Requires 6+ years of hands-on card processing experience and at least 2 years in a senior/lead/architect capacity, plus fluent English.

About Unlimit
Unlimit provides global financial infrastructure that combines payment acceptance, programmable financial accounts, and digital asset rails. Its platform connects local payment ecosystems to enable businesses to move value and settle transactions across borders.
Responsibilities
•Own the end-to-end architecture of the SmartVista processing ecosystem, including FrontEnd, BackOffice, interfaces, HSM, and scheme connectivity, and make architecture and technology-stack decisions
•Set engineering standards, review solutions, and act as the technical lead and senior escalation point for processing engineers
•Lead major incidents, coordinate responses with internal teams, vendors, and card schemes, and drive post-incident reviews through to permanent fixes
•Manage the SmartVista vendor relationship for releases, patches, defects, and change requests
•Map processing processes, identify gaps, single points of failure, and manual workarounds, and build and execute remediation plans with owners, deadlines, and measurable outcomes
•Introduce and maintain operational standards, including runbooks, release and change procedures, incident and problem management, SLAs, and KPIs
•Track and implement scheme mandates and regulatory changes on time, documenting compliance evidence
•Deliver technical implementation of acquiring and issuing card products and services for Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, American Express, and other schemes
•Translate scheme mandates and specifications into technical solutions and lead certification projects
•Configure and develop SmartVista FrontEnd and BackOffice products, services, and business rules
•Prepare technical requirements for system upgrades, and test and install releases and patches with minimal downtime
•Diagnose complex issues across authorisation, clearing, and settlement flows and drive them to root cause
•Set up and maintain payment system emulators and test environments, and participate in go-live and pilot activities
•Maintain technical documentation of the platform and implementation procedures
•Design and build end-to-end monitoring for infrastructure, applications, interfaces, and business metrics
•Implement real-time monitoring of authorisation flows, response times, timeouts, stand-in processing, scheme and HSM connectivity, host availability, transaction volumes, and abnormal changes
•Monitor clearing files, scheme reports, settlement positions, reconciliation breaks, batch jobs, fees, chargebacks, dispute deadlines, and scheme compliance indicators
•Define thresholds, alerting rules, and escalation paths, and integrate alerts with on-call, incident management, and messaging tools
•Build operational dashboards and define related KPIs and SLAs
•Develop health checks, synthetic test transactions, and log-based monitoring for SmartVista components
•Tune monitoring to reduce false alerts and turn incident findings into new checks and controls
•Identify and automate manual processes, including reconciliation, settlement, scheme file exchange, report submission, testing, regression, release management, monitoring, and alerting
•Build CI/CD pipelines and automated deployment for processing components and configuration
•Design and deliver AI-driven solutions for anomaly detection, intelligent alerting, automated root-cause analysis, and analysis of scheme specifications, mandates, and authorisation messages
•Introduce test automation and regression frameworks for scheme messages and processing flows
•Promote safe use of AI tools with controls for data security, PCI DSS, and human oversight of production changes
Requirements
•6+ Years of hands-on card processing experience across the transaction lifecycle, including authorisation, clearing, settlement, chargebacks, and reconciliation
•At least 2 years in a senior, lead, or architect role, owning a processing platform and leading engineers directly or as a technical lead
•Strong practical experience with SmartVista FrontEnd and/or BackOffice; deep experience with a comparable platform such as Way4 or TranzWare may be considered
•Proven experience identifying operational gaps, designing controls, and completing remediation plans
•Visa and Mastercard certification experience and ability to interpret and apply scheme specifications and rules, including ISO 8583, Visa Base I/II, and Mastercard IPM/CIS
•Hands-on automation skills with Python, SQL/PL/SQL, and Bash; experience with CI/CD tools, test automation, and API testing
•Practical experience applying AI or ML in production, such as anomaly detection, LLM-based tools or agents, or AI-assisted analysis and coding, with an understanding of their limits and risks
•Working knowledge of Oracle DB, WebLogic, Linux, REST/SOAP web services, and HTTP
•Experience with scheme tools including Visa Edit Package, VCX, Mastercard File Express (MFE), and scheme test tools and emulators
•Good understanding of e-commerce and digital payments, including EMV 3-D Secure, tokenisation (VTS/MDES), Apple Pay / Google Pay, recurring payments, and AVS
•Knowledge of card technologies and security, including EMV, contactless, HSM (Thales), key management, and PCI DSS
•Experience with release and change management in a 24/7 production environment
•Fluent English (B2+) for daily communication with card schemes, vendors, and international teams
Conditions
•Competitive salary and performance-based rewards
•Paid vacation, sick leave, and public holidays
•Flexible working hours and modern equipment

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