Lead/Senior Backend Developer (TypeScript/Node.js)

Job description

About Utorg Founded in 2019, Utorg builds the infrastructure for stablecoin payments: on- and off-ramps, self-custodial wallets, and crypto cards. Over 2 million users across 130+ countries already buy, hold, and spend crypto through our app. On the B2B side, the same rails power 2,100+ platforms, with $2.4B+ moved to date. Fully MiCA-authorized across the EEA. PCI DSS Level 2 certified. Backed by Dragonfly, TA Ventures, and Hypra. Location: Remote Tech stack: TypeScript, Node.js, NestJS, PostgreSQL, TypeORM, NATS JetStream, Redis, Jest, Docker, Kubernetes, Google Cloud Platform. Blockchains: EVM-compatible, Bitcoin-family, Tron, Solana, TON. About the role: We're looking for a Senior Backend Engineer who thinks in systems and owns the outcome: two large-scale microservice platforms (30+ and 25+ services), blockchain integrations handling real user funds across multiple networks, a fintech product available in 190+ countries. This role exists to partially offload the Tech Lead. That means making architectural calls independently, driving complex integrations with payment providers and blockchain networks, and shaping technical direction, so not just contributing to it. The bar is high by design. If you've been in rooms where key technical decisions get made, and you were the one making them or should have been, let's talk. What you’ll do: • Own backend architecture across two large-scale microservice platforms (30+ and 25+ services) from system design and API contracts to data flow and inter-service communication. • Lead complex integrations — payment providers, card issuers, blockchain networks, third-party APIs, and take full responsibility for their reliability in production. • Drive performance and scalability — identify bottlenecks, design caching strategies, optimize database queries, and ensure the platform handles growing load. • Shape technical direction — make architectural decisions, evaluate trade-offs, and influence the team’s engineering standards. You’ll partially offload the Tech Lead so the team can scale. • Build and improve AI-powered processes — our team actively uses LLM-based systems to automate operational and development workflows. You’ll contribute to and extend this direction. • Contribute to back-office frontends (~20% of your time) — maintain and extend React-based admin dashboards used by internal teams. • Own features end-to-end from planning and architectural design to implementation, testing, production monitoring, and iterative improvement. • Collaborate closely with Product, QA, and cross-functional teams — produce clear technical documentation, participate in code reviews, and share knowledge. • Take part in a shared on-call rotation — roughly one week a month. Who you are: • Technically strong with an architectural mindset — you don’t just write code; you design systems. You think about data flows, failure modes, and long-term maintainability before writing the first line. • Opinionated and able to defend your decisions — you bring an expert perspective to technical discussions and can articulate trade-offs clearly to both engineers and stakeholders. • Proactive problem-solver — you find issues before they become incidents and propose solutions without waiting to be asked. • Product-driven — most of your time goes into shipping features and solving real user problems, not open-ended refactoring. • Self-motivated and responsible — you thrive in small teams, enjoy autonomy, and take full ownership of the development process. What you will bring (must-have) : • Last 5+ years of production experience in backend development with Type Script/Node.js as the primary stack. • Last 2+ years with NestJS in production — modules, providers, middleware, guards, interceptors, microservice architecture with custom transports. • Production blockchain experience — you’ve worked with on-chain transactions, multiple networks, and real user funds. You understand HD wallets (BIP32/BIP39), smart contracts, ABI, ERC-20/SPL tokens, and the differences between account-based and UTXO models. Experience with libraries like ethers.js, viem, and solana/web3.js. • AI-driven development — you actively use AI tools (Claude, Copilot, Cursor) in your daily workflow. Beyond personal productivity, you have experience optimizing business or organizational processes with AI/LLMs—building automations, internal tools, or workflows powered by language models. • Deep PostgreSQL expertise — schema design, indexing (partial, GIN/GiST), query optimization, migrations with zero-downtime, database-per-service pattern. • Hands-on microservices experience — not a monolith split into modules. You’ve dealt with inter-service communication (RPC + pub/sub), message brokers, idempotency, eventual consistency, saga/outbox patterns. • System design experience — decomposing services, designing API contracts, data flow architecture, capacity planning. You can whiteboard a system and explain why you made each decision. • Complex integration experience — you’ve built and maintained integrations with third-party APIs, payment systems, or similar external services in production. You know how to handle retries, circuit breakers, and graceful degradation. • Performance engineering — profiling, caching strategies, load analysis, bottleneck identification. You can optimize a slow query and a slow service alike. • Strong testing discipline — unit tests (Jest), integration tests with real databases, microservice testing. • Security-conscious — in fintech and crypto, every code path can touch real user funds. You build accordingly. • Skilled in technical research — evaluating trade-offs, testing hypotheses, and making data-driven architectural decisions. • English proficiency at Upper-Intermediate. Fluent in the Russian language. Nice to have: • Experience with NATS JetStream as a transport layer (streams, consumers, delivery policies). • Observability: OpenTelemetry, Prometheus + Grafana, structured logging (pino), distributed tracing. • Kubernetes beyond basics: Kustomize/Helm, deployment strategies, resource management. • Fintech domain knowledge: PCI DSS, GDPR, KYC/AML, payment systems. • Experience mentoring junior/middle developers. • React basics for back-office UIs (functional components, hooks, Redux, Material-UI). Interaction with other teams: Close collaboration with Product, QA, Frontend, and Mobile. Cross-functional communication is an essential part of the role. Partially offload the Tech Lead: own architectural and technical decisions, independently drive complex integrations, and influence the platform's technical direction. This is not an executor role. We need someone with strong expert opinions who can be relied upon for key technical decisions. Key results (30-60-90): 30 days: First features shipped to production. Deep dive into the stack, architecture, and domain (blockchain, fintech). Clear understanding of core services and how they interact. 60 days: Independently drives a complex integration or a major feature. Participates in architectural code reviews. Brings first proposals for improvements. 90 days: Makes architectural decisions on their scope. Influences technical direction. Partially offloads decision-making from the Tech Lead. Participates in planning. What we offer: • Work fully remote as part of an agile, international team reshaping the future of finance. • An engineering culture that encourages the adoption of modern tools and development practices, giving engineers real influence over technologies, workflows, and technical decisions. • Two career tracks — grow into Tech Lead or deepen your expertise as Staff/Principal IC. You choose the path. • Career progression and professional development in a forward-thinking fintech environment. • Competitive salary range based on individual performance review. • Transparent feedback and a culture that values ownership, open dialogue, and visible impact. Recruitment Process Application. Submit your application and CV. Application Review. Our team reviews your experience and qualifications. HR Interview. An introductory conversation to discuss your professional background and expectations. Technical Interview. Assessment of your technical expertise, system design skills, and relevant experience. Team Lead Interview. A discussion focused on team fit, collaboration style, and alignment with engineering culture. Offer. Receiving the offer and details about the next steps.