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 Backend Lead to own the architecture, scalability, and technical roadmap for one of our squads within our backend ecosystem. This role focuses on technical leadership and deep hands-on expertise, you’ll architect solutions, drive code quality, and optimize system performance, while collaborating with other leads to ensure consistency and high standards across all backend services.
You’ll work side-by-side with engineers, product managers, and DevOps, leading technical initiatives and driving innovation within your domain, while aligning with the broader engineering strategy.
Your Main Responsibilities Are to:
- Lead the design and architecture of scalable, high-performance backend services using PHP Laravel for one of our squads.
- Build and optimize complex backend systems that are reliable, maintainable, and secure.
- Collaborate with other Leads to ensure technical consistency across projects.
- Set coding standards, enforce best practices, and guide engineers in building efficient systems.
- Write, review, and optimize high-quality code.
- Lead performance tuning efforts, database optimizations, and API enhancements.
- Ensure backend systems meet security, compliance, and scalability requirements.
- Work closely with product managers to translate business needs into technical solutions.
- Collaborate with other Backend Leads, DevOps, and Frontend teams for cross-functional alignment.
- Mentor mid-level and junior engineers, driving technical growth within the team.
- Lead initiatives to improve performance, reliability, and scalability of backend services.
- Implement caching strategies (Redis), message brokers (RabbitMQ, Kafka), and microservices best practices.
- Stay ahead of industry trends and propose architectural improvements when needed.
The Ideal Candidate Should Have:
- 7+ years of backend development experience with strong expertise in PHP Laravel.
- Proven experience designing and scaling distributed systems in high-transaction environments.
- Experience in fintech or highly regulated industries is a plus.
- Strong experience with MySQL (optimization, indexing, large-scale data).
- Strong knowledge of microservices architecture and API design principles.
- Hands-on experience with Redis, RabbitMQ, and Kafka.
- Familiarity with Docker and Kubernetes for containerization and orchestration.
- Understanding of security best practices and compliance standards in backend development.
- Proficiency in CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions or similar tools.
- Strong command of English for effective cross-team communication.
- Strong leadership and problem-solving skills with a focus on scalability and performance.
- Excellent communication and collaboration abilities, especially in remote or distributed teams.
- Ability to balance business goals with technical feasibility.
Nice to Haves:
- Hands-on experience with AWS cloud services.
- Knowledge of event-driven architecture.
- Exposure to GraphQL or modern API frameworks.
- Familiarity with Elasticsearch or other search technologies.
- Experience handling high-volume payment transactions securely.
- Understanding of fintech business logic such as fraud detection and compliance.
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.
Top Skills
What We Do
Zeal: Pioneering the Future of Payments - Born in Cairo, thriving in London. We're a fintech innovator merging payments, loyalty, and AI-driven insights to empower brands globally.
Empowering Merchants with AI: Zeal equips retailers with advanced data analytics, predicting consumer behavior with unparalleled precision. We level the playing field, offering e-commerce insights to physical stores.
Acclaimed in the Fintech World: Proudly shortlisted for the London Fintech Awards and The Card And Payment Awards. Our innovative spirit has earned us wins in the Visa Everywhere Initiative and Ingenico Paytech Start-Up Competition.
Our Mission: To forge a comprehensive digital ecosystem for transactions and consumer insights. Zeal is the nexus where technology, data, and commerce converge.
A Call to Industry Leaders: To payment acquirers seeking cutting-edge solutions: join us in redefining payments. We're your gateway to the future.
Join Our Zealous Team: Driven by innovation? Aspire to impact the payment landscape? Zeal is your platform to excel. Be a part of our journey to transform payments
