Backend Engineer

Kora is a pan-African payments infrastructure company providing robust APIs for payment collections, disbursements, and currency conversions across Africa. The Backend Engineer role is responsible for designing, building, and scaling secure backend systems that power Kora’s payment products. This position focuses on high-performance distributed systems, microservices, and data-intensive applications that support merchants and business growth.

Kora is building the infrastructure that enables seamless digital payments across Africa by delivering secure, scalable, and reliable payment solutions. The Backend Engineer plays a critical role in developing and maintaining the backend systems that power Kora’s products, working closely with cross-functional teams in a fully remote environment aligned to WAT working hours.

Responsibilities:
- Design, implement, and maintain secure, scalable backend services for payment solutions.
- Build and optimize large-scale, high-performance applications and distributed systems.
- Collaborate with product, design, and business stakeholders to meet business objectives.
- Participate actively in code reviews and technical design discussions.
- Monitor, debug, and document backend systems and development processes.
- Continuously improve engineering standards, tools, and backend architectures.

Requirements:
- 3+ years experience building large-scale, data-intensive backend applications.
- Strong experience with Node.js, TypeScript, and MySQL.
- Experience working with microservices and distributed system architectures.
- Familiarity with performance optimization, database tuning, and system reliability.
- Experience writing tests and using test frameworks to ensure code quality.
- Excellent communication skills and ability to work in collaborative teams.

Benefits:
- Health insurance and paid time off.
- Sponsored and tailored training opportunities.
- Annual performance bonus and flexible work style.
- Inclusive culture with strong collaboration and growth opportunities.

This role offers the opportunity to work on mission-critical payment infrastructure while contributing to impactful financial products used across Africa.