Principal Architect

About the role

Wise is building a global network for borderless money movement and is expanding its engineering presence in Hyderabad. We are looking for an IC 5 Product Engineer to help establish our new APAC hub and drive technical strategy for regional growth. In this role, you will own the technical vision for our APAC initiatives, ensuring that our solutions are robust, scalable, and aligned with business objectives. You will be responsible for translating complex business requirements into elegant technical designs that enable seamless money movement across diverse markets. This position requires a strategic thinker who can balance innovation with execution while maintaining a sharp focus on performance and reliability. You will act as a key decision-maker for architecture choices that impact multiple product lines and regional operations. Your work will directly influence the speed and efficiency of our expansion into new APAC territories.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Architect and oversee the implementation of scalable solutions for diverse APAC markets to reduce technical debt and accelerate market expansion.
• Integrate and maintain automation tools utilizing LLMs to boost regional operational efficiency.
• Manage the evolution of the product observability stack to identify performance gaps and growth opportunities.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to define roadmaps, manage project scope, and ensure realistic delivery timelines.
• Mentor senior engineering staff and maintain accountability for the technical health of the regional expansion organization.
• Define technical standards and provide feedback on design documents and ADRs for regional projects.
• Lead multi-quarter engineering initiatives involving multiple squads and tribes.
• Act as a technical bar raiser during the hiring process for new engineering talent.
• Design and implement API strategies that facilitate interoperability between regional systems and global platforms.
• Conduct deep dives into production incidents to derive actionable insights and prevent future occurrences.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and propose integrations that enhance our product capabilities in APAC.
• Collaborate with product managers to prioritize features based on technical feasibility and business value.
• Optimize database performance and ensure data integrity across high-transaction financial systems.
• Champion best practices in software development to ensure code quality, security, and maintainability.

Requirements

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Proficiency in Java 17, the Spring framework, and microservice architectures.
• Experience with relational and non-relational database schema design and query optimization.
• Proven track record of leading complex engineering projects with significant business impact.
• Web development experience using JavaScript frameworks such as React or Angular.
• Familiarity with Continuous Integration and deployment frameworks.
• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience in technical leadership, including coaching, performance management, and fostering engineering excellence.
• Strong understanding of financial systems and transaction processing principles.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, agile environment.
• Willingness to engage with regulatory considerations relevant to financial services in APAC.
• Commitment to maintaining high standards of code quality and system reliability.
• Experience leading cross-cultural teams in a distributed engineering setup.

Nice to have

• Background in financial systems, including payment schemes, digital onboarding flows, and regulatory compliance.
• Experience with Groovy.
• History of working with external regulatory bodies or payment stakeholders.

Practical notes

• This role is based in our new Hyderabad full-stack hub.
• Wise emphasizes impact and problem-solving complexity over years of experience when evaluating seniority.
• Candidates are encouraged to review the Wise Engineering Career Map for further context on expectations.

This role represents a significant opportunity to shape the future of financial technology in one of the fastest-growing regions for digital payments. You will work alongside talented engineers who are passionate about solving hard problems at scale. The successful candidate will not only contribute technical expertise but also inspire collaboration across product, design, and operations. This is a hands-on leadership position where coding, architecture, and mentorship are equally valued. You will be expected to dive into codebases, challenge assumptions, and drive technical excellence on a daily basis. The position requires a balance of strategic thinking and pragmatic execution to deliver sustainable solutions. You will play a key role in establishing engineering practices that define the culture of the APAC hub. This is a chance to leave a lasting impact on the infrastructure that supports millions of cross-border transactions. If you are driven by challenging problems and want to work at the forefront of financial technology, this role is for you.