Sr. Backend Engineer, Infrastructure team New York, NY

New York, NY

Pinwheel - Building the future of financial services in partnership with the biggest brands

Pinwheel is on a mission to change the way consumers experience banking. We build next‑generation financial products with partners such as Robinhood, DoorDash, Credit Karma, Amex, Discover, Intuit, Acorns, Visa and more.

Our team is funded with $77M from top‑tier investors including Coatue, First Round, and American Express.

Who are we looking for?

A Backend / Platform Engineer who thrives at the intersection of back‑end engineering, infrastructure, and developer enablement. You will own the systems our engineering team relies on to build, deploy, and scale products: Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, observability, and infrastructure‑as‑code.

You’ll collaborate with product and engineering teams to enable fast, reliable delivery while designing secure, scalable systems for the future.

What will you do?

• Build and maintain backend platform services and features that support internal teams and product development
• Develop internal libraries and tooling using Go and Python
• Design and operate systems related to authentication, public key infrastructure (PKI), and secure data storage and transit
• Provision, monitor, and optimize cloud infrastructure for reliability, scalability, and performance
• Support new product initiatives by deploying and managing microservices in Kubernetes environments
• Design and manage infrastructure‑as‑code and deployment workflows using Terraform, Helm, and GitOps tools such as Flux and ArgoCD
• Improve CI/CD pipelines and developer workflows using CircleCI and GitHub Actions
• Implement observability solutions (metrics, logging, alerting) to improve system visibility and operational response
• Architect secure, cloud‑native solutions across AWS, Azure, and/or GCP
• Partner with engineering teams to deliver production‑ready, compliant platform capabilities

What qualifications are necessary?

• 3–5+ years of backend software engineering experience
• 2+ years of platform, infrastructure, or DevOps experience
• Strong experience with Python and/or Go
• Hands‑on experience with cloud infrastructure and cloud‑native architectures
• Experience running containerized workloads, especially in Kubernetes
• Familiarity with infrastructure‑as‑code tools like Terraform and Helm
• Experience with CI/CD systems and modern delivery practices (GitOps, CircleCI, GitHub Actions)
• Experience with observability tools such as Datadog, Prometheus, or Grafana
• Strong understanding of building reliable, scalable, high‑performance systems
• Ability to quickly learn new technologies and work independently in unfamiliar systems
• A curious, self‑directed mindset with strong problem‑solving skills

Nice to Have

• Experience with PKI, encryption, mTLS, or security‑focused infrastructure
• Familiarity with GitOps tools like Flux or ArgoCD
• Experience integrating AI tooling into production environments
• Exposure to compliance‑focused systems (PCI, SOC 2, ISO, etc.)

Why join Pinwheel?

Best time to join - Our company is small but well‑funded, giving you the opportunity to shape the company.

Be a cultural builder - You will help mold our company culture and be part of an entrepreneurial journey.

Build something revolutionary - Help build products on the bleeding edge of financial services.

Belong - Join a community passionate about building fairer financial systems for all.

Benefits included

• Great compensation and equity packages
• Full medical, dental, and vision benefits
• Life and short‑term disability insurance
• Flexible PTO policy prioritizing recharge and balance
• Paid parental leave
• 401(k) for retirement planning
• Free Citibike membership
• Pet‑friendly offices and Zoom spaces

Expected cash salary range: $150,000 – $200,000 base, plus equity and benefits. Pinwheel compensates in line with the value candidates bring and industry competitiveness.

Diversity & Inclusion at Pinwheel

Pinwheel is committed to a diverse and inclusive environment. We are an equal‑opportunity employer and aim to maintain an open and supportive place to work.