Head of Engineering (FinTech) at Deel

Who we are is what we do. Deel is the all-in-one payroll and HR platform for global teams. Our vision is to unlock global opportunity for every person, team, and business. Built for the way the world works today, Deel combines HRIS, payroll, compliance, benefits, performance, and equipment management into one seamless platform. With AI-powered tools and a fully owned payroll infrastructure, Deel supports every worker type in 150+ countries—helping businesses scale smarter, faster, and more compliantly. Among the largest globally distributed companies in the world, our team of 7,000 spans more than 100 countries, speaks 74 languages, and brings a connected and dynamic culture that drives continuous learning and innovation for our customers. Why should you be part of our success story? As the fastest-growing Software as a Service (SaaS) company in history, Deel is transforming how global talent connects with world-class companies – breaking down borders that have traditionally limited both hiring and career opportunities. We're not just building software; we're creating the infrastructure for the future of work, enabling a more diverse and inclusive global economy. In 2024 alone, we paid $11.2 billion to workers in nearly 100 currencies and provided healthcare and benefits to workers in 109 countries—ensuring people get paid and protected, no matter where they are. Our momentum is reflected in our achievements and customer satisfaction: CNBC Disruptor 50,  Forbes Cloud 100, Deloitte Fast 500, and repeated recognition on Y Combinator’s top companies list – all while maintaining a 4.83 average rating from 15,000 reviews across G2, Trustpilot, Captera, Apple and Google. Your experience at Deel will be a career accelerator. At the forefront of the global work revolution, you'll tackle complex challenges that impact millions of people's working lives. With our momentum—backed by a $17.3 billion valuation and $1 B in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) in just over five years—you'll drive meaningful impact while building expertise that makes you a sought-after leader in the transformation of global work. Deel is building the future of work. As part of that mission, we are building a global financial infrastructure to power payroll, payments, treasury, compliance, and accounting at scale. We already process tens of billions in annual payment volume, supporting hundreds of thousands of workers and tens of thousands of businesses worldwide. As we move toward IPO readiness, we are doubling down on building regulated, scalable, and auditable financial systems — spanning wallets, ledgers, reconciliation, invoicing, and global payment orchestration. We are looking for a Head of Engineering (Fintech Platform) to lead this next phase. ROLE OVERVIEW You will lead the engineering organization responsible for Deel’s end-to-end financial infrastructure, including: - Payments orchestration & PSP integrations - Wallets & regulated entity flows (FBO / safeguarding) - General Ledger & accounting automation - Treasury, FX, and liquidity systems - Billing, invoicing, and revenue flows - Reconciliation & financial data integrity - Fincrime & compliance systems This role sits at the intersection of engineering, product, finance, and compliance, with direct impact on Deel’s ability to scale globally and meet IPO-grade standards. WHAT YOU’LL DO 1. OWN THE FINTECH ENGINEERING VISION - Define and execute the technical strategy for Deel’s financial infrastructure - Build a scalable, modular architecture across payments, ledger, treasury, and compliance - Drive the evolution toward real-time, event-driven financial systems 2. LEAD PRODUCT-CENTRIC ENGINEERING - Partner deeply with Product, Finance, Treasury, and Compliance - Ensure teams deliver business outcomes, not just features - Embed product thinking into engineering culture in the era of LLMs - Drive clarity on what gets built, why, and in what order 3. BUILD FOR SCALE, ACCURACY, AND RELIABILITY - Design systems handling high transaction volumes and global scale - Ensure idempotency, consistency, and fault tolerance across all financial flows - Lead architecture for: - Wallet-to-wallet / wallet-to-payout flows - Multi-currency and FX handling - High-throughput payment processing 4. DELIVER IPO-GRADE FINANCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE Drive engineering execution across three core pillars: - Controls - SOX readiness, auditability, permissions, separation of duties - Strong internal controls embedded in systems - Compliance - Regulated entities (MTL, PI, EMI) across US, EU, UK, and beyond - KYC, AML, transaction monitoring - Accounting - Enable fast and accurate close (target 5–7 days) - Build and scale General Ledger and MCP (Multi-Channel Posting) infrastructure - Reduce manual reconciliation through automation 5. BUILD AN AI-FIRST FINTECH PLATFORM Make AI a core building block of both engineering and financial systems: AI IN ENGINEERING - Enable developers to leverage LLMs across the development lifecycle: - Code generation and refactoring - Automated reviews and validation - Detection of logical inconsistencies in financial flows AI IN FINANCIAL SYSTEMS - Apply AI to: - Reconciliation → automated matching, break detection, resolution suggestions - Accounting validation → detect inconsistencies before posting to financial systems - Transaction monitoring → anomaly detection and risk scoring - Data integrity → identify silent corruption or inconsistencies across systems AI IN OPERATIONS & CLOSE - Build systems that: - Detect risks to book close timelines in real time - Explain discrepancies in financial data - Suggest or execute corrective actions MCP SERVERS & AI INFRASTRUCTURE - Design and evolve MCP server infrastructure as a foundation for: - AI-assisted financial workflows - Standardized access to financial data and services - Safe execution of automated or AI-driven actions - Ensure MCP servers enable: - Controlled, auditable interaction between AI systems and financial data - Secure orchestration of actions across payments, treasury, invoicing, and accounting - Clear boundaries between decision-making (AI) and execution (systems) AI GOVERNANCE & SAFETY - Ensure all AI systems are: - Auditable and explainable - Compliant with financial and regulatory requirements - Designed with strong guardrails for correctness and risk management 5. DRIVE OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE - Establish strong engineering processes, SLAs, and reliability standards - Reduce incidents impacting financial data - Build high-signal monitoring and observability for financial systems - Ensure systems are audit-ready and explainable 6. BUILD AND SCALE HIGH-PERFORMING TEAMS - Lead multiple teams across: - Payments orchestration - Ledger & accounting - Treasury - Billing & invoicing - Reconciliation - Fincrime - Hire, mentor, and develop senior engineering leaders and ICs - Maintain a culture of: - Ownership - Speed with control - High accountability 7. DRIVE CROSS-TEAM ALIGNMENT - Align engineering across Product, Finance, Legal, and Compliance - Resolve cross-functional friction and unblock execution - Bring structure to complex, multi-team initiatives MUST HAVE - Proven experience as Head of Engineering / Director / Senior EM in fintech or financial systems - Built or scaled systems in companies like Stripe, Adyen, PayPal, Wise, Revolut, Coinbase, or similar - Deep experience with: - Payments infrastructure - Ledger/accounting systems - High-scale distributed systems - Experience in regulated environments: - KYC / AML - Compliance systems - Financial reporting constraints WHAT YOU BRING TECHNICAL LEADERSHIP - Strong backend expertise (Node.js / TypeScript preferred, or similar stack) - Deep understanding of: - Distributed systems - Event-driven architectures - Data consistency and reconciliation FINANCIAL SYSTEMS UNDERSTANDING - Strong grasp of: - Payments and PSP - Double-entry accounting and General Ledger design - Reconciliation systems at scale - FX and multi-currency flows - Treasury operations EXECUTION AT SCALE - Experience scaling systems handling billions in transaction volume - Built systems with: - High concurrency - Idempotency guarantees - Strong audit trails PRODUCT MINDSET - Ability to translate business problems into technical solutions - Strong prioritization and trade-off decision-making - Focus on delivering real customer and business value LEADERSHIP - Experience managing multiple teams and senior leaders - Strong communicator across technical and non-technical audiences - Ability to operate in high-growth, ambiguous environments YOU’RE A GREAT FIT IF YOU - Think in systems, not features - Balance speed and control in a fintech environment - Are obsessed with data correctness and financial integrity - Can navigate complex, cross-border regulatory constraints - Build trust with C-suite, Finance, and Engineering teams - Take ownership of critical, business-impacting systems BONUS POINTS - Experience preparing systems for IPO readiness (SOX, audit, close processes) - Built or operated: - Wallet systems - Payment orchestration layers - Treasury or liquidity platforms - Automated reconciliation systems - Experience with: - NetSuite or similar ERP integrations - Event-driven accounting systems - MCP / real-time posting infrastructures WHY JOIN - Build one of the most advanced global fintech stacks - Operate at massive scale across multiple regulated entities - Play a key role in Deel’s IPO journey - Work on problems at the intersection of: - Payments - Compliance - Accounting - Infrastructure Total Rewards Our workforce deserves fair and competitive pay that meets them where they are. With scalable benefits, rewards, and perks, our total rewards programs reflect our commitment to inclusivity and access for all.  Some things you’ll enjoy - Stock grant opportunities dependent on your role, employment status and location - Additional perks and benefits based on your employment status and country - The flexibility of remote work, including optional WeWork access At Deel, we’re an equal-opportunity employer that values diversity and positively encourage applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of  race, religion, sex, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, pregnancy or maternity or other applicable legally protected characteristics. Unless otherwise agreed, we will communicate with job applicants using Deel-specific emails, which include @deel.com [Upgrade to PRO to see link] and other acquired company emails like @payspace.com [Upgrade to PRO to see link] and @paygroup.com [Upgrade to PRO to see link] You can view the most up-to-date job listings at Deel by visiting our careers page [Upgrade to PRO to see link] Deel is an equal-opportunity employer and is committed to cultivating a diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects different abilities, backgrounds, beliefs, experiences, identities and perspectives. Deel will provide accommodations on request throughout the recruitment, selection and assessment process for applicants with disabilities. If you require accommodations, please inform our Talent Acquisition Team via this link [Upgrade to PRO to see link] and a team member will be in touch to ensure your equal participation. If you have difficulty accessing the form, please email at [Upgrade to PRO to see contact]. As part of our hiring process, we primarily rely on interviews and role-related assessments. In limited cases, we may also consider informal background information relevant to the role, in line with our privacy and fairness obligations. This application process does utilise Automated Employment Decision Tools (AEDT) and AI systems to assist in evaluating candidates based on experience level, technical skills and qualifications. As a fully remote company, we also utilise AI-powered deepfake and fraud detection technologies to verify the authenticity of candidate identities and interactions during assessments and interviews. This processing is conducted in compliance with applicable Data Protection, AI Governance and Labour Laws. We ensure human oversight is maintained in all final hiring decisions. Your personal data is not used to train AI models. For more information on how we process your personal data, please see our Privacy Policy [Upgrade to PRO to see link] - For NYC Residents: In accordance with NYC Local Law 144, an independent bias audit has been conducted on AEDT; results are available at Ashby [Upgrade to PRO to see link] Covey [Upgrade to PRO to see link]