Key details

Reports to: Drew Durbin, CEO.

Team: Around ~100 engineers across 5 teams (Payment, User-facing products, Internal, non-product teams and platform) plus 5 leaders. Engineering teams are co-led by a product manager and an engineering manager.

Stack: Python 3 with mypy on the backend, GraphQL API layer, Postgres and Redis, Kotlin/Jetpack on Android (our main client), Swift/SwiftUI on iOS, TypeScript and React on the web. Infrastructure on GCP, managed with Kubernetes and Terraform. Most backend work happens in a large Python monolith, deployed across multi-country architecture. Current in-flight work includes agentic developer tooling, a large scale migration of our databases, and some refactoring of our monolith.

Location: This is a fully remote role. Candidates must be based in one of our talent hub countries (Spain, UK, East Coast of USA, Canada, Kenya, Ghana) or in one of our operating markets in Africa including Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, or Burkina Faso. Expect to travel to our markets a minimum of twice per year to stay close to local realities, products, teams and of course our users. Wave covers all costs.

Compensation: Our salaries are competitive and are calculated using a transparent formula. For this role, depending on your level and location, we offer a salary of up to $356,500 USD, plus a generous equity package.

• Wave provides a yearly $1,200 stipend to support coworking meetups with teammates.

• Major benefits:

  • Subsidized health insurance for you and your dependents and retirement contributions (both vary from country to country).
  • 6 months of fully paid parental leave and subsidized fertility assistance.
  • Flexible vacation, with most folks taking between 21-30 days exclusive of statutory holidays.
  • $10,000 annual charitable donation matching.

Process: The process runs up to 5 conversations, including 2 technical discussions. We want this to be a 2-way assessment: as much a chance for you to evaluate us as for us to get to know you. Along the way you'll meet our CEO, Head of People, Head of Product, both Engineering Directors, and a senior leader from one of our markets.

Requirements

• You've managed an engineering organization of at least ~100 people, including managers who manage others. You can describe how your own job changed as the org grew.
• You have a software engineering background and are good at it. You can still read code and follow a technical argument to the end.
• You've been accountable for a system where failure was expensive: money, safety, or regulated data.
• You've hired senior engineering leaders, and you've moved someone out of a role that wasn't working. You can talk about both honestly.
• You write well. Clear, short, and persuasive, for readers who aren't engineers.
• You have an actual point of view on AI in engineering: something you've tried, changed, or abandoned, not a plan to look into it.
• You believe in what we're building and can say why without being prompted.

You might be a good fit if you

• Would rather run a great team than be the smartest engineer in the room, and don't feel a loss in that trade.
• Are comfortable being the person who says the unwelcome thing in a meeting, and can do it without making it personal.
• Change your mind in public when the evidence changes.
• Prefer the simplest system that works to the most interesting one.
• Care about what our users actually experience: how long a transfer takes on a bad network, what happens to a shop owner when a deposit fails and bring that up unprompted when discussing infrastructure.
• Take responsibility for outcomes rather than processes, including when the outcome is bad.
• Are drawn to a company that publishes its numbers internally every month, expects direct feedback in both directions, and would rather be embarrassingly honest than comfortable.

Our team

• We have a rapidly growing in-country team in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Uganda, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Cameroon plus remote team members spread across the world.
• We're deeply passionate about our mission of bringing radically affordable financial services to the people who need them most.
• We foster autonomy for our employees. You'll own your projects at every stage, from understanding the problem to monitoring your solution in production.
• We raised the largest Series A in Africa in 2021. Our world-class investors, include Founders Fund, Sequoia Heritage, Stripe, Ribbit Capital, Y Combinator, and Partech Africa.
• We are on Y Combinator's top companies by revenue.

How to apply

Fill out the form below, and upload a resume in English and a cover letter describing your interest in Wave and the role.

We review applications frequently and recommend that you apply to the role that most closely aligns with your skills, experience and career goals.

Wave is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.