Staff Software Engineer - Payments Platform

As a Staff Software Engineer at Western Union, you will help accelerate our platform modernization journey across North America (NA) and Latin America & Caribbean (LACA). Leveraging AI coding agents and modern engineering practices, you will build, modernize, and improve applications, internal tools, workflow automations, and platform capabilities that solve real customer, agent, operational, and business challenges. This role focuses on delivering measurable outcomes by combining technical expertise, AI-assisted development, and a deep understanding of business needs.

You will drive the transformation of legacy platforms into scalable, secure, cloud-native solutions, leading the design and delivery of AWS microservices, cloud data platforms, distributed caching solutions, and event-driven architectures. Working closely with engineering, product, operations, and business stakeholders, you will help deliver reliable, high-performing platform capabilities that improve operational efficiency, support business growth, and enhance customer experiences across the region.

In this role, you will:

• Lead payment platform modernization initiatives across North America (NA), Latin America, & Caribbean (LACA) regions.
• Design, build, and modernize applications, workflow automations, internal tools, APIs, and platform services using AI-assisted engineering practices.
• Transform legacy payment platforms into AWS-based microservices leveraging Java, Spring Boot, APIs, event-driven architecture, and cloud-native design patterns.
• Architect and implement cloud-native data solutions using PostgreSQL, Aurora, DynamoDB, and related technologies.
• Build and optimize distributed caching solutions using Redis, Valkey, ElastiCache, or similar technologies.
• Partner with business, product, operations, risk, compliance, architecture, QA, and customer care teams to translate requirements into scalable solutions from concept through deployment.
• Apply AI to accelerate software development, testing, documentation, observability, code quality, and engineering productivity.
• Establish telemetry and monitoring capabilities to measure adoption, performance, reliability, customer experience, and business outcomes.
• Drive secure, reliable, scalable delivery by reviewing AI-generated code and designs against enterprise standards for security, privacy, compliance, resilience, and quality.
• Develop reusable engineering patterns, reference architectures, prompts, and guardrails that advance AI-native and cloud-native development practices.
• Foster a culture of experimentation, continuous improvement, and outcome-driven engineering.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship across modernization, cloud migration, microservices, caching, and database transformation initiatives.

Basic Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience applying software engineering best practices with a focus on security, reliability, scalability, observability, and operational excellence.
• 6+ years of experience developing cloud-native applications and microservices using Java and Spring Boot.
• 6+ years of experience designing and deploying solutions on AWS (Azure, other cloud), including microservices and cloud-native platform architectures.
• 2+ years of experience designing event-driven architectures
• 1+ years of experience working with cloud databases (PostgreSQL, Aurora, DynamoDB) and distributed caching technologies (Redis, Valkey, ElastiCache).
• 1+ years of experience leading platform modernization and legacy transformation initiatives.

Preferred Qualification

• 2+ years of experience with containerization, CI/CD pipelines, observability, and infrastructure automation.
• 2+ years of experience designing highly available, low-latency, and resilient distributed systems.
• 1+ years of experience leading platform modernization and legacy transformation initiatives.
• Hands-on experience using AI coding agents or AI-assisted development tools to accelerate software delivery and modernization efforts.
• Experience in Payments, FinTech, Banking, Remittance, or other high-volume transaction processing environments.
• Experience supporting multi-region or global-scale platforms.
• Spanish language proficiency
• Experience using Kafka or similar messaging platforms

Workplace Option

HYBRID - Western Union values in-person collaboration, problem solving, and ideation whenever possible. We believe this fosters common ways of working and supports how we execute initiatives for our customers. The expectation is to work from the office a minimum of three days a week.

Benefits

You will also have access to short-term incentives, multiple health insurance options, accident and life insurance, and access to best-in-class development platforms, to name a few
(https://careers.westernunion.com/global-benefits/). Please see the location-specific benefits below and note that your Recruiter may share additional role-specific benefits during your interview process or in an offer of employment.

Your United States - Specific Benefits Include

• Paid Time Off
• Medical, Dental and Life Insurance
• Tuition Assistance Program
• Student Loan Repayment (below manager level only)
• Parental Leave
• One day volunteer time off
• $0 Money Transfer Fee Discount Code - Quarterly
• Recognition Program "Game Changers"
• Employee Discount Program
• Global Adoption Assistance
• Global Scholarship Awards Program
• 401K plan

For residents of Colorado, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania: Please do not respond to any questions on this initial application that may seek age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You may also redact this information from any materials you submit during the application process. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

Salary

Annual base salary range is $145,000 - 165,000 USD per year. Total on-target compensation includes a base salary, short-term, and long-term that align with individual and company performance. Actual salaries will vary based on candidates' qualifications, skills, and competencies.

As part of the application process, all applicants are required to take live assessments. Western Union has partnered with a 3rd party provider to administer these tests. Applicants will need to provide their name and email address in order to process the assessments. If you have any questions, you may reach out to careers@westernunion.com.

We are passionate about honoring our employee's identity and fostering a feeling of belonging. Our commitment is to provide an inclusive culture that celebrates the unique backgrounds and perspectives of our global teams while reflecting the communities we serve. We do not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, religion, political affiliation, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, or veteran status. The company will provide accommodation to applicants, including those with disabilities, during the recruitment process, following applicable laws.

Estimated Job Posting End Date:

This application window is a good-faith estimate of the time that this posting will remain open. This posting will be promptly updated if the deadline is extended or the role is filled.