Head of Software Development

Company Description

Uptick Talent
is a leading EdTech and Talent Development company dedicated to empowering emerging tech professionals across Africa. We equip young talents with globally relevant digital skills through immersive training, mentorship, and guided career support, and our specialized Recruitment & Talent Placement arm connects trained, high-potential individuals with organizations seeking skilled and impact-driven talent.

Role Description

Our Client
is a licensed Payment Service Provider (PSSP) and Microfinance Bank-backed fintech platform, delivering secure, fast, and reliable digital financial services. With advanced fraud detection, cutting-edge APIs, and multi-channel payment methods, our client powers consumers, merchants, and agents with wallets, payment gateways, and value-added services.

The Head of Software Development will be the local execution leader responsible for turning Our Client's global technology vision into reality. The Head of Software Development will ensure the delivery, security, compliance, and scaling of our platforms in Nigeria, while reporting into the Chief Technical Consultant (based overseas) — the architect and custodian of the platform — as well as the Board. This role requires a hands-on, highly technical leader with mastery of Our Client's technology stack, security frameworks, and regulatory requirements, combined with the ability to build, mentor, and lead high-performing engineering teams locally.

Key Responsibilities

1. Technology Leadership & Execution

• Translate the consultant's architecture into daily delivery and platform stability.
• Drive execution of the product and technology roadmap across fintech, wallets, and MFB integrations.
• Ensure platforms achieve regulatory-grade resilience, uptime, and scalability.

2. Engineering & Product Delivery

• Lead backend, frontend, mobile, and DevOps engineers locally.
• Deliver features including wallets, QR payments, card services, microloans, and merchant dashboards.
• Oversee integration with CBS, NIBSS, Interswitch, and card schemes (Visa, Verve, Mastercard).

3. Security, Compliance & Risk Management

• Enforce PCI-DSS Level 1, ISO 27001, and CBN/NIBSS regulatory compliance.
• Implement robust fraud prevention: AI-driven behavioral analytics, MFA, AML monitoring, and risk scoring.
• Ensure resilience through API security, error handling, and DDoS protection.

4. Infrastructure & Operations

• Manage cloud-native deployments (AWS/GCP), Kubernetes orchestration, CI/CD pipelines, and monitoring (ELK Stack, Prometheus, Grafana).
• Deliver high availability and disaster recovery capabilities.
• Maintain strong vendor/regulator relationships (cloud providers, auditors, CBN, NCC).

5. Team Leadership & Collaboration

• Recruit, mentor, and lead strong engineering and security teams locally.
• Drive agile methodologies and DevSecOps culture.
• Collaborate closely with the overseas consultant, ensuring architectural fidelity and safe code practices.

Required Technical Expertise

A. Backend Development

• Languages: Java (Spring Boot), , Python, Go
• Frameworks: Spring Boot,
• APIs: RESTful & gRPC
• .NET (C#), PHP

B. Frontend & Mobile Development

• Frontend: , Angular, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
• Mobile: Flutter, Kotlin (Android), Swift (iOS)
• Database: SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL
• Caching: Redis
• Cloud / Hosting: Azure
• Infrastructure Automation / DevOps: Terraform

C. Messaging & AI/ML

• Messaging: Kafka (real-time streaming), RabbitMQ (message brokering)
• AI/ML: TensorFlow, PyTorch (fraud detection); Spark ML, Kafka Streams (real-time analytics)

D. Security, Compliance & Fraud Prevention

• Standards: PCI-DSS Level 1, ISO 27001, SOC2, CBN compliance
• Encryption: AES-256, TLS 1.3, HSM (FIPS 140-2 certified), tokenization
• Fraud Prevention: MFA (biometrics, MPIN, device fingerprinting), OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, JWT authentication
• Risk Mitigation: Rate limiting, DDoS protection (Cloudflare/Akamai WAF), AI powered fraud detection

E. API Performance & Error Handling

• Redis caching, GraphQL, Gzip/Brotli compression
• Structured JSON error handling, retry mechanisms, circuit breaker pattern
• ELK Stack, Prometheus, AI-based anomaly detection
• Webhooks for async recovery & transaction notifications

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's in Computer Science, Engineering, or related discipline (Master's preferred).
• 8–12+ years in senior technology roles
• Strong background in fintech/payments/digital banking platforms.
• Proven ability to manage large-scale, high-availability systems with microservices architecture.
• Hands-on experience with full technology stack listed above.
• Deep knowledge of Nigerian fintech ecosystem, CBN/NIBSS frameworks, and financial inclusion services.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and stakeholder management skills.

Salary:
N800,000 - N1M

Location:

Hybrid