Senior Backend Engineer

About Umba
Umba is a pan-African digital bank operating in Kenya and Nigeria, with a mission to make financial services more accessible, affordable, and empowering for millions of people across Africa.

We're transforming how banking works on the continent by building intelligent, automated financial products powered by machine learning. Our platform offers digital banking, lending, and payments through Android, iOS, and Web applications, serving both individuals and businesses at scale.

Headquartered in Nairobi, Umba acquired a licensed deposit taking microfinance bank in 2023 and has since grown revenue more than sixfold.

We're looking for exceptional people who share our ambition, energy, and belief that technology can unlock financial freedom. Join us as we build Africa's leading digital bank.

About The Role
We're looking for an experienced Back-End Engineer to help design, build, and scale the core services that power Umba's digital banking platform. You'll work on RESTful APIs built with Python, leveraging frameworks like
Flask
and
FastAPI
to deliver secure, reliable, and high-performance systems used by tens of thousands of customers across Africa.

You'll collaborate closely with our Front-End and Data teams to define new data models, business logic, and APIs — shaping the foundation for our mobile and web applications. We value autonomy and ownership: engineers at Umba ship their own code, monitor performance, and continuously improve reliability.

This is a highly technical, in-office role based at our Nairobi headquarters. You'll join a small, exceptional team operating in a fast-moving environment, where we deploy new machine learning models regularly and rely on data-driven decisions. You won't just be an implementer — you'll help define how we build the future of banking.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain robust and scalable software using Python (Flask, FastAPI)
• Architect new services and contribute to the evolution of our system infrastructure
• Write clean, testable code with strong attention to performance and security
• Improve code quality through automation, testing, and code reviews
• Collaborate with Front-End and Data teams to integrate APIs into customer-facing apps
• Participate in technical discussions and product brainstorming sessions
• Debug complex issues and deliver reliable solutions on schedule

Skills And Qualifications

• 6+ years of hands-on software engineering experience in production environments
• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field preferred — or equivalent, demonstrable experience
• Strong proficiency in Python and familiarity with frameworks such as Flask and FastAPI
• Experience with Linux/Unix systems and scripting languages
• Solid understanding of OOP and software architecture principles — building systems that are extensible, reusable, and maintainable
• Familiarity with modern development tools and workflows (Git, CI/CD, Docker)
• Bonus: experience in blockchain or crypto-related development, particularly in financial applications
• Bonus: Experience with Front end development (TypeScript/React/NextJS)
• Proven track record of shipping production-ready code on time
• Collaborative, curious, and fun to work with — the kind of teammate others want to join on the weekend

Work Status

• Valid work authorization for Kenya

Umba is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.

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