Staff Engineer - Payments Settlement and Reconciliation

of business owners around the globe do business with less friction. While we have foundational elements in place, our teams are currently focusing on further improving our reliability at the scale in which we're operating. For more information on this, you can read up on our Black Friday processing data report.

We are seeking a highly skilled and proactive Staff Engineer with a strong background in Java Software Engineering and hands-on experience in technical system design. In this role, you will play a critical part in designing, building, and scaling systems to solve real-world business challenges.

You are someone who is curious about new technologies, eager to learn, and passionate about using technology as a practical tool to drive meaningful business impact. You enjoy solving complex problems and thrive in environments where innovation, continuous learning, and collaboration are key.

What you'll do

• Own technical leadership for critical money flows across settlement models, reconciliation pipelines, and accounting/ledger interfaces - taking initiatives from problem framing through delivery and long-term operation.
• Design and build robust, scalable systems in production, improving reliability, performance, and operability of the settlement platform.
• Engineer for correctness and resilience by default: idempotency, retries, recovery, backfills, data repair tooling, and safe rollout strategies; measurably reduce incident frequency and time-to-recovery.
• Lead architecture and technical decision-making: drive design docs and design reviews, align teams on shared patterns and invariants, and communicate trade-offs clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Partner cross-functionally with Product, Finance, Data, Risk/Compliance, Operations, and Account Management to translate business and regulatory needs into pragmatic technical solutions.
• Improve platform boundaries and developer velocity by simplifying interfaces, reducing coupling, and clarifying domain ownership - making the system easier to evolve safely.
• Raise the engineering bar through strong practices in observability, testing strategy, documentation, and operational playbooks.
• Mentor and multiply impact via coaching, code reviews, knowledge sharing, and enabling teams to make high-quality decisions without becoming dependent on you.
• Support hiring and talent growth: help define role needs, participate in interviews, and contribute to building a strong, inclusive engineering culture aligned with Adyen values.

Who you are

• You have at least 10-12 years of extensive industry experience in Software Engineering, including hands-on experience in system design, architecture, and development with technologies such as Java, Postgres, Kafka, RabbitMQ, and Redis.
• You think strategically, are able to connect business goals with technical execution, and design systems that scale with the company.
• You're proactive and self-driven, with a natural ability to identify what needs to be done, even in unstructured environments, through collaboration and critical thinking.
• You're energized by complexity and curious about the mechanics of financial systems.
• You are able to challenge constructively, foster collaboration, and drive engagement.
• You come from a high-paced, product-oriented environment.
• You're a clear communicator and influencer in English, comfortable navigating cross-functional dynamics and driving alignment.
• A pragmatic mindset on engineering quality: testing, observability, documentation, and operational readiness are part of the design.
• A multiplier approach to leadership: you elevate others without becoming the bottleneck.

Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion commitments

Our unique approach is a product of our diverse perspectives. This diversity of backgrounds and cultures is essential in helping us maintain our momentum. Our business and technical challenges are unique, and we need as many different voices as possible to join us in solving them - voices like yours. No matter who you are or where you're from, we welcome you to be your true self at Adyen.

Studies show that women and members of underrepresented communities apply for jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. Does this sound like you? If so, Adyen encourages you to reconsider and apply. We look forward to your application!

What's next?

Ensuring a smooth and enjoyable candidate experience is critical for us. We aim to get back to you regarding your application within 5 business days. Our interview process tends to take about 4 weeks to complete, but may fluctuate depending on the role. Learn more about our hiring process here. Don't be afraid to let us know if you need more flexibility.

This role is based out of our Madrid office. We are an office-first company and value in-person collaboration; we do not offer remote-only roles.