Backend Application Architect

About the role

Fiserv is a global leader in financial technology, empowering millions of businesses worldwide through Clover’s smart point-of-sale (POS) and digital omni-commerce platform. As a Backend Application Architect, you will serve as a technical leader driving the architectural vision, strategy, and evolution of our core enterprise backend systems.

Responsibilities

• Drive the strategic architectural vision, technical roadmaps, and modernization of high-throughput, low-latency microservices and event-driven backend platforms.
• Design and govern scalable API ecosystems, data models, caching strategies, and storage solutions across relational and NoSQL engines to eliminate backend dependencies and maximize engineering velocity.
• Architect resilient backend services that support international expansion initiatives (APAC, Japan, EU) and enable cutting-edge AI-driven agentic commerce workflows.
• Establish non-functional requirements (NFRs) and architectural standards for performance, security, fault tolerance, zero-downtime deployments, and platform observability.
• Lead cross-team design reviews, evaluate emerging technologies, and de-risk high-stakes initiatives in partnership with Product, Business, and Executive leadership.
• Mentor and elevate Tech Leads and Senior Engineers across multiple scrum teams to foster a culture of technical excellence and engineering rigor.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 12+ years of hands-on professional software engineering experience designing, building, and operating enterprise backend systems in Java environments.
• Deep mastery of the JVM ecosystem, Spring Boot, microservices architecture patterns (CQRS, Saga, Circuit Breaker), and distributed messaging systems (Kafka, Google Pub/Sub, RabbitMQ).
• Advanced proficiency in data architecture, schema design, and transaction management across both SQL (MySQL, PostgreSQL) and NoSQL (Cassandra, MongoDB, Redis) databases.
• Practical expertise with cloud-native platforms (GCP, AWS, or Azure), containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and automated CI/CD deployment models.
• Prior experience architecting high-concurrency payment gateways, POS ecosystems, merchant services, digital storefronts, or global checkout pipelines.
• Experience with polyglot environments and secondary languages (Python, Go, Node.js, Next.js) for tooling, automation, or rapid prototyping.
• Hands-on experience with event-sourcing engines, serverless compute (Google Cloud Functions, AWS Lambda/Kinesis), or reactive frameworks (Spring WebFlux, RxJava).
• Strong understanding of PCI-DSS compliance, data encryption standards, and enterprise vulnerability management.
• Experience designing backend architectures that integrate Generative AI models, LLMs, or agentic commerce AI workflows via REST APIs and event-driven messaging.

Qualifications

• Experience with RESTful API design, OpenAPI/Swagger specifications, API security standards (OAuth2, JWT, mTLS), and JVM performance/concurrency tuning under heavy transaction loads.

Skills

• Technical leadership and architectural vision.
• Experience with microservices architecture and distributed systems.
• Data modeling and transaction management.
• Cloud-native platforms and containerization.
• RESTful API design and security standards.
• Event sourcing and serverless computing.
• Generative AI integration and LLMs.

Benefits

• Fuel Your Life program to support physical, financial, social, and emotional well-being.
• Paid holidays and generous time away policies.
• No-cost mental health support through Employee Assistance Programs.
• Living Proof program to recognize peer contributions.
• Eight Employee Resource Groups for collaboration and networking.
• Unparalleled professional growth with training, development, and internal mobility opportunities.
• Medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance options.
• Tuition assistance and reimbursement program.
• Paid parental, caregiver, and military leave.

Pay

$160,000.00 - $240,000.00 These pay ranges apply to employees in Sunnyvale, California. Pay ranges for employees in other states may differ. It is unlawful to discriminate against a prospective employee due to the individual's status as a veteran.

Schedule

This role is on-site Monday through Friday. Fiserv considers in-person collaboration to be an essential part of this role as in-person office experiences help you with your overall onboarding experience and leads to stronger productivity.

Company Information

We move money and information in a way that moves the world. We connect financial institutions, corporations, merchants and consumers to one another millions of times a day - quickly, reliably, and securely. Any time you swipe your credit card, pay through a mobile app, or withdraw money from the bank, we're involved. If you want to make an impact on a global scale, come make a difference at Fiserv.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Fiserv is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other category protected by law.