Tech Lead

Responsibilities:

• Technical Leadership & Architecture
• Own the technical vision and architecture of Xsolla’s anti-fraud platform and services.
• Design scalable, resilient systems for real-time transaction risk scoring, rule engines, and decision workflows.
• Lead architectural decisions around AFS integrations, internal fraud engines, and third-party providers.
• Ensure systems meet performance, reliability, security, and compliance requirements.
• Fraud & Fintech Domain Leadership
• Translate fraud and risk requirements into robust technical solutions.
• Partner with Risk, Payments, and Compliance teams on: Transaction monitoring, Chargeback reduction, AML / KYC-adjacent workflows (where applicable), and Regulatory and scheme requirements (Visa, Mastercard, etc.)
• Evaluate and evolve fraud strategies across: Card-not-present transactions, Alternative payment methods, Digital goods and gaming-specific fraud vectors
• Engineering Execution: Lead a team of engineers (directly or as a technical lead across squads), Drive best practices in: Code quality and reviews, System observability and alerting, Secure development, and Incident response and root cause analysis
• Balance speed, risk, and quality in a high-impact domain.
• Collaboration & Influence: Work cross-functionally with Product Managers, Data Scientists, and Operations
• Mentor senior and mid-level engineers in both technical depth and domain expertise.
• Act as a technical escalation point for complex fraud-related incidents.

Qualifications & Skills:

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with significant time in fintech or payments.
• Proven experience designing or leading Anti-Fraud Systems (AFS), such as: Rule engines, Risk scoring pipelines, and Decision orchestration systems
• Strong backend engineering skills (e.g., Java, Kotlin, Go, or similar).
• Experience building high-volume, low-latency distributed systems.
• Deep understanding of Event-driven architecture, APIs and integrations, Data stores used for real-time decisioning, and Domain Expertise
• Hands-on experience with fraud prevention in: Payment processing, Digital commerce or marketplaces, and Gaming or virtual goods (strong plus)
• Understanding of fraud patterns, abuse vectors, and mitigation techniques.
• Familiarity with: Chargebacks and dispute flows, 3DS, risk exemptions, and payment scheme rules, and Working with external fraud vendors and tools
• Proven ability to lead technically without relying solely on formal authority.
• Strong decision-making skills in ambiguous, high-risk domains.
• Excellent communication skills, able to explain complex technical and fraud concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
• Comfortable owning outcomes in a mission-critical area.

Nice to Have:

• Experience working with data science or ML-driven fraud models.
• Knowledge of AML, KYC, or regulatory frameworks.
• Prior experience in global payment platforms or PSPs.
• Experience operating systems at global scale (multiple regions, currencies, and regulations).