Backend Engineer

Kifiya Financial Technologies Job Vacancy 2026 

Kifiya Financial Technologies is looking for a talented and experienced Backend Engineer to join its Smart Mobility team in Addis Ababa.

Kifiya is an AI-powered technology company that develops innovative digital solutions in financial services, digital agriculture, and smart mobility. For more than a decade, the company has been building intelligent data-driven platforms that improve access to finance and markets for MSMEs, smallholder farmers, and underserved communities. Through advanced technology and AI, Kifiya is helping create a more inclusive and sustainable digital economy across Africa.

Position: Backend Engineer

Department: Smart Mobility

Duty Station: Addis Ababa

Reports To: Tech Lead – Smart Mobility

Job Summary

The Backend Engineer will be responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining scalable backend systems that support Kifiya’s AI-driven financial and mobility platforms. The role requires expertise in distributed systems, API development, cloud infrastructure, data architecture, and secure software engineering. The successful candidate will work throughout the software development lifecycle—from system design to deployment and production support—ensuring reliability, scalability, and high performance.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop scalable backend services using modern software architecture principles.
• Build and maintain secure RESTful and event-driven APIs.
• Design efficient relational and non-relational database structures.
• Develop event-driven systems and message-processing services.
• Optimize application performance, scalability, and system reliability.
• Implement secure coding practices, authentication, encryption, and access control.
• Support AI-powered services by integrating model inference and data pipelines.
• Develop and manage cloud-native, containerized applications.
• Monitor production systems, resolve incidents, and improve service reliability.
• Participate in code reviews, technical documentation, Agile development processes, and continuous system improvement.

Educational Requirement

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Professional certifications in cloud computing, distributed systems, or cybersecurity are an added advantage.

Work Experience

• 3–7 years of experience developing and maintaining production-grade backend systems.
• Practical experience with distributed systems and API development.
• Experience working in Agile software development environments.
• Experience with cloud-native infrastructure.
• Previous exposure to financial systems, fintech, regulated industries, or high-availability platforms is preferred.

Core Competencies

• Distributed systems engineering.
• Secure software development.
• Database architecture and data modeling.
• Cloud infrastructure and DevOps awareness.
• Performance optimization and system reliability.
• AI systems integration.
• Strong ownership and accountability.
• Team collaboration and continuous improvement mindset.

Required Skills

• Strong decision-making ability.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Attention to detail.
• Problem-solving skills.