Senior Backend Engineer (AI-Native)

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 / Full-Stack Engineer to design, build, and scale the core services that power Umba’s digital banking platform.

You’ll work primarily in Python (Flask, FastAPI), building secure, high-performance APIs used by tens of thousands of customers across Africa — while also contributing across the stack where needed.

This is not a traditional engineering role.

We operate in an AI-native development environment, where engineers leverage tools like Claude Code, Codex, and other LLM-based systems to accelerate development, generate code, and iterate quickly.

As a result, the role increasingly focuses on:

• Defining clear technical specifications
• Orchestrating AI agents to implement systems
• Reviewing, validating, and hardening generated code
• Building robust feedback loops and quality control systems

You’ll collaborate closely with the Data and Product teams to shape our architecture and ship features quickly and reliably.

This is a highly technical, in-office role based in Nairobi. You’ll join a small, high-performing team operating at speed, where ownership is expected and impact is immediate.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain scalable backend services using Python (Flask, FastAPI)
• Contribute to front end development (NextJS)
• Contribute across the stack when needed (APIs, integrations)
• Define clear technical specs that can be executed by AI-assisted development workflows
• Use AI tools (e.g. Claude Code, Codex) to accelerate development while maintaining high quality
• Review, test, and validate AI-generated code to ensure correctness, security, and performance
• Architect systems with a focus on reliability, observability, and scalability
• Build strong testing and validation pipelines (unit, integration, automated QA)
• Collaborate with Data teams to deliver end-to-end features
• Debug complex production issues and implement robust fixes
• Continuously improve engineering velocity through tooling and process improvements

Skills and Qualifications

• 5+ years of software engineering experience in production environments
• Strong proficiency in Python and backend frameworks (Flask, FastAPI)
• Intermediate experience with Frontend
• Experience building and scaling APIs and distributed systems
• Comfortable working across the stack (backend + some frontend exposure preferred)
• Strong system design skills and understanding of software architecture principles

AI-Native Engineering Experience (increasingly important):

• Experience using AI coding tools (Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, etc.) in daily workflows
• Ability to write clear, structured technical specs and prompts for code generation
• Strong code review skills, especially for validating AI-generated outputs
• Understanding of tradeoffs, failure modes, and quality risks in AI-assisted development
• Experience building guardrails: testing, validation, and monitoring for generated code
• Familiarity with modern development workflows (Git, CI/CD, Docker)
• Experience with Linux/Unix environments

Bonus:

• Experience in fintech, lending, or payments systems
• Exposure to data/ML systems or model deployment
• Experience with blockchain or crypto-related systems

What We’re Really Looking For

• Engineers who think in systems, not just functions
• People who can leverage AI to move 10x faster without sacrificing quality
• Builders who take ownership from idea → spec → implementation → production
• Pragmatic problem-solvers who ship

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.