Clara is the fastest-growing company in Latin America. We've built the leading solution for companies to make and manage all their payments. We already help over 20,000 large and growing businesses operate with agility and financial clarity through locally issued corporate cards, bill pay, financing, and a powerful B2B platform built for scale.
Clara is backed by some of the most successful investors in the world, including top regional VCs like monashees, Kaszek, and Canary, and leading global funds like Notable Capital, Coatue, DST Global Partners, ICONIQ Growth, General Catalyst, Citi Ventures, SV Angel, Citius, Endeavor Catalyst, and Goldman Sachs - in addition to dozens of angel investors and local family offices.
We’re building the financial infrastructure that powers high-performing organizations across the region. We invite you to join us if you want to be part of a fast-paced environment that will accelerate your career and support you to do some of the best work of your life alongside a passionate and committed team distributed across the Americas.
We're looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to join Clara's Payments Tribe — We are responsible for powering seamless, secure, and scalable financial transactions across our entire platform.
In this role, you will focus heavily on the engine under the hood. Your primary strength and passion lie in backend architecture, distributed systems, system design, and complex data orchestration. While your core focus is the backend, you possess the frontend competence required to build clean, functional user interfaces, and ensure smooth API consumption on our client-side applications.
AI fluency is central to how we work on this team — you're expected to use it across the full development lifecycle, from design to deployment, and to reach for it whenever it makes you faster or better.
💡 In this role, you will:- Architect Core Infrastructure: Design, build, and maintain highly secure, resilient backend services in Java/Spring Boot that interface with payment processors and local financial networks across Latin America.
- Optimize Data & Performance: Ensure high-availability and asynchronous processing of transaction financial data, keeping system latency low and success rates high.
- Bridge to the Frontend: Develop and maintain the React-based frontend applications, dashboards, and internal tooling that interact with your backend services, ensuring deep integration and clean API consumption.
- Leverage AI: Use AI tools to automate repetitive engineering workflows, accelerate delivery, and close skill gaps — from scaffolding new banking integrations to generating and reviewing code.
- Lead & Mentor: Set the technical bar through backend code reviews, robust system design reviews, and hands-on mentorship of junior and mid-level engineers.
- Own System Observability: Implement monitoring, logging, and tracing across the full stack to quickly isolate and fail-gracefully when external financial APIs experience downtime.
We're looking for an autonomous, systems-minded engineer who loves complex data flows, values strict security, and understands how to deliver clean code from database to browser.
Must haves:- Experience: 5+ years of software engineering experience, with a heavy specialization in Backend/Systems development within a Fullstack or Distributed Systems context.
- Backend Mastery (Java / Spring Boot): Strong proficiency in Java and the Spring ecosystem. Deep understanding of relational databases, concurrency, microservices architecture, and building APIs that scale gracefully.
- Frontend Competency (React): 2+ years of practical commercial experience with React and its modern ecosystem (Hooks, state management). You don't need to be a CSS pixel-perfect designer, but you must be fully confident in building, structuring, and optimizing responsive web apps.
- API & System Integration: Proven experience designing and consuming RESTful and event-driven web services (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ).
- Testing & CI/CD: Strong practices in TDD, integration testing (JUnit, Mockito), and frontend testing, alongside automated deployment pipelines (GitHub Actions).
- AI-Native Mindset: Demonstrated use of AI tools throughout the development process (design, coding, debugging). Experience using tools like Claude, Copilot, Devin, or workflow automation like n8n is highly valued.
- Communication: Working proficiency in English and comfort collaborating cross-functionally with Product, Design, and Operations.
- Fintech Domain Knowledge: Prior experience with high-traffic payment gateways, ledger systems, or local financial networks (like Pix in Brazil).
- Security & Compliance: Experience handling sensitive financial data (PCI-DSS standards, encryption, tokenization).
At Clara, you’ll have the autonomy, speed, and support to make meaningful impact — not just on your team, but on how organizations are run across Latin America.
Who we areWe’re the leading B2B fintech for spend management in Latin America.
Certified as one of the world's fastest-growing companies, a Great Place to Work, and a LinkedIn Top Startup.
Passionate about making Latin America more prosperous and competitive.
Constantly innovating to build financial infrastructure that enables each of our customers to thrive.
Product-led, high-talent-density culture — designed for builders who raise the bar.
Proud of our open, inclusive, and values-driven environment.
#Clarity. We say things clearly, directly, and proactively.
#Simplicity. We reduce noise to focus on what really matters.
#Ownership. We take responsibility and never wait to be told.
#Pride. We build products and experiences we’re proud of.
#Always Be Changing (ABC). We grow through feedback, risk-taking, and action.
#Inclusivity. Every voice counts. Everyone contributes to our mission.
Competitive salary and stock options (ESOP) from day one
Multicultural team with daily exposure to Portuguese, Spanish, and English (our corporate language)
Annual learning budget and internal accelerated development paths
High-ownership environment: we move fast, learn fast, and raise the bar — together
Smart, ambitious teammates — low ego, high impact
Flexible vacation and hybrid work model focused on results
If you’re ready for growth, ownership, and impact — apply now and help us redefine B2B finance in Latin America.
Clara’s Hybrid Policy
Claridians in a hybrid mode split their time between working from the office, talking to or visiting customers, or working from home. This hits a balance between bringing people together for in-person collaboration and learning from each other, while supporting flexibility about how to do this in a way that makes sense for each individual and team.
We don't enforce a minimum number of days for most roles, but you're expected to spend time at the office organically, and be at the office most days during your ramp-up or when required by your leader.
Skills Required
- 5+ years of software engineering experience with heavy specialization in backend/systems development
- Strong proficiency in Java and the Spring ecosystem
- Deep understanding of relational databases and concurrency
- Experience designing and building microservices and scalable APIs
- 2+ years practical commercial experience with React (Hooks, state management)
- Proven experience with RESTful and event-driven web services (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ)
- Strong TDD and integration testing practices (JUnit, Mockito) and frontend testing experience
- Experience with automated deployment pipelines (GitHub Actions)
- Demonstrated use of AI tools throughout the development lifecycle (e.g., Claude, Copilot, Devin, n8n)
- Working proficiency in English and cross-functional collaboration skills
- Prior experience with high-traffic payment gateways, ledger systems, or local financial networks (like Pix)
- Experience handling sensitive financial data and compliance (PCI-DSS, encryption, tokenization)
Clara Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Clara and has not been reviewed or approved by Clara.
-
Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity grants are emphasized across several descriptions, with stock options commonly included and in some instances available from day one. Feedback suggests this ownership component is a meaningful part of total rewards.
-
Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off offerings are portrayed as flexible, including references to flexible vacation and flexible time off policies. Feedback suggests this supports work–life balance for many roles.
-
Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Wellness support is cited through mental‑health platforms, coaching and meditation programs, and monthly wellness reimbursements in some contexts. Feedback suggests these offerings complement core benefits where available.
Clara Insights
What We Do
Clara is the leading payment platform for companies in Latin America. Our end-to-end solution includes our locally-issued corporate cards, Bill Pay, crossborder payments, and our highly-rated software platform used by thousands of the most successful companies across the region. Clara is backed by top global and regional investors such as Coatue, DST Global, General Catalyst, monashees, Kaszek, Canary, A*, BoxGroup, SV Angel, GFC, Picus Capital, Avid Ventures, ICONIQ Growth, Goldman Sachs, and prominent angel investors. Driven by our six core values (Ownership, Pride, ABC, Simplicity, Clarity and Inclusivity) we’ve reached a unicorn valuation in record time, have been recognized as a Great Place to Work and as one of the most promising startups according to Linkedin’s ranking “Top Startups 2021”. We’re looking for the best talent worldwide to join our team and be part of this journey, so you can't afford to miss this chance! We are: * Shaping business finances in Latin America * Driven by our 6 core values * Proud of our inclusive and caring culture * Certified as a Great Place to Work and a Top LinkedIn Startup
