Job Title: Senior Java / Kotlin & PHP-Laravel Developer (Payments & ISO 20022)
Location: Port Harcourt, Rivers
Type: Permanent (Onsite)
Main Industry: FinTech/Finance
Job Summary
- We are seeking an experienced and highly skilled Senior Java/Kotlin, PHP-Laravel Developer to join our growing fintech technology team.
- The successful candidate will be responsible for designing, developing, integrating, and supporting mission-critical payment applications and financial technology solutions.
- The ideal candidate must possess at least five (5) years of hands-on software development experience with strong proficiency in Java, Kotlin, PHP, Laravel, API development, and microservices architecture.
- Additionally, the candidate must have practical knowledge of ISO 20022 payment messaging standards and experience working within banking, payment switching, digital wallet, POS acquiring, or agency banking environments.
- This role requires a professional capable of developing scalable, secure, and highly available financial applications that process large transaction volumes while ensuring compliance with industry standards and regulatory requirements.
Key Responsibilities
Software Development:
- Design, develop, test, deploy, and maintain enterprise-grade fintech applications using Java, Kotlin, PHP, and the Laravel framework.
- Build and maintain RESTful APIs and middleware services for internal and external integrations.
- Develop highly scalable backend systems supporting payment processing, wallet services, bill payments, agency banking, and merchant acquiring.
- Participate in system architecture, technical design reviews, and technology selection processes.
- Write clean, maintainable, and efficient code following industry best practices.
ISO 20022 & Payment Systems Development:
- Design and implement payment workflows utilizing ISO 20022 messaging standards.
- Develop and maintain integrations supporting:
- Interbank Transfers
- Real-Time Payments
- Settlement Systems
- Digital Wallet Platforms
- POS Acquiring Systems
- Agency Banking Platforms
- Mobile Money Services
- Merchant Payment Solutions
- Work extensively with ISO 20022 message families including:
- Implement message validation, transformation, routing, reconciliation, and exception handling processes.
Fintech Platform Integration:
- Integrate with banking systems, payment switches, card processors, and third-party service providers.
- Develop secure APIs for fintech ecosystem integrations.
- Build transaction monitoring and reconciliation solutions.
- Support integrations with:
- Core Banking Systems
- Payment Gateways
- Mobile Money Operators
- NIBSS Services
- Open Banking APIs.
Application Security & Compliance:
- Implement secure coding standards and software security best practices.
- Ensure compliance with:
- PCI-DSS
- ISO 27001
- NDPR/Data Privacy Requirements
- Central Bank Regulations
- Payment Industry Standards
- Participate in vulnerability remediation, penetration testing support, and security reviews.
Database & Performance Optimization:
- Design and optimize relational database structures.
- Write efficient SQL queries, stored procedures, and database scripts.
- Optimize application performance, scalability, and transaction throughput.
- Implement caching and performance tuning strategies.
DevOps & Infrastructure Collaboration:
- Work closely with DevOps teams to support CI/CD processes.
- Participate in containerized deployments using Docker and Kubernetes.
- Support production troubleshooting, monitoring, and incident resolution.
- Contribute to system reliability and disaster recovery initiatives.
Team Collaboration & Documentation:
- Collaborate with Product Managers, Business Analysts, QA Engineers, and Infrastructure Teams.
- Mentor junior developers and conduct code reviews.
- Produce technical documentation, API specifications, and system architecture diagrams.
- Participate in Agile/Scrum ceremonies and sprint planning activities.
Required Qualifications
Education:
- Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related discipline.
Experience:
- Minimum of 5 years software development experience.
- Minimum of 3 years experience in fintech, banking, payment processing, or financial services.
- Proven experience implementing ISO 20022 messaging standards.
- Experience developing high-volume transaction processing systems.
Payment & Fintech Knowledge:
The ideal candidate should possess working knowledge of:
- ISO 20022 Messaging Standards
- Payment Switching Systems
- POS Transaction Processing
- Agency Banking Platforms
- Merchant Acquiring Systems
- Digital Wallet Platforms
- Settlement & Reconciliation Processes
- Card Payment Systems
- Transaction Monitoring
- Open Banking Frameworks
- NIBSS Payment Infrastructure
- Fraud Detection & Risk Management.
Preferred Qualifications:
- ISO 20022 certification or demonstrable implementation experience.
- Experience integrating with NIBSS services.
- Experience with payment switching platforms.
- Knowledge of EMV transaction processing.
- Experience with event-driven architectures.
- Experience building highly available microservices environments.
- Cloud certifications (AWS, Azure, GCP).
- Java or Laravel professional certifications.
Key Competencies:
- Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
- Ability to work under pressure in a high-transaction fintech environment.
- Strong attention to detail.
- Leadership and mentoring capability.
- Commitment to quality and continuous improvement.