Senior Software Engineer

Our mission

We're making Africa the first cashless continent.

In 2017, over half the population in Sub-Saharan Africa had no bank account. That's for good reason—the fees are too high, the closest branch can be miles away, and nobody takes cards. Without access to financial institutions, people are forced to keep their savings under the mattress. Small business owners rely on lenders who charge extortionate rates. Parents spend hours waiting in line to pay school fees in cash.

We're solving this by building financial services that just work: no account fees, instantly available, and accepted everywhere. In places where electricity, water and roads don't always work, you can still send money with Wave. In 2017, we launched a mobile app in Senegal for cash deposit, withdrawal, and peer-to-peer and business payments. Now, we have millions of users across 9 countries and are growing fast.

Our goal is to make Africa the first cashless continent and that's where you come in...

How You'll Help Us Achieve It

Wave is now the largest financial institution in Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire, with millions of users, growing rapidly year-on-year. And, we’re still in the early days of our product roadmap and potential impact on people’s everyday lives.

We’re looking for experienced engineers who are independent and excited about getting things done. You'll be responsible for building and improving the ways people pay with Wave. You'll own every step of the process: from understanding the problem to shipping your solution to users to helping the customer support team resolve problems.

We're helping millions of customers across West Africa access financial services through mobile money, and great support is fundamental to that. We believe the future of customer support lies in machines handling boring repetitive tasks so humans can focus on high value interactions that require empathy and creativity.

Our to-do list changes constantly, but here are some recent projects:

• Enabling people to use their Wave app to pay for products in stores.
• Allowing people to pay their electricity bills with Wave by integrating with electrical utility companies.
• Building an app for business owners to pay their employees' salaries using Wave.
• Allowing people to pay for their transportation on taxis, trains & buses.

Our stack (prior experience is a strong plus, but not required):

• backend: Python 3 (+ mypy)
• API layer: GraphQL
• android frontend: Kotlin/Jetpack
• iOS frontend: Swift/SwiftUI
• web frontend: TypeScript/React
• database: Postgres/CockroachDB
• infrastructure: GCP/Terraform
• orchestration: Kubernetes

Key Details

• This is a fully remote role. Candidates must be based in Kenya.

• Wave provides a yearly $1,200 stipend to support coworking meetups with teammates.

• Remote team members are expected to travel to our operational markets (e.g. Senegal or Côte d'Ivoire) at least once a year. Exceptions apply, but we’ve found this key to understanding our users and product.

• Our salaries are competitive and are calculated using a transparent formula. For this role, we offer a salary of up to $133,100 USD, plus a generous equity package.

• Major benefits:

• Subsidized health insurance for you and your dependents and retirement contributions (both vary from country to country).

• 6 months of fully paid parental leave and subsidized fertility assistance.

• Flexible vacation, with most folks taking between 21-30 days exclusive of statutory holidays.

• $10,000 annual charitable donation matching.

Requirements

• Minimum of 5 years of professional experience as a product engineer.
• Fluent in English, (bilingual in French is a big bonus!)

You might be a good fit if you

• Care deeply about users. Our customers rely on Wave for essential financial services. We constantly think about how our technical decisions impact them - from reducing network usage in our apps to prioritizing accessibility.
• Are highly autonomous and resilient. You’re comfortable navigating ambiguity and working through difficult problems. When you encounter a tricky bug or unfamiliar system, you know how to stay unstuck- whether that means digging deeper, asking teammates for help, or leveraging tools like AI.
• Communicate clearly and frequently. Wave is a remote company, and strong written communication is essential. We rely heavily on documentation, thoughtful discussion, and knowledge sharing to stay aligned and make good decisions.
• Think about systems and outcomes. You care about solving the underlying problem rather than just shipping code.
• Continuously learn and improve. You enjoy understanding how complex systems work and getting better at your craft over time.

Our team

• We have a rapidly growing in-country team in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Uganda, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Cameroon plus remote team members spread across the world.
• We're deeply passionate about our mission of bringing radically affordable financial services to the people who need them most.
• We foster autonomy for our employees. You'll own your projects at every stage, from understanding the problem to monitoring your solution in production.
• We raised the largest Series A in Africa in 2021. Our world-class investors, include Founders Fund, Sequoia Heritage, Stripe, Ribbit Capital, Y Combinator, and Partech Africa.
• We are on Y Combinator's top companies by revenue.

How to apply

Fill out the form below, and upload a resume in English and a cover letter describing your interest in Wave and the role.

We review applications frequently and recommend that you apply to the role that most closely aligns with your skills, experience and career goals.

Wave is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.