Director of Engineering, Payments

As Director of Engineering for Payments, you’ll lead the evolution of Upwork’s financial infrastructure, enabling seamless, reliable, and efficient transactions across a global marketplace. This is a unique opportunity to drive platform-wide impact by delivering exceptional payment experiences that empower freelancers and clients alike. You’ll guide globally distributed engineering teams, shape the future of Upwork’s payment architecture, and champion innovation in compliance, risk management, and emerging technologies, including Web3.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the technical strategy for Upwork’s Payments platform, aligning it with product vision, compliance, and user experience goals.
• Drive the adoption of AI/ML-powered tools and services to improve fraud detection, anomaly monitoring, payment routing, and operational efficiency.
• Leverage AI-enhanced observability, alerting, and incident response systems to ensure high uptime and system resilience.
• Encourage the use of AI-powered development tools (e.g., code generation, test automation, smart monitoring) to improve engineering velocity and quality.
• Promote AI-assisted debugging, log analysis, and code review automation to streamline workflows and reduce time-to-resolution.
• Partner cross-functionally with Product, Design, Legal, and Finance to deliver secure, scalable, and cost-efficient payment solutions.
• Modernize architecture and infrastructure to increase payment success rates, reduce transaction costs, and enhance reliability.
• Explore opportunities for Web3 and finance integration where they deliver meaningful user or business value.
• Build and lead high-performing, inclusive engineering teams across geographies, fostering a strong culture of ownership, collaboration, and growth.
• Ensure ongoing compliance with global financial regulations while enhancing systems with intelligent auditability and automation.

What it takes to catch our eye

• Demonstrated success leading large, distributed engineering teams in scaling and operating mission critical, high throughput payments infrastructure.
• Deep expertise in cloud native architecture, secure transaction systems, and compliance frameworks across multiple global jurisdictions.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to influence cross functional teams, navigate ambiguity, and align technical direction with business objectives.
• Forward looking mindset with hands on curiosity about emerging technologies like Web3 and AI, focused on their practical, value driven applications in financial systems.
• Strong advocate for inclusive leadership with a track record of developing diverse talent and fostering a culture of ownership, innovation, and continuous learning.