Jaka Lounge is supporting our client, a neobank that operates entirely in the Philippines market and whose mission is to economically empower millions through enabling the growth of SMEs.

Their strategy is to build a full-stack SME financial services platform that includes multi-currency bank accounts, payments, FX, corporate credit cards, and payroll. Their product already exists, and while they continue to scale it, the attention is turning to building the next major product that customers require: seamless digital payments.

They are in the process of acquiring a digital banking license which will enable them to build their own backend payment rails, and they have already piloted some front-end features with 50 customers (e.g., digital check deposits) with third-party integrations on the backend.

What they are looking for?

They want to bring 2 developers on board, who are excited by the responsibility and ambition to build an SME neobank with the best financial technology stack of any emerging markets fintech globally.

Focus for new joiners will be split between radically improving the backend and digital experience of the core Credit product, and developing new Business Accounts and Payments products – working closely with the Product, Design, Operations, and Customer-facing staff. They are looking for people keen to start making an immediate impact, and who are open to forming a longer-term relationship.

Tech stack: backend is written in Ruby on Rails, and front end includes React and HTMX. Their principle is to hire engineers who are comfortable picking up new languages rather than those who are dogmatic about using their favorites, so while these languages are nice-to-have, they are not essential.

Background: experience in fintech is a nice to have, or considerable time spent building products that similarly rely on data processing, information transfer, beautiful UX, reliability, and security. Whether the new joiner has 2 years or 10 years of experience is much less important than their hunger to deliver meaningful work that moves the dial, and deep personal satisfaction from problem-solving. Join them if you want to build.

What else is useful to know about taking on work?

Failure happens. A lot. A mission-driven mindset is an extremely valuable asset in those moments to get up off the ground. It also helps to love the painful process of solving almost impossibly difficult problems because this market is full of them. There’s a reason nobody else has solved this problem set yet.

Constantly needing to make decisions with imperfect information – for example, data infrastructure is significantly less developed than in most Western economies. A lot of calculated bets with mitigated risk becomes essential.

Extremely regular candid feedback is the only way we have learned to make progress and grow. We love it. The daily chance to receive deeply insightful input from some of the smartest people we’ve ever worked with. But it’s not for everyone. Leaving ego at the door is a daily process that is never totally mastered by any of us.

Overcoming cultural barriers can be difficult. There’s no hiding from it, communication is more challenging in multicultural companies. Not everybody enjoys the challenge.

Where might the company go in the future?

Their objective is to build a multi-billion dollar business that unlocks billions of dollars of economic growth for ordinary people running small businesses. This means serving tens of thousands of businesses, supporting millions of jobs, setting a new benchmark for how technology supports economic activity in developing economies, and offering the ability to expand both internationally and into consumer services.

Apply now if you want to make a real impact in the fintech industry and be part of an innovative team!