Staff Engineer - Machine Learning

Adyen is the financial technology platform of choice for leading businesses, providing payments, data, and financial products in a single solution for global customers like Meta, Uber, and H&M. At Adyen, everything we do is engineered for ambition. We create an environment with opportunities for our people to succeed, backed by a culture that encourages ownership and provides the support to truly own your career. We are motivated individuals who tackle unique technical challenges at scale and solve them as a team, delivering innovative and ethical solutions that help businesses achieve their ambitions faster.

We are seeking a highly skilled and enthusiastic Staff Engineer with a strong background in Software Engineering and hands-on experience in Machine Learning (ML) applications. In this role, you will play a critical part in designing, building, and scaling systems that leverage ML to solve real-world business challenges.

You are someone who is curious about new technologies, eager to learn, and passionate about using technology as a practical tool to drive meaningful business impact. You enjoy solving complex problems and thrive in environments where innovation, continuous learning, and collaboration are key.

Adyen is building out its capabilities in data-driven risk management to combat financial crime across its platform. We operate at a massive global scale, enabling businesses around the world to accept payments, issue cards, and embed financial products, helping millions of business owners around the globe do business with less friction. While we have foundational elements in place, we have recently shifted our strategy to take a more holistic approach to proactively detect and mitigate financial crime. 

• Design and develop robust, scalable software systems that integrate Machine Learning models into production environments.
• Collaborate closely with product managers, data scientists, and business stakeholders to understand business problems and translate them into technical solutions.
• Evaluate new technologies, frameworks, and tools, and drive their adoption where appropriate to solve real business challenges.
• Mentor and guide junior engineers and peers through technical leadership and knowledge sharing.
• Advocate for best practices in software engineering, ML operations (MLOps), and system architecture.
• Continuously learn and stay up-to-date with advancements in software engineering, infrastructure, and AI technologies.
• Lead technical design discussions and contribute to the strategic direction of the technology roadmap.
• Close cross functional collaboration with different, non-technical functions like Account Management, Compliance, Operations etc.

• At least 10-12 years of extensive industry experience in Software Engineering and Machine learning, including system design, architecture, and development. 
• Experience with scalable, reliable and low latency systems.
• Proven experience building, deploying, and scaling Machine Learning applications in production environments.
• Strong programming skills in languages such as Python and Java.
• Experience working with and using SQL and NoSQL Databases.
• Knowledge of ML frameworks and platforms like PyTorch. 
• Deep curiosity and drive to continually learn new technologies and techniques.
• Familiarity with data engineering concepts, big data tools (Spark, Kafka), and scalable data architectures.
• Passion for applying technology to solve real business problems in a pragmatic and impactful way.
• A good product sense and the ability to understand how research can translate into valuable applications.
• Excellent communication skills and a collaborative mindset.

This is an exceptional opportunity to join a solid, established company with a startup mindset, characterized by small teams, direct communication, and work on important challenges. You’ll have direct access to massive global datasets (e.g., payments, identity data) and the ability to see your work have an immediate impact at scale. We offer an environment of ownership and speed, where a focused research team can make a significant difference. You will be at the forefront of bridging AI and fintech, shaping how these two critical areas intersect. We are looking for individuals who are eager to stay connected to the edge of innovation while ensuring we deliver practical value to our global platform.

We work in the financial Crime and Fraud department. As a financial institute, we provide products to store and move finances. This comes at a risk. Fraudsters and criminals can misuse our platform to do financial crime like money laundering, and fraud like taking funds that do not belong to them.

We need to be one step ahead of the fraudsters and we are also liable to report any detection of financial crime.We leverage our huge amount of data to identify actors using our platform, mitigate crime and catch fraud cases without creating friction for our genuine customers. In order to do this in a scalable and reliable manner, we have teams dedicated to figuring out the customer behind any event that goes through Adyen, do risk assessment, and make good judgement in real time as well as after the event has taken place.

Day to day we work with Java, Postgres, Cassandra, Kafka, RabbitMQ, Big Data Platform, Machine Learning to equip ourselves with the right tools. 

Our unique approach is a product of our diverse perspectives. This diversity of backgrounds and cultures is essential in helping us maintain our momentum. Our business and technical challenges are unique, and we need as many different voices as possible to join us in solving them - voices like yours. No matter who you are or where you’re from, we welcome you to be your true self at Adyen. 

Studies show that women and members of underrepresented communities apply for jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. Does this sound like you? If so, Adyen encourages you to reconsider and apply. We look forward to your application!

What’s next?

Ensuring a smooth and enjoyable candidate experience is critical for us. We aim to get back to you regarding your application within 5 business days. Our interview process tends to take about 4 weeks to complete, but may fluctuate depending on the role. Learn more about our hiring process here. Don’t be afraid to let us know if you need more flexibility.

This role is based out of our Amsterdam office. We are an office-first company and value in-person collaboration; we do not offer remote-only roles.