AI Engineering Team Lead & Architect

About Rauva – Building the Next Generation Tech Bank

Rauva is on a mission to simplify how businesses and individuals manage their financial lives. Founded in Lisbon in 2023, Rauva is a fintech platform that supports business owners, entrepreneurs, and freelancers with digital tools to manage their daily financial operations.

Our achievements say it all:

• Awarded Mastercard For Fintechs Europe 2024
• Winner of the Banking Tech Awards 2024
• Recognized in the Technology Fast 50 2024 by Deloitte
• Winner of the Prémio Navegantes XXI 2024
• Selected by Banco de Portugal for the Finlab Portugal program
• Selected by Unicorn Factory Lisboa
• Honoured as the Tech Innovator in Portugal 2023 by KPMG
  

Southern Europe faces unique regulatory, operational, and financial challenges, including mandatory e-invoicing and accounting rules, as well as the need for local banking rails and tailored financial tools. Rauva is building a truly integrated banking experience that unifies business and personal financial life in one seamless platform.

From multi-currency business accounts and payments to lending, savings, card issuing, open banking, and bancassurance, we are building the infrastructure that will support the next generation of European entrepreneurship.

About you

We are looking for a AI Tech Lead & Architect who will play a dual role: a hands‑on technical leader who architects and builds AI‑driven solutions while leading and growing a high‑performing engineering team. You will be responsible for defining cloud strategies, evaluating and proposing applications and software and ensuring the effectiveness of cloud systems aligned with bank and standards regulations.

This role sits at the intersection of systems architecture, engineering leadership, and artificial intelligence, combining deep technical vision with the ability to ship production code alongside your team.

You will own a critical area of Rauva's platform, designing cloud‑native architectures that leverage AI/ML for financial prediction, automation, and intelligent user experiences, while leading a focused team of 7 to 9 engineers.

What's the role

As an AI Engineering Team Lead & Architect at Rauva, you will lead and scale one of our core engineering teams (Full Stack, Backend, and/or Mobile) while defining the technical direction of our AI‑powered financial platform. You will architect cloud‑native solutions on AWS, design and deploy AI/ML capabilities (financial prediction, intelligent automation, smart document processing), and ensure our systems meet the highest standards of scalability, security, and regulatory compliance.

On any given day, you will be writing production code alongside your team, reviewing architecture decisions, mentoring engineers, and collaborating with Product, Data, and Compliance stakeholders to turn business requirements into robust, intelligent features. You will own the end-to-end delivery of critical platform areas, from technical specification through to production, while continuously evaluating emerging AI and cloud technologies to keep Rauva at the forefront of fintech innovation.

This role is being created in the context of the Portuguese "IA nas PME" / "AI in SMEs" public funding programme (03/C05-i14.01/2025).

Your Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Growth

• Recruit, mentor, and develop a top‑class team of engineers, fostering a culture of ownership, innovation, and continuous learning
• Lead projects delivery end-to-end, from planning to production, ensuring the team ships reliable, scalable features aligned with product roadmap priorities
• Collaborate cross‑functionally with Product, Design, Data, Compliance, and Operations teams, engaging both technical and non‑technical stakeholders
• Coach and mentor engineers at all levels, supporting their career growth and skill development
• Represent Rauva's Engineering values internally and externally, contributing to our reputation as a leading AI‑first fintech
• Design and implement the AI agent architecture underpinning Rauva's automated testing solution, including integration with CI/CD pipelines and AI‑augmented QA workflows
  

Architecture & Technical Vision

• Design, document, and evolve Rauva's cloud‑native architecture, ensuring scalability, security, and performance aligned with banking standards and regulatory requirements
• Define and champion the AI/ML architecture strategy, including model deployment pipelines, data infrastructure, and integration of intelligent features (financial prediction, automated bookkeeping, cash flow optimization, risk assessment)
• Architect solution designs and integration processes across microservices, ensuring alignment with enterprise‑wide strategic IT frameworks
• Evaluate and select cloud providers, AI/ML platforms, and SaaS products; define best practices for adoption
• Translate functional and business requirements into precise technical specifications, ensuring seamless implementation
• Establish and uphold architectural governance frameworks, ensuring compliance with banking regulations and data privacy standards (GDPR, PSD2)
• Continuously monitor emerging technologies in AI, cloud computing, and fintech, translating insights into strategic recommendations for the CTO and stakeholders

Hands-On Engineering & AI

• Contribute hands‑on to the codebase where needed, staying close to the technology
• Contribute to production‑quality code across the stack, including backend services, AI/ML pipelines, and platform infrastructure
• Design and implement AI‑powered features: intelligent automation, predictive analytics for SME financial management, natural language interfaces, and smart document processing
• Build and maintain scalable, event‑driven architectures handling high‑throughput financial operations
• Drive engineering excellence through code reviews, technical mentoring, and establishing best practices for AI‑safe, auditable systems in a regulated environment

What’s your ideal background?

• 5+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 2 years in a tech lead, engineering lead, or architect role, preferentially in the banking sector
• Strong hands‑on coding skills in modern backend technologies (e.g., TypeScript/Node.js, Python, Go, Java) in production environments
• Proven AI/ML experience: designing, deploying, and maintaining machine learning models or AI‑driven features in production. Familiarity with LLMs, NLP, computer vision, or predictive analytics in a real‑world application context
• Cloud architecture expertise: demonstrated experience designing secure, scalable, reliable architectures on AWS (preferred) or GCP, including containerization, serverless, and CI/CD pipelines
• Microservices and distributed systems: deep knowledge of event‑driven architectures, API design, and system integration at scale
• Team leadership: proven ability to build, mentor, and grow small engineering teams (4 to 8 engineers), fostering autonomy and high performance
• Experience with Agile methodologies; familiarity with Jira and Confluence is a plus.
• Strong analytical, critical thinking, and troubleshooting skills, with a proactive and hands‑on, solution‑oriented mindset.
• Excellent organizational and communication skills, including the ability to collaborate across technical and non‑technical teams.
• Fluency in English (written and spoken).

What we can offer you

• Hybrid Policy: 3 days in the office + 2 remote
• Competitive Salary above the industry average
• Meal Allowance
• Leadership Opportunities (chances to lead projects)
• Enjoy off‑site events and getaways to build a strong sense of community
• Opportunities to advance within a rapidly expanding organization that aims to be present throughout Southern Europe in the very near future.

The hiring process for this role

• 1st interview: Interview with People
• 2nd interview: Interview with Head of ICT
• 3rd interview: Interview with CEO
• Job Offer

If you’re driven about innovation, excel in a fast‑paced startup environment, and want to be involved in impactful solutions, Rauva is the place for you. Join us in shaping the future of banking and enabling SMEs to grow and succeed across Europe.