Full-Time

Technical Lead

Posted on 9/17/2025

Koalafi

Koalafi

201-500 employees

Checkout-integrated financing for merchants

No salary listed

Richmond, VA, USA + 1 more

More locations: Arlington, VA, USA

In Person

Remote candidates considered only for exceptional fit; on-site in Richmond or Arlington, VA.

Category
Engineering Management (1)
Required Skills
Kubernetes
Docker
AWS
Go
Requirements
  • 5+ years of professional experience in systems development with strong platform or infrastructure focus
  • Proficiency in Golang: extensive experience developing backend services, APIs, and platform components using Golang
  • Leadership experience: previous experience in a technical lead or senior developer role, mentoring teams, and leading architecture decisions in a platform or infrastructure context
  • Cloud experience: strong familiarity with AWS services and cloud-native architectures, with experience in containerization technologies like Docker and Kubernetes
  • Platform engineering mindset: experience building shared services, developer tools, or platform capabilities that enable other engineering teams
  • Strong testing practices: extensive experience in automated testing, including unit, integration, and end-to-end tests for platform services
  • CI/CD & Automation: experience with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing frameworks, deployment tools, and infrastructure automation
  • AI development enthusiasm: interest in leveraging AI tools and techniques to enhance development productivity and platform capabilities
  • Event-Driven Architecture: experience with event streaming platforms, message queues, or pub/sub systems for building scalable, decoupled systems
  • Security & Compliance: understanding of security best practices for platform services, especially in fintech or regulated environments
  • Excellent Communication: strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders across multiple teams
  • Problem-Solving Skills: ability to troubleshoot complex distributed systems issues and design resilient platform architectures
  • Location: Preferred: Richmond or Arlington, VA; Exceptional remote candidates will be considered for the right fit
  • Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent work experience
Responsibilities
  • Architect Platform Services: Design, develop, and maintain core platform capabilities including event streaming, communications systems, and tokenization services using Golang and modern cloud technologies
  • Lead Engineering Team: Serve as the technical leader for a small, high-impact team, mentoring engineers, conducting code reviews, and ensuring adherence to best practices and architectural standards
  • Technical Vision & Strategy: Collaborate with the Architecture and other Engineering Leads to define and execute the shared tech roadmap, ensuring platforms enable business initiatives and developer velocity
  • Enable Cross-Team Success: Build reusable services and libraries that unblock dependencies across product teams and enable autonomous feature development
  • Maintain Platform Quality: Ensure shared services are reliable, well-documented, tested, and follow best practices for scalability, security, and maintainability
  • Optimize for Developer Experience: Create platforms and tooling that maximize developer productivity and reduce coordination overhead across engineering teams
  • Implement Observability: Design and implement robust monitoring, alerting, and observability frameworks for platform services to ensure high availability and performance
  • Cloud Leadership: Oversee deployment and operation of platform services in AWS environments, utilizing containerization and infrastructure-as-code practices
  • AI-Assisted Development: Leverage AI tools and practices to accelerate development cycles, improve code quality, and drive innovation in platform engineering
  • Collaborate Across Teams: Work closely with other product teams and leadership to ensure platform services align with business needs and technical strategy
  • Incident Management: Lead troubleshooting efforts for platform services, ensuring rapid resolution and implementing preventative measures
Desired Qualifications
  • Experience with React/TypeScript for building developer-facing tools and interfaces
  • Background in fintech, payments, or regulated industries
  • Experience building/scaling shared technology platforms, infrastructure services, or developer enablement tools that support multiple product teams and business domains
  • Experience with observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, Jaeger, OpenTelemetry, etc.) for distributed systems
  • Knowledge of tokenization, secure communications, or financial data handling
  • Previous experience enabling engineering organizations through platform engineering or developer productivity initiatives

Koalafi embeds pay-over-time financing directly into a merchant’s checkout flow. It supports all credit types in one application, helping nearly every customer qualify for financing across retailers, including furniture stores. This leads to higher conversion and approval rates (over 90%), boosting merchant sales and customer retention. Revenue comes from financing fees and merchant partnerships; the goal is to help merchants unlock new revenue opportunities by offering a seamless, flexible payment option at checkout.

Company Size

201-500

Company Stage

Early VC

Total Funding

$10.9M

Headquarters

Glen Allen, Virginia

Founded

2014

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Patrick Moore's CEO appointment drives operational excellence and growth.
  • Charles Battle as CPTO scales platform for retail expansion.
  • Synchrony integration boosts merchant conversions for furniture and appliances.

What critics are saying

  • Frequent CEO changes from Kobe to Muth to Moore erode investor confidence.
  • Progressive Leasing's 60% market share undercuts Koalafi's pricing immediately.
  • Synchrony partnership competes directly, eroding Koalafi's non-prime margins.

What makes Koalafi unique

  • Koalafi integrates lease-to-own with Synchrony credit cards via single application.
  • Koalafi achieves over 90% customer approval rates for non-prime consumers.
  • Koalafi reports payments to TransUnion, enabling credit building for customers.

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Benefits

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Unlimited Paid Time Off

Paid Vacation

401(k) Retirement Plan

401(k) Company Match

Student Loan Assistance

Tuition Reimbursement

Commuter Benefits

Parental Leave

Inclusion and Associate Engagement Programs

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

-2%

1 year growth

-3%

2 year growth

-5%
PR Newswire
Mar 11th, 2026
Patrick Moore joins Koalafi as chief executive officer

Koalafi, a consumer finance company specialising in inclusive payment solutions, has appointed Patrick Moore as chief executive officer. Moore brings extensive experience in consumer finance and fintech, having previously served as CEO of Mosaic, a fintech platform focused on residential solar and home improvement financing. Boomer Muth, who served as interim CEO during the transition, will continue as board chair. During his tenure, Muth expanded Koalafi's nationwide merchant network and marketplace platform whilst maintaining operational continuity. Moore has previously held leadership positions at Renovate America as chief operating officer and chief lending officer, and at Concora Credit as chief operating officer. He also worked at Toyota Financial Services and Capital One. Under Moore's leadership, Koalafi will focus on expanding access to transparent financing whilst driving operational excellence and sustainable growth.

PR Newswire
Jan 22nd, 2026
Koalafi integrates with Synchrony Business Center to expand financing for non-prime consumers

Koalafi, a consumer finance company, has integrated with Synchrony's Business Center, allowing merchants to offer both Synchrony's store-branded credit cards and Koalafi's lease-to-own option through a single application. The integration targets omnichannel merchants selling furniture, mattresses, appliances, or tyres and wheels. The waterfall financing experience aims to serve the over 40% of US consumers who don't qualify for prime credit. Koalafi's lease-to-own solution provides high approval rates and reports payment activity to TransUnion, potentially helping customers build credit over time. "Together, we're helping merchants unlock more opportunities at the point of sale and deliver a better experience for every shopper," said Boomer Muth, Koalafi's CEO. The integration is designed to increase conversion rates and revenue for merchants serving customers across a wide credit spectrum.

Koalafi
Dec 5th, 2025
Koalafi Named a Finalist in Furniture Today's 2025 Reader Rankings Awards

Koalafi named a finalist in Furniture Today's 2025 Reader Rankings awards. December 5, 2025 Koalafi Is Hiring is thrilled to share that Furniture Today readers have recognized Koalafi as one of two finalists in Furniture Today's 2025 Reader Rankings "Best Consumer Finance Company" category. Koalafi is the only lease-to-own financing provider named a finalist or winner in this category. Being named a finalist in this nationally recognized industry poll is an incredible honor and reflects how merchants and consumers alike value flexible payment solutions that are transparent, inclusive, and easy to use. Koalafi Is Hiring is grateful to everyone who cast a vote for Koalafi and supports its mission to ensure no one has to put an important purchase on hold. Koalafi Is Hiring would not be here without the merchants who rely on Koalafi at checkout and the consumers who trust Koalafi's lease-to-own plans every day. Their support continues to inspire Koalafi Is Hiring as Koalafi Is Hiring build tools that help merchants and their customers succeed. With deep appreciation for everyone who contributed to this recognition, Koalafi Is Hiring is also excited to acknowledge the outstanding companies recognized alongside Koalafi Is Hiring. A huge congratulations to Synchrony, the 2025 Reader Rankings "Best Consumer Finance Company" category winner and ChargeAfter, the other category finalist. Koalafi Is Hiring is proud to be recognized among such a strong companies within the consumer finance space. Discover all the category winners and finalists here. Looking ahead. Koalafi is continuing to invest in smarter technology, deeper partner and consumer support, and new features that make consumer financing easier and more inclusive. Thank you again to everyone who voted and relies on Koalafi to help their business grow. Koalafi Is Hiring is honored to be among the leaders shaping the future of retail financing.

PR Newswire
Apr 16th, 2025
Koalafi Expands Executive Team And Board To Accelerate Growth And Innovation In Non-Prime Consumer Finance

RICHMOND, Va., April 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Koalafi, a leading consumer finance company, today announced a series of strategic leadership appointments that signal the company's continued momentum and commitment to innovation and sustainable growth.Charles Battle has joined the company as Chief Product and Technology Officer (CPTO), bringing a proven track record of building high impact fintech product and technology teams, most recently as the Head of Product at Ibotta. In his new role, Battle will oversee product strategy, engineering, and platform innovation, helping Koalafi scale its financing offerings and retail footprint."We're thrilled to welcome Charles to the leadership team," said Eric Kobe, CEO of Koalafi. "His deep expertise at the intersection of technology and consumer finance will be instrumental as we enhance our platform and deliver smarter, more inclusive financing solutions to merchants and the customers they serve."Koalafi also announced the addition of two accomplished industry veterans to its Board of Directors:Miles Reidy, Partner Emeritus at QED Investors, brings decades of experience in financial services and retail, including previous leadership roles as CFO at Sears Holdings and Audax Health. At QED, Reidy has been a trusted advisor to numerous high growth fintech companies, helping them scale responsibly.Steve Allocca, a fintech executive and entrepreneur, joins the board with deep operational and lending expertise. Most recently CEO of Funding Circle US, Allocca has also profitably grown multi-billion-dollar businesses at several leading financial institutions, including PayPal, Wells Fargo, LendingClub, and Bluevine."Miles and Steve bring an extraordinary breadth of experience and insight into the challenges and opportunities of modern consumer finance and scaling businesses," said Kobe. "Their guidance will be invaluable as we double down on our mission to provide inclusive financial products that help businesses and consumers succeed."These leadership appointments reflect Koalafi's strong growth trajectory and its vision to modernize point-of-sale financing with a focus on transparency, access, and customer experience.About KoalafiKoalafi (koalafi.com) offers convenient and transparent financing options that enable non-prime consumers to make life-changing purchases

Koalafi
Dec 17th, 2024
Koalafi is a Winner in Furniture Today's 2025 Reader Rankings Awards

Koalafi is a winner in Furniture Today's 2025 Reader Rankings awards.

INACTIVE