Senior level package, highly competitive and negotiable for the right candidate | Fintech Scale Up | Sydney | 5 Days On Site
This is an opportunity to own and shape the mobile experience of a high growth fintech at a critical stage of its evolution.
An established fintech, scaling rapidly and investing heavily in product, design, and AI capability, is looking for a Principal Mobile Engineer to define how mobile is built, experienced, and evolved across the business.
This is not about maintaining an app. This is about creating a mobile experience that customers actually want to use, one that is fast, intuitive, intelligent, and increasingly powered by AI driven interactions and data.
🧠 The Role
You will own the mobile experience end to end. Architecture, performance, quality, and craft all sit with you.
You will work closely with Product and UX to build something that feels genuinely native, performs under real world conditions, and scales with the business.
The mobile platform is a critical touchpoint across the entire customer lifecycle, and the expectation is that it becomes smarter over time through better use of data and AI driven features.
This is a deep individual contributor role with real influence. No people management, but strong technical leadership and ownership.
🎯 Core Mandate
- Own the architecture and quality of the mobile application using React Native and Expo
- Set the technical direction for mobile and influence how mobile is approached across engineering
- Build mobile experiences that feel native, fast, and purposeful
- Design and deliver mobile features that increasingly leverage data and AI driven capabilities
- Ensure performance across all devices and network conditions, including low powered devices and constrained connections
- Own app release processes, versioning strategy, and OTA updates
- Establish patterns, tooling, and standards that other engineers can build on
- Mentor and uplift mobile capability across the team
⚙️ Tech Environment
- ✅ React Native and Expo at the core
- ✅ Cross platform development across iOS and Android
- ✅ Mobile applications interacting with complex backend systems and real time data
- ✅ Increasing focus on AI driven features, personalisation, and intelligent user experiences
- ✅ High visibility product environment where what you build is used every day
✅ Must Haves
- Deep experience building and shipping production mobile applications using React Native and Expo
- Strong understanding of mobile performance including rendering, threading, and real world optimisation
- Cross platform expertise across iOS and Android including platform specific behaviour and integration
- Experience managing full mobile release lifecycle across App Store and Google Play
- Strong understanding of accessibility and building inclusive mobile experiences
- Experience building for real world conditions including poor networks and offline scenarios
- Principal level ownership mindset with the ability to set direction and be accountable for outcomes
🌟 Nice to Have
- Experience working with financial data, trading platforms, or real time data on mobile
- Exposure to AI driven features within mobile applications such as personalisation, recommendations, or intelligent workflows
- Experience integrating with native modules where required
- Background in fintech, financial services, or regulated environments
- Experience mentoring and influencing other engineers
🧬 The Archetype
You care about craft.
You think deeply about how things should be built, but you are equally focused on how they actually perform in the real world.
You are not high maintenance. You do not escalate problems for the sake of it. You go away, think, test, and come back with solutions or clear pathways forward.
You are pragmatic, commercially aware, and understand that what you build is used by real customers every day.
You take ownership without needing permission.
This role is aimed at the top end of the market. If you are in that bracket, you will recognise it. You know who you are.
📍 Location
Sydney, 5 days a week on site, embedded with product and engineering.
💬 Why This Role
This is a rare opportunity to define mobile properly. To set standards, shape direction, and build something that scales.
Mobile is not an afterthought here. It is a core part of the product experience, and increasingly a surface for AI driven interaction.
If you have been looking for a role where you can truly own the mobile experience and push it forward, this is it.
This role is positioned for top tier talent. The package is flexible and will be aligned to experience, capability, and the level of impact you can bring. If you are operating at a high level and want to be recognised accordingly, this is a genuine opportunity.
⚠️ A Quick Reality Check
This is a fast moving, evolving environment. If you prefer highly structured organisations with heavy process and slow decision making, this may not be the right fit.
If you enjoy ownership, pace, and solving meaningful problems, you will thrive.
🌊 About Us
Big Wave Digital has been around for over 16 years, and all principal consultants bring 20 plus years of tech and digital recruitment experience. We focus on quality over quantity, always.
If you are looking to make a move, or looking to hire someone exceptional, you know where to go 🌊