Tala Engineering: Working to Solve One of the World’s Toughest Problems
Everyday, Tala’s engineers work to ensure that millions around the world have instant access to financial services that can transform their lives. This is no simple task.
Only one third of the adult population worldwide are covered by a credit bureau and over three billion people go without access to adequate financial services, such as credit. Without access to credit, many of these people are unable to grow or start businesses, pay school fees, or cover unexpected medical bills. The perception from traditional banks that low-income individuals in emerging markets are too risky to serve only entrenches their exclusion.
However, Tala’s credit scoring technology has the power to score and introduce those three billion underbanked consumers to the global market. Over three million people have already borrowed through Tala’s smartphone app, which allows anyone with an Android to apply for a loan and receive an instant decision, regardless of their credit history.
But this is just the start. To reach the billions we aspire to help, Tala needs to scale rapidly, and we are looking for talented engineers to help take us there. For those passionate about using cutting edge technology to make a real difference in the world, here’s a little background on engineering at Tala and what you can expect to learn by joining us.
The team
Powering our product in Mexico, Kenya, the Philippines, and India, Tala’s engineers are part of a truly a global team. Integration and Data Platform Group engineers support Tala’s platform while DevOps and QA engineers support our infrastructure. The teams are based in Santa Monica, Nairobi, and Bangalore. All are empowered to move quickly and communicate with anyone in our global offices for rapid troubleshooting, brainstorming, and feedback.
The mission
Engineering at Tala offers unique challenges with a one-of-a-kind mission: ship the most technically efficient financial product in every Tala market. How we can go from helping millions to billions? How can we streamline payment rails in the Philippines or instantly confirm thousands of identities across Kenya? Engineers at Tala are encouraged to find solutions, not simply execute. By directly solving customers needs, we cut away the bureaucracy and middle-men found elsewhere. Here, your code really matters.
“My favorite part of what we do is meeting a customer to talk about their journey with Tala. These are the things that make me proud of being here and what we do.” — Joanna Mazgaj, QA Engineering Manager
As we prepare to officially launch in India in 2019, engineers can expect to play a meaningful role in helping re-architecture our entire product, powering everything from customer success to data science to growth. Moreover, with millions of customers across our markets, each providing thousands of data points to paint a picture of their lives, Tala engineers have access to one-of-kind data. Decisioning is made in close collaboration with Tala’s Data Science team.
What you’ll learn from us
You’ll have the opportunity to work with and learn from colleagues around the world and explore the financial needs of populations across Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. Through our Code as Craft mantra, engineers joining Tala can expect to advance their coding skills as we both mentor others and receive coaching for our own personal development.
“Tala has a truly diverse and global engineering team. We have cultivated a culture of learning and continuous growth. Engineers here are willing to teach and train others.” — Nachiket Shiralkar, Head of Engineering
You’ll also sharpen the way you think about scale at Tala. Our business is at a point where we need to refactor and build components with high extensibility and scaling in mind. This comes from engineers who have built such systems and are able to apply key insights to our architecture without constant guidance or oversight.
Finally, you’ll hone your communication skills working on truly multifunctional teams. The ability to describe technical concepts in layman’s terms is critical to the team’s success.
As Tala continues to grow, our engineers have a tall order in making world-class technical solutions accessible across the world. If you’re up for the challenge, visit tala.co/careers to find a match.
Want to build with #TeamTala? We’re hiring more than engineers! We are growth hackers, engineers, data scientists, customer experience designers, marketers, and finance geeks all passionate about extending financial freedom to the billions of underserved people across the globe. We believe in people from every type of background — around the world, and within our company. We call this #RadicalTrust. Come join our global team at tala.co/careers
