Build. Scale. Trust.

Hi, I’m Joonas 

I’m a Lead Engineer at Riverty based in Tallinn. My work focuses on payment-related systems, covering both on-demand, real-time payment processing and asynchronous batch processing, which together support real-time payments and large-scale financial settlement.

My connection with the company started early in my career when it was still known as Arvato Financial Solutions. After that chapter, I spent several years running my own company. When business slowed down, I reconnected with former colleagues to explore opportunities to collaborate again. That conversation led me back to Riverty, where I joined the PayNext Payment Gateway project as an external consultant.

I returned for a simple reason. I knew this was a place where I would grow. What started as a practical decision at an important moment in life later became one of the most defining steps in my career.

Growing Through Ownership  

Over time, my role evolved from Software Engineer to Senior Software Engineer and eventually to Lead Engineer. With each step came greater responsibility, ownership, and trust.

At the beginning, my influence on architectural decisions was limited. By consistently delivering results and solving complex challenges, that trust steadily expanded. Today I help shape the technical direction of systems that are critical to our payment ecosystem.

What motivates me most is the combination of autonomy and impact. Building deep ownership in mission-critical systems takes time, but once that trust is established, the work becomes especially meaningful.

Another aspect that keeps the role engaging is the opportunity to contribute across different initiatives. Being able to move between projects allows me to explore new challenges while continuously expanding my technical perspective.

Powering Millions of Payments

The systems my team works on play a critical role in Riverty’s financial ecosystem.

Payment Gateway processes real-time transactions through payment providers such as Checkout, Adyen, Deutsche Bank, and JPMorgan. These integrations enable a wide range of payment methods, supporting diverse customer payment experiences across markets. The platform integrates with more than ten external connectors and handles over six million transactions each year, where reliability is essential because payments must work instantly and consistently.

Alongside that, we are developing FileGateway, a platform designed to process large-scale payment settlements with banks. These transactions are handled in large batches and transmitted securely into the banking infrastructure, supporting hundreds of millions of transactions each year.

Innovation is also part of our daily work. We are evolving our engineering practices to work more effectively with AI agents by embedding structured context directly into our repositories. This approach provides AI tools with clearer guidance on goals, domain concepts, and implementation patterns, enabling more relevant support across development, planning, and architectural decision-making.

Flexibility That Supports Life 

Flexibility is another aspect of Riverty that has had a meaningful impact on my experience.

Working remotely became common during the pandemic and has remained a productive and natural way of working without losing effectiveness. As a parent of two children, this flexibility makes a real difference. It saves commuting time and allows me to stay present for everyday moments such as kindergarten drop-offs, school activities, or appointments, while still maintaining a focused and complete workday.

Advice for Future Riverty Colleagues 

If you enjoy solving complex problems and taking ownership of what you build, Riverty is a great place to grow. The more you engage with challenges and contribute ideas, the more trust and responsibility you gain over time.

For engineers who are curious, enjoy understanding systems deeply, and want to build technology that processes millions of real transactions, the work here can be very rewarding.