Fady Massoud — Engineering Manager (Hands-On) · .NET, Cloud Platforms, Payments

I'm a hands-on engineering leader. At KORT Payments my official title is Lead Software Engineer, and I act as the team's Engineering Manager: I manage developers and QA engineers, report to the Director of Engineering, and coach the team through regular feedback, performance reviews, and technical guidance.

I own sprint and project delivery — priorities, dependencies, quality, and release readiness — working with Product and engineering stakeholders. I also own the application architecture and still write .NET code: legacy refactoring, design reviews, and payment-service reliability work such as idempotency and retry patterns.

Before KORT I was at Paysafe Group, first as a Senior Software Engineer and then as Lead Software Engineer and Solution Architect. There I architected and developed .NET payments platforms and decomposed legacy applications into Azure-hosted microservices using Domain-Driven Design (DDD) and event-driven architecture. Throughout, I've worked closely with Product, DevOps, infrastructure, security, and compliance teams, including PCI DSS audit readiness and TSYS and Fiserv processor recertifications.

SYS-01

Team leadership and release delivery

KORT Payments · 2025 – present

I manage the developers and QA engineers on the team, own sprint and project delivery with Product and engineering stakeholders, and coordinate biweekly releases and hotfix deployments.

Azure-to-AWS migration support

KORT Payments · 2025 – present

The DevOps and infrastructure teams run the migration; I assist them from the application side with the code changes the move requires, technical coordination across teams, and validation of payment workflows.

Platform modernization and API standards

Paysafe Group · 2019 – 2025

Architected and developed .NET payments platforms, decomposing legacy applications into Azure-hosted microservices using Domain-Driven Design (DDD) and event-driven architecture. Established REST API standards with OpenAPI/Swagger, reusable .NET templates, and automated checks so teams implemented services consistently.

Current Mar 2025 — Present

Lead Software Engineer (Acting Engineering Manager)

KORT Payments · FinTech / Payments · Remote · KORT acquired Paysafe Direct's direct marketing payment processing business
- Manage developers and QA engineers, reporting to the Director of Engineering; coach team members through regular feedback, performance reviews, and technical guidance.
- Own sprint and project delivery, coordinating priorities, dependencies, quality, and release readiness with Product and engineering stakeholders.
- Own application architecture and remain hands-on with .NET development, legacy refactoring, design reviews, and payment-service reliability, including idempotency and retry patterns.
- Assist the DevOps and infrastructure teams with the Azure-to-AWS migration, contributing application changes, technical coordination, and validation of payment workflows.
- Coordinate biweekly releases and hotfix deployments; strengthen CI/CD, secure coding, code reviews, runbooks, and production incident follow-up.
- Mentor developers and QA engineers on AI development tools — Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Gemini, and Cursor; establish usage guidance and share practical techniques across development teams.
Jun 2019 — Feb 2025

Lead Software Engineer · Solution Architect

Paysafe Group · FinTech / Payments · Remote
- Architected and developed .NET payments platforms, decomposing legacy applications into Azure-hosted microservices using Domain-Driven Design (DDD) and event-driven architecture.
- Established REST API standards with OpenAPI/Swagger, reusable .NET templates, and automated checks to support consistent implementation across teams.
- Modernized CI/CD and automated testing with engineering and DevOps teams, improving release consistency and supporting service-level ownership.
- Mentored engineers through design reviews, paired development, architecture discussions, and shared guidance; contributed to performance reviews and career development.
- Partnered with compliance and security teams on PCI DSS audit readiness, Veracode remediation, secure development practices, and platform hardening.
Jul 2017 — Jun 2019

Senior Software Engineer

Paysafe Group · FinTech / Payments · Irvine, CA
- Developed WCF services and Kafka producers and consumers for payment workflows; automated builds and deployment pipelines.
- Managed TSYS and Fiserv processor recertifications and bank onboarding, coordinating technical requirements and validation.
- Delivered two-factor authentication and security improvements, remediated Veracode findings, and supported PCI DSS requirements.
Jun 2014 — Jun 2017

Senior Software Engineer

CraneMorley · Long Beach, CA
- Developed and modernized CMS, LMS, and Microsoft Dynamics applications using ASP, VB, and DotNetNuke; optimized SQL Server queries and automated workflows.
- Delivered client applications, certification tools, and Cornerstone SCORM reporting integrations; led data migrations and multi-portal infrastructure projects.
Oct 2008 — Dec 2016

Earlier Experience
- Senior Software Engineer (Part-Time) · The Dependable Companies · Jun 2016 – Dec 2016. Modernized Dynamics CRM and DotNetNuke portals, email notifications, and SQL queries.
- Freelance Software Engineer · Independent clients through Upwork · Feb 2012 – May 2014.
- IT Assistant · Credit Agricole Bank, Egypt · Dec 2009 – Dec 2011.
- .NET Software Engineer · Travel Solutions Egypt · Oct 2008 – Nov 2009.

The manager should be able to read the stack trace.

Engineering leadership is technical leadership. Process matters; so does being able to review the design, pair on the hard refactor, and help when production needs attention.
Coaching happens every week, not once a year.

Developers and QA engineers get regular feedback and technical guidance. A performance review should summarize conversations that have already happened.
Release readiness is decided before release day.

Biweekly releases and hotfixes go smoothly when priorities, dependencies, test coverage, and rollback steps are agreed with Product and QA up front, not negotiated during the deployment.
Idempotency and retries are not optional in payments.

The same way TLS isn't optional. Build them in from day one, or pay for them later in duplicate charges, reconciliation work, and lost trust.
An incident isn't closed until the follow-up is done.

Fixing the immediate problem is the easy half. Updating the runbook, closing the action items, and sharing what was learned is what keeps it from happening again.
AI development tools are a team practice, not a personal trick.

I use Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Gemini, and Cursor in my own work, mentor developers and QA engineers on them, write usage guidance, and share practical techniques across development teams.

Skills and credentials

leadership: People management · Developer and QA mentoring · Sprint and project delivery · Stakeholder alignment · Performance reviews · Technical planning · Cross-team knowledge sharing
engineering: C# · .NET · ASP.NET · REST APIs · OpenAPI/Swagger · Microservices · Event-driven architecture · Domain-Driven Design (DDD) · Command Query Responsibility Segregation (CQRS) · Apache Kafka · Idempotency · Resiliency patterns · SQL Server · Angular · React · TypeScript
cloud & delivery: Azure · Amazon Web Services (AWS) · Azure DevOps · Docker · Continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) · Git · Automated testing · Release management · Observability · Incident response · PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) · OWASP · Veracode
ai tools: Claude Code · OpenAI Codex · Gemini · Cursor · Developer and QA coaching · Workflow guidance · Knowledge sharing
education: B.Sc. in Computer Science — Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt
certification: Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals
development: Professional development: OpenHack — App Modernization with NoSQL · IBM — Visual C#.NET

Notes on payments architecture, modernization, and engineering leadership. These are general lessons and opinions, not case studies of any one employer's systems.

Architecture

Zero-Downtime Cloud Migrations for Payments Platforms: What to Check Before Cutover

What "zero downtime" has to mean for a payments platform, five categories of risk to map before cutover, and why the rollback gate needs to be written down in advance.

2026 · 12 min read

Read

Architecture

Decomposing a Payments Monolith Without Stopping the World

When not to decompose, how to find bounded contexts, how to sequence a strangler-fig migration, why contract tests matter early, and the outbox-pattern mistakes to avoid.

2026 · 14 min read

Read

Engineering Leadership

What "Hands-On Engineering Manager" Actually Means

How I think about splitting a week between management and code, where hands-on time is worth the most, where it backfires, and the question I ask before taking on an engineering task.

2026 · 10 min read

Read

Payments

Idempotency Keys in Payments — Five Mistakes I've Watched Get Shipped

The "obviously correct" idempotency implementations that ship duplicate charges anyway. Composite keys, retry windows, and what to actually store.

2026 · 11 min read

Read

View all writing

I'm open to hands-on Engineering Manager roles, particularly in payments, FinTech, and .NET platform teams. Email is the fastest way to reach me.

Email fady.massoud@live.com LinkedIn /in/fadymassoud

Resume

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Engineering leader who stays close to the code.

Currently

How I work, and what I'm looking for.

What I do

Three areas of work.

Team leadership and release delivery

Azure-to-AWS migration support

Platform modernization and API standards

Roles and responsibilities.

Lead Software Engineer (Acting Engineering Manager)

Lead Software Engineer · Solution Architect

Senior Software Engineer

Senior Software Engineer

Earlier Experience

Six operating principles.

The manager should be able to read the stack trace.

Coaching happens every week, not once a year.

Release readiness is decided before release day.

Idempotency and retries are not optional in payments.

An incident isn't closed until the follow-up is done.

AI development tools are a team practice, not a personal trick.

Skills and credentials

Notes and opinions.

Zero-Downtime Cloud Migrations for Payments Platforms: What to Check Before Cutover

Decomposing a Payments Monolith Without Stopping the World

What "Hands-On Engineering Manager" Actually Means

Idempotency Keys in Payments — Five Mistakes I've Watched Get Shipped

Let's talk.