Passive investment platform for New Zealand retail and institutional clients
Kernel is a New Zealand-based fintech serving retail investors, families, and institutional clients (iwi groups, charitable trusts) with passive index-fund products and portfolio management tools. The stack is .NET/C#/React on AWS with Mixpanel analytics and HubSpot for customer engagement — a conventional fintech architecture. Hiring remains lean and senior-weighted (4 of 7 open roles at senior/lead level), with active projects spanning compliance automation, API design, and customer dashboards, reflecting the dual pressure of regulatory scaling and product development in a regulated market.
Kernel operates a retail investment platform built around KiwiSaver accounts and index funds, positioned as cost-effective and accessible wealth-building for New Zealand clients. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Auckland, the company serves individual investors, families, and institutional clients including iwi groups and charitable trusts. The product combines passive investment strategies with self-service portfolio tools and digital account management. The engineering and data teams are actively building out backend APIs, customer dashboards, and data instrumentation, while compliance and operations teams manage regulatory obligations (AML/CFT, trade processing controls).
Kernel runs .NET and C# for backend services, React and Next.js for frontend, AWS (Lambda, SQS, SNS, DynamoDB, Aurora) for cloud infrastructure, and Mixpanel for analytics and customer instrumentation.
Active projects include backend API design for web and mobile, customer dashboard development, compliance monitoring automation, Mixpanel instrumentation refinement, and data practice setup to improve data accuracy and operational controls.
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