SDE-2 with 2.5+ years of experience looking for remote or hybrid jobs (need advice)

I've been working in fintech for 2.5+ years now, building everything from MERN stack applications to designing GraphQL APIs, implementing gRPC communication with protobufs, and scaling systems with Kafka and Redis. At my last company, I led the modernization of a mission-critical platform — breaking down a monolith into 30+ TypeScript microservices, building settlement engines, bulk payout systems, and end-to-end dispute workflows. I also architected a data engine processing 30M+ records per client using Kafka, Redis, and AWS S3. Unfortunately, recent regulatory changes in India's gaming sector (plus some internal restructuring) led to layoffs, and now I'm navigating the job market. I'm getting some responses from companies, but I'd love some advice from this community:

How do you effectively showcase distributed systems experience in interviews? Any red flags to watch for when evaluating fintech startups right now? What questions should I be asking about company stability given the current regulatory environment? For those who've made similar transitions — any tips on positioning yourself when coming from a company that went through layoffs?

Would really appreciate any insights or experiences you're willing to share. Thanks in advance! #fintech #jobsearch #careeradvice #distributedystems