Design and build core backend systems that power instant disbursements, subscription billing, and repayment schedules.
Develop distributed, event-driven services that guarantee reliability and scale—covering retries, ordering, schema evolution, and observability.
Translate product intent into customer impact by collaborating closely with product and design to ship high-quality user-facing features quickly.
Leverage AI-native workflows (e.g., Copilot, Cursor, LLM-powered tooling) to accelerate coding, testing, and analysis.
Ensure trust and transparency at the system level by instrumenting metrics, logs, and traces tied to business and user outcomes.
Balance speed and quality in a greenfield codebase, helping set the technical direction for a product with zero-to-one momentum and long-term scale.
Shape engineering culture and velocity through thoughtful APIs, automation, and scalable practices.

Requirements

4+ years of experience building backend systems in production, ideally powering consumer-facing products.
Strong technical depth in distributed, event-driven architectures (Kafka, SQS, Kinesis, MQ) including idempotency, retries, DLQs, and ordering.
Proficiency in an OO language (Java, Kotlin, C#, Python, Ruby) and comfort with relational databases, caching layers, and API design.
Demonstrated ability to ship zero-to-one systems or products, making tradeoffs in ambiguous environments.
A track record of connecting backend work to product outcomes (conversion, reliability, payments, onboarding).
Experience designing with observability and reliability in mind (metrics, traces, logs, SLOs).
Active use of AI tools in engineering workflows beyond autocomplete, with curiosity about how AI changes how teams build.
Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to explain complex systems and tradeoffs clearly.

Benefits

Competitive Compensation (base + bonus & equity)
Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart
Generous 401(k) plan with Upstart matching $2 for every $1 contributed, up to $15,000 per year
Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
Life and disability insurance
Generous holiday, vacation, sick and safety leave
Supportive parental, family care, and military leave programs
Annual wellness, technology & ergonomic reimbursement programs
Social activities including team events and onsites, all-company updates, employee resource groups (ERGs), and other interest groups such as book clubs, fitness, investing, and volunteering
Catered lunches + snacks & drinks when working in offices

Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

backend systemsdistributed architecturesevent-driven architecturesJavaKotlinC#PythonRubyAPI designobservability

communicationcollaborationproblem-solvingadaptabilitytechnical directionengineering culturetradeoff analysiscuriosity