Upgrade helps customers move in the right direction with affordable and responsible financial products. Since 2017, we’ve helped over 7.5 million customers access over $42 billion in consumer credit. With a relentless focus on improving our customers' financial well-being, we build products that put more money in their pocket and support their journey toward a better financial future. We’re backed by some of the most prominent technology investors and were most recently valued at $7.3B.

We’re consistently recognized for our collaborative and inclusive culture. Most recently, we were named one of the World’s Top Fintech Companies by CNBC, Best Places to Work by Built In, Best Places to Work by the San Francisco Business Times, America’s Greatest Workplaces by Newsweek, Best Startup Employer by Forbes, and Healthiest Employers by Phoenix Business Journal.

We’re looking for new team members who get excited about designing and delivering new and better products. Come join us and help build a better financial future for millions of people.

About the Role

Upgrade is seeking a Principal Product Manager to help drive the next phase of growth for our Personal Loans business. In this role, you’ll identify and develop high-impact growth opportunities across the customer journey — from acquisition and conversion to new loan programs, partnerships, market expansion, and deeper relationships with existing customers. You’ll operate as an individual contributor, working closely with Product, Marketing, Partnerships, Risk, Credit, Engineering, Design, Analytics, and Operations. You’ll combine customer insights, data, and business economics to identify opportunities, build the case for investment, and lead cross-functional teams from strategy through execution. This is an ideal role for a highly analytical and commercially minded product leader who enjoys solving ambiguous problems and turning new ideas into measurable business results.

This is a hybrid role based in either our San Francisco, CA, or Wilmington, DE, office, with onsite work on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

What You’ll Do:

Own and evolve the growth product strategy for Personal Loans, identifying opportunities to grow funded volume, expand our addressable market, improve economics, and increase customer lifetime value.
Develop a deep understanding of the Personal Loans funnel, customer behavior, acquisition channels, credit and fraud constraints, and key drivers of business performance.
Identify, size, and prioritize new growth opportunities, including new loan programs, customer segments, credit capabilities, distribution partnerships, and conversion improvements.
Partner closely with Marketing to connect product strategy with acquisition, customer segmentation, lifecycle marketing, and channel performance.
Partner with Partnerships to identify new distribution opportunities, develop partner-specific experiences, and improve performance across existing relationships.
Work with Risk, Credit, Finance, and Analytics to evaluate opportunities based on customer impact, credit performance, economics, and incremental profitability.
Lead high-impact initiatives that span multiple product and functional teams, creating alignment and driving execution from concept through launch.
Use experimentation, customer research, competitive insights, and data to identify growth constraints and uncover new opportunities.
Define clear hypotheses and success metrics, evaluate performance after launch, and determine where to iterate, scale, or change direction.
Serve as a senior thought partner to Personal Loans leadership on product strategy, prioritization, and investment decisions.

What We Look For:

8+ years of product management experience, including experience operating at a Senior or Principal level and a track record of driving meaningful business outcomes.
Proven ability to identify growth opportunities and translate ambiguous problems into clear product strategies, prioritized roadmaps, and successful products.
Strong analytical and commercial instincts, with experience using data to understand customer behavior, conversion funnels, unit economics, and business tradeoffs.
Experience in consumer lending, credit cards, fintech, or another data-intensive consumer financial product strongly preferred.
Experience partnering closely with Marketing, Growth, Business Development, or Partnerships teams.
Familiarity with credit decisioning, payments, funding infrastructure, or loan origination is a plus.
Strong quantitative skills and comfort with experimentation, financial analysis, funnel analytics, and SQL.
Ability to understand and navigate tradeoffs across growth, customer experience, risk, fraud, compliance, and economics.
Proven ability to lead complex cross-functional initiatives and influence senior stakeholders across Product, Engineering, Marketing, Risk, Finance, and other functions without direct authority.
Experience working with external partners or vendors to develop and test new capabilities is a plus.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to simplify complex problems, develop compelling business cases, and create alignment around strategic decisions.
High degree of ownership, intellectual curiosity, and comfort operating in a fast-moving environment.
Bachelor’s degree required; MBA, quantitative, or technical degree a plus.

What We Offer You:

Competitive salary and stock option plan
Paid coverage of medical, dental, and vision insurance
Flexible PTO
Opportunities for professional growth and development
Paid parental leave
Health & wellness initiatives

The compensation range for this position is USD $180,000–$230,000 annually, plus equity and benefits. An individual’s base salary within this range will be determined based on a variety of factors, including job-related knowledge, skills, education, and experience.

Environmental & Working Conditions

Work is performed indoors in a fast-paced environment that requires the ability to manage multiple priorities and meet established workflows, schedules, and service expectations.

Employees regularly input, retrieve, and exchange information accurately using digital systems and applications to support operational and customer service objectives.

The role requires the ability to receive and exchange information with customers, peers, supervisors, and cross-functional partners through available communication channels, which may include meetings, email, phone, and digital collaboration tools, and may involve real-time, verbal, or in-person exchanges depending on business need.

Job duties may involve managing a high volume of inbound and/or outbound customer interactions and work activities using telecommunications and computer systems. The role requires the ability to read, analyze, and interpret information displayed on computer screens and remain in a working posture for extended periods, consistent with the demands of the position.

Work may be performed in a contact center, office, or remote environment, depending on business needs and the nature of the role. Onsite work environments may include shared workspaces, standard office lighting, and moderate background noise typical of customer service or operational settings.

Employees working remotely are responsible for maintaining a secure and productive workspace with reliable internet connectivity that supports company systems and safeguards the confidentiality of company and customer information.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and applicable state and local laws.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

Upgrade does not accept unsolicited resumes from staffing agencies, search firms, or any third parties. Any resume submitted to any employee of Upgrade without a prior written agreement in place will be considered the property of Upgrade, and Upgrade will not be obligated to pay any referral or placement fee. Agencies must obtain advance written approval from Upgrade's Talent Acquisition department to submit resumes and only in conjunction with a valid, fully executed agreement.

About the company

Upgrade provides affordable and responsible credit, mobile banking, and payment services to mainstream consumers. Its platform includes six core products: Personal Loans, Credit Cards, Mobile Banking, BNPL, Auto Financing, and Home Improvement Financing, with features like fixed loan rates and no prepayment penalties. Revenue comes from interest on loans and card balances plus merchant interchange fees, while rewards and competitive terms encourage responsible financial behavior. The goal is to help customers access affordable credit and manage money more effectively for long-term financial health.

Company Size

1,001-5,000

Company Stage

Series G

Total Funding

$712M

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Founded

2016

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

Upgrade surpassed $50 billion in credit and 8 million customers by July 2026.
OnePay launched July 20, 2026 personal loans powered by Upgrade, expanding distribution and balance-sheet reach.
September 17, 2026 Hapi and September 8, 2026 Six Flags partnerships widen embedded-finance merchant adoption.

What critics are saying

House Republicans advanced CFPB reform on September 16, 2026, weakening Upgrade’s oversight moat.
CFPB complaints against Upgrade exceeded 1,000 by September 2026, inviting enforcement and reputation damage.
OneCard invitation-only rollout through 2026 delays scale, while rivals copy its hybrid card features quickly.

What makes Upgrade unique

Upgrade’s August 2026 OneCard combines pay-now, pay-in-4, and pay-over-time in one product.
Upgrade’s Flex Pay embeds installment credit directly into merchants like REVOLVE, ZIPAIR, Six Flags.
Upgrade’s underwriting targets mainstream consumers, not subprime borrowers, supporting stronger brand trust and lower losses.

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Benefits

Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
Life Insurance
Disability Insurance
401(k) Company Match
Unlimited Paid Time Off
Paid Parental Leave
Health & wellness initiatives

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

1 year growth

2 year growth

Traders Union

Oct 19th, 2026

Upgrade secures KBRA ratings on $167.48M consumer loan ABS, its fifth deal of 2026

Upgrade has returned to the asset-backed securities market with its fifth term securitisation of 2026. Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) assigned ratings to four classes of notes totalling $167.48 million, issued by Upgrade Master Pass-Thru Trust, Series 2026-ST5. The notes are backed by 17,519 consumer loans with a principal balance of about $215.0 million as of the October 14, 2026 cutoff date. Initial hard credit enhancement ranges from 45.10% for Class A to 22.10% for Class D. Upgrade, based in San Francisco and founded in 2016, runs an online credit platform. It has originated more than $50 billion in loans for over 8.0 million customers and raised more than $750 million in equity.

Hotel News Resource

Sep 16th, 2026

Hapi and Upgrade partner to help hotels deploy modern payment options at scale with Flex Pay.

Hapi and Upgrade partner to help hotels deploy modern payment options at scale with Flex Pay. In Brief: Hapi and Upgrade have partnered to offer Flex Pay, enabling hotels to implement scalable, modern payment options that support flexible guest payments and improve operational efficiency. The industry's first automation between a payment provider and hospitality integration platform establishes a repeatable model for deploying modern payment options Hapi, hospitality's data connectivity partner, and Upgrade, a financial technology company that offers affordable and responsible credit, mobile banking, and payment products to mainstream consumers, today announced a partnership to help hotels deploy modern payment options at scale via Upgrade's buy now, pay later (BNPL) solution, Flex Pay. The collaboration centers on an integration that automates how hotels support Virtual Credit Card (VCC) and other emerging payment methods. It marks the hospitality industry's first automation between a payment provider and a hospitality integration platform, establishing a repeatable model for bringing new payment options into existing hotel group payment workflows. Together, Flex Pay and Hapi's connectivity platform and Payments Automations give hotels a scalable way to support modern payment options. Already deployed across thousands of hotels, the solution has significantly reduced VCC mishandling, simplified payment reconciliation, and eliminated payment processing errors. Moreover, it represents the first instance of a global hotel chain moving payments "above property." Travelers expect hotels to offer the same flexible payment options they use elsewhere. According to NerdWallet, 17% of 2026 summer travelers plan to use BNPL to pay for travel, reflecting growing demand for more flexible payment experiences. Offering a new payment option is relatively straightforward, but integrating it into the complex hotel group ecosystem is more challenging. Hotels must coordinate multiple reservation systems, property management systems, payment providers, reconciliation processes, and front desk processes across portfolios of properties, each with its own technology environment. Reservation changes, cancellations, payment timing rules, and check-in events only add to that complexity, contributing to manual payment exceptions, disconnected workflows, and an estimated $1.5 billion in inefficient reconciliation processes. When a guest selects Flex Pay during booking, Upgrade settles the reservation with the hotel. Hapi then automatically moves the payment information across the reservation system, PMS, and reconciliation workflows, ensuring each system receives the information it needs at the appropriate time. The integration automatically identifies eligible reservations, applies hotel-specific payment rules in real time, and processes payments based on reservation status and hotel policies. The automation eliminates the need for custom integrations or new front desk procedures. Because payments are processed before guests arrive, staff spend less time resolving payment exceptions during check-in and more time focused on welcoming guests. "Hospitality has no shortage of payment innovation," said Jeff Bzdawka, Hapi CEO. "The challenge is making those innovations work consistently across thousands of properties, multiple technology platforms, and the payment workflows that connect them. Our partnership with Upgrade gives hotels a scalable approach to introducing new payment options without changing the systems and workflows their teams already rely on." Built on Hapi's API and connectivity layer, the solution establishes a repeatable automation framework for modern hospitality payments. By moving payment data seamlessly between hospitality systems, the same architecture enables hotels to adopt new payment options while allowing technology providers to bring innovations to market more efficiently. "The way people pay for travel is changing, and travelers increasingly expect hotels to offer the same flexibility they experience in other aspects of their lives," said Tom Botts, president, Flex Pay. "As those expectations continue to evolve, our partnership with Hapi makes it easier for hotels to offer those payment experiences, helping them meet evolving guest expectations while creating a smoother booking journey." About Hapi Hapi is hospitality's connectivity partner, dedicated to simplifying the complex hospitality technology landscape by connecting hoteliers and solution providers at scale. Hapi removes long-standing data barriers, enabling hotels, hotel companies, and technology providers to access and utilize data in real-time. This empowers the creation of unique, personalized guest experiences that drive business success. Hapi serves 15,000 hotels globally, including major brands like IHG Hotels & Resorts, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Sonesta Hotels, Rosewood Hotels, and Starwood Hotels and Resorts. Visit us at stayhapi.com to learn more about how Hapi transforms hotel data into real experiences. About Upgrade Upgrade is a financial technology company that offers affordable and responsible credit, mobile banking, and payment products to mainstream consumers. Since its inception in 2017, Upgrade has delivered over $50 billion in credit to over 8 million customers. Upgrade's core products include: BNPL, Home Improvement Financing, Personal Loans, Mobile Banking, Cards, and Auto Financing. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with an operations center in Phoenix, Arizona, a technology center in Montreal, Canada, and regional offices in Wilmington, Delaware, Atlanta, Georgia, New York City, New York, and Irvine, California. More information is available at https://www.upgrade.com.

Green Tagged

Sep 13th, 2026

Six Flags FlexPay by Upgrade: how Theme Park financing works.

Six Flags FlexPay by Upgrade: how Theme Park financing works. Six Flags FlexPay by Upgrade is a third-party financing program that allows guests to purchase season passes and online orders over $49 through monthly installment loans. This partnership shifts credit risk to an outside lender while providing Six Flags with upfront capital, though it introduces credit checks and variable interest rates ranging from 0% to 36% for consumers. Key takeaways. * Six Flags introduced FlexPay by Upgrade, a third-party financing option for season passes and online purchases over $49. * Unlike traditional in-house theme park payment plans, this program requires an actual credit check and applicants must be 18 or older. * Annual percentage rates (APR) range from 0% to 36% based on the borrower's individual creditworthiness. * The system benefits cash-constrained Six Flags by providing upfront capital while transferring credit risk to an outside lender. * Consumers with lower credit scores risk facing the highest interest rates, making park access more expensive for those who can least afford it. How Six Flags FlexPay operates. Theme park season passes have long been sold via installment models, but the introduction of Six Flags FlexPay by Upgrade marks a fundamental shift in how regional park chains handle consumer debt. Rather than managing an internal payment plan where the park acts as the creditor, Six Flags has partnered with San Francisco-based financial technology company Upgrade to offer legitimate consumer loans. When guests check out online for any order totaling $49 or more, they are given the option to apply for FlexPay. Because this is an outside loan, the transaction involves traditional lending mechanisms. Applicants must be 18 years of age or older, submit to a formal credit check, and potentially provide a down payment depending on their financial profile. For the consumer, the most striking detail of this program is the annual percentage rate (APR). While well-qualified buyers may secure a promotional 0% rate, the fine print reveals that rates can climb as high as 36% depending on the borrower's credit history. While early pay-offs carry no penalty, the inclusion of a high-interest credit product changes the calculus of buying a family amusement park pass. Strategic benefits for a cash-strapped operator. From a corporate finance perspective, partnering with an external lender is a clever maneuver for a company facing significant debt and cash flow constraints. Traditionally, amusement parks that offer payment plans must absorb the administrative overhead of tracking missed payments, handling defaults, and waiting an entire year to realize the full revenue of a multi-month pass. By outsourcing the entire operation to Upgrade, Six Flags achieves multiple strategic goals simultaneously: * Immediate Liquidity: Six Flags receives the total purchase price of the season pass or merchandise order upfront from the lender. * Risk Mitigation: If a guest defaults on their monthly loan payments, the financial institution absorbs the loss rather than the theme park operator. * Zero Internal Overhead: The company does not need to build, staff, or maintain an internal collections or customer finance department. * Competitive Parity: Six Flags can proudly advertise a "buy now, pay later" or monthly payment option that looks and feels similar to the installment plans used by competitors like Disney, without risking internal capital. Whenever an enterprise can successfully offer consumer-facing payment flexibility while offloading all associated financial liabilities and collection duties, it represents a win for corporate strategy. The equity problem: who really bears the cost? While the business logic for Six Flags is sound, the consumer-facing reality introduces ethical and financial questions that industry observers must evaluate. Historically, monthly payment plans at theme parks have been marketed as a way to make expensive entertainment accessible to lower-income households or young adults who cannot comfortably drop hundreds of dollars on a season pass all at once. However, an external loan program operates on risk-based pricing. The guests who are least likely to be able to afford a season pass outright are frequently the exact individuals who lack established credit or struggle with high-interest debt. Consequently, these are the borrowers most likely to be assigned the upper tier of the 36% APR spectrum - or face steep penalties if they miss a payment. In practice, FlexPay by Upgrade may inadvertently help the people who need it least - financially stable guests with pristine credit who qualify for the 0% tier - while penalizing vulnerable consumers who are paying off a leisure product over time at predatory interest rates. It transforms a simple day of family fun into a revolving credit liability. Conclusion: navigating Theme Park debt. The introduction of external loan partnerships in the theme park industry signals a new era of corporate cost-cutting and risk-transfer. While savvy consumers with excellent credit scores can utilize these programs to manage their cash flow without incurring extra fees, everyday visitors must read the fine print before signing up for high-interest leisure loans. To hear a deeper discussion on corporate amusement park strategies, including recent roller coaster acquisitions and immersive industry news, make sure to Listen to the full episode of Green Tagged: Theme Park in 30. Join hosts Philip Hernandez and Scott Swenson every week as they break down the top trends shaping the themed entertainment landscape. Frequently asked questions. What is Six Flags FlexPay by Upgrade? FlexPay by Upgrade is an external loan program partnered with financial technology company Upgrade that allows guests to finance Six Flags season passes and online orders over $49 with monthly payments. Does Six Flags FlexPay require a credit check? Yes. Unlike traditional amusement park payment plans that simply divide payments automatically, FlexPay by Upgrade requires an official credit check and evaluates applicants based on their credit history. What are the interest rates for Six Flags FlexPay? Depending on the borrower's credit score and financial background, annual percentage rates (APR) for the program range from 0% up to 36%. Who is eligible to use Six Flags FlexPay? Applicants must be at least 18 years old, reside in a U.S. state where a Six Flags park operates, and meet the lending partner's credit approval criteria. A down payment may also be required. Vintage rubber hose animation styles have long inspired theme park merchandise, but recent controversies involving Knott's Berry Farm pulling controversial shirts expose the hidden risks of recreating the golden age of animation. In this deep dive,... Six Flags' decision to relocate its corporate headquarters from Charlotte to Arlington, Texas by March 2027 highlights a major shift in themed entertainment management. While remote work dominated the pandemic era, turnaround strategies for major am...

PR Newswire

Aug 11th, 2026

Furniture.com partners with Flex Pay to enable single-checkout financing across multiple retailers

Furniture.com has partnered with Flex Pay to launch a multi-retailer, single-checkout financing platform. The service allows consumers to purchase furniture from multiple independent retailers in one transaction with unified financing. Shoppers can select items from different participating retailers and finance the entire purchase through a single application with one monthly payment plan. Financing terms range from three to 60 months. The platform integrates Furniture.com's AI-powered discovery tools with Flex Pay's payment infrastructure. It eliminates the need to manage separate carts, checkout processes, and financing applications across different retailers. Furniture.com currently works with more than 77 participating retailers. Flex Pay is provided by Upgrade, Inc., which has delivered over $48 billion in credit to over 7.5 million customers since 2017.

Upgrade

Aug 10th, 2026

Upgrade launches OneCard to give consumers more control over their finances.

Upgrade launches OneCard to give consumers more control over their finances. San Francisco - August 10, 2026 OneCard Products After years of pioneering responsible credit cards and generous rewards, Upgrade takes product innovation one step further, launching the first card that combines the ability to pay immediately, pay in 4, and pay over time. Upgrade, Inc., a fintech company that offers affordable and responsible credit, mobile banking and payment products to mainstream consumers, today announced the upcoming launch of OneCard. The first iteration of the new card, OneCard Essentials, earns 3% unlimited cash back on everyday essentials, has no annual fee, and offers more ways to pay than any currently existing card in the industry. The launch marks the culmination of seven years of learning and improvements from multiple card products dedicated to helping consumers move their finances in the right direction. "With OneCard we are taking the best offerings from every card we've had - the ability to pay immediately, flexible payment schedules when needed, and of course maximum rewards," said Renaud Laplanche, co-founder and CEO of Upgrade. "OneCard empowers cardholders to manage spending and repayment on their own terms." Upgrade launched its first card product, Upgrade Card, in 2019 to address the issue of revolving credit card debt by turning every balance into an installment loan. In 2022 the company released an initial version of OneCard which challenged the long-accepted line between credit and debit, making it possible to pay now or pay later with a single card. Over the years, Upgrade has innovated with multiple rewards programs, finding new ways to generate maximum savings for consumers. In the next few months, the best of Upgrade's card features will all become available through OneCard Essentials: * 3% unlimited cash back on everyday essentials, including gas stations, groceries, streaming subscriptions, and utilities * 1% cash back on all other purchases, with no limits on what you can earn * $0 annual fee * Pay as you normally would with any credit card - pay any amount, from the minimum due to the full balance, at the end of each month * Pay Now - automatically pay off purchases from your bank account the day they settle, earning rewards backed by Visa's Zero Liability protection * Pay Over Time - convert purchases into predictable fixed monthly installments with $0 down * Pay in 4 - split purchases into four interest-free bi-weekly payments OneCard is now available on an invitation-only basis, with broader availability planned through the end of 2026. About Upgrade Upgrade is a financial technology company that offers affordable and responsible credit, mobile banking, and payment products to mainstream consumers. Since its inception in 2017, Upgrade has delivered over $50 billion in credit to over 8 million customers. Upgrade's platform includes six core products: Mobile Banking, BNPL, Personal Loans, Credit Cards, Home Improvement Financing and Auto Financing. Loans and credit lines are issued, and banking services are provided, by Cross River Bank, a New Jersey State Chartered Commercial Bank, operating from its Wilmington, DE branch, Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender, and Celtic Bank, a Utah State Chartered Industrial Bank, Member FDIC. Upgrade is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with an operations center in Phoenix, Arizona, a technology center in Montreal, Canada, and regional offices in Wilmington, Delaware, Atlanta, Georgia, New York City, New York, and Irvine, California. More information is available at: https://www.upgrade.com Recent press memos. The AI-powered platform brings together discovery, project planning, checkout, and financing, making it possible to furnish an entire room across multiple retailers in one seamless purchase through Flex Pay. August 11, 2026 The AI-powered platform brings together discovery, project planning, checkout, and financing, making it possible to furnish an entire room across multiple retailers in one seamless purchase through Flex Pay. Furniture.com, the AI-powered furniture shopping platform, has selected Flex Pay to bring a... Delaware Governor Matt Meyer joined CEO Renaud Laplanche and other executives for grand opening ceremony on July 16 July 28, 2026 Delaware Governor Matt Meyer joined CEO Renaud Laplanche and other executives for grand opening ceremony on July 16 Upgrade, Inc., a fintech company that offers affordable and responsible credit and banking products to mainstream consumers, recently celebrated the grand opening of its new...