U

Upstart

Runs an AI lending marketplace for consumers

Senior Software Engineer - Unsecured Installments

Full-Stack EngineeringConfirmed live in the last 24 hours
Full-time

About the Job

Requirements

  • A bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience, and 6+ years of professional software engineering experience.
  • Deep proficiency designing and building backend services and APIs in a language such as Python, Java, Kotlin, Go, Ruby, or Node.js.
  • Strong experience with service architecture, API design, data modeling, relational or non-relational databases, and distributed systems.
  • A track record of independently leading the design and delivery of large, business-critical backend or full-stack projects in production.
  • Experience building reliable production systems, including testing, monitoring, incident response, performance optimization, and long-term operational ownership.
  • Ability to work effectively in ambiguous environments where product requirements, constraints, and system boundaries evolve over time.
  • Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to explain technical tradeoffs and align product and engineering partners.

Responsibilities

  • Own the design and delivery of large, complex backend and full-stack initiatives, from planning and sequencing through launch and long-term maintenance.
  • Set technical direction for the team's service architecture, APIs, data models, and system integrations, owning a 3–6 month roadmap and proactively addressing systemic gaps that threaten reliability or team effectiveness.
  • Partner closely with product, frontend, design, platform, and other backend engineers to translate roadmap priorities and borrower needs into scalable, high-quality systems.
  • Raise the bar for engineering excellence through thoughtful service and API design, data integrity, testing, observability, security, and operational rigor across business-critical lending workflows.
  • Lead through ambiguity by breaking down loosely defined problems into clear, testable plans and using data to inform tradeoffs involving scope, scalability, performance, reliability, and customer experience.
  • Mentor and grow other engineers through code reviews, design reviews, and technical guidance, and serve as a trusted collaborator across the team.
  • Contribute to how the team uses AI in development workflows and product capabilities, with a pragmatic view of where it can create meaningful leverage.

Desired Qualifications

  • Experience serving as the backend or full-stack technical lead for a product team or business-critical system.
  • Experience building consumer-facing products or high-volume transactional systems with strong requirements around reliability, scalability, correctness, and security.
  • Background in fintech, lending, payments, or other regulated financial products involving complex workflows and high quality expectations.
  • Experience with distributed systems, asynchronous processing, event-driven architectures, or service-oriented architectures.
  • Familiarity with cloud infrastructure, relational and non-relational data stores, messaging systems, and CI/CD workflows.
  • Experience with experimentation, feature flagging, or platform capabilities that support iterative product improvements in production.
  • Hands-on experience leveraging generative AI in product features or internal engineering workflows.
  • Passion for building products that expand access to credit and improve financial outcomes for consumers.

About the Company

Upstart

Runs an AI lending marketplace for consumers

Upstart runs an online lending marketplace where banks and credit unions use its AI models to decide which consumers get loans and at what rates. In 2017, it received the first no-action letter issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a statement that the regulator had no plans to act against its AI lending model. Borrowers apply through Upstart or a partner lender's website for personal loans, auto loans, home equity lines of credit, and Cash Line, a revolving line of credit. Lenders pay Upstart fees for referring and approving borrowers and for collecting payments, while partner lenders and investment funds put up most of the money lent. Upstart was founded in 2012 and is based in Burlingame, California.

Company size
1,001-5,000
Company stage
IPO
Headquarters
Burlingame, CA
Founded
2012

Recently Posted Jobs

Explore more opportunities at Upstart

See more jobs