Senior Software Engineer, New Product

The Team

We’re a small, senior engineering team building a new product within Upstart, focused on helping consumers access responsible and affordable credit. We operate with a startup mindset—lean, fast, and deeply focused on impact. With a greenfield codebase and a high degree of autonomy, we’re shaping both the product and the way modern engineering teams work in an AI-native environment.

How you’ll make an impact:

• Design and build the backend systems that power a brand-new consumer credit experience.

• Develop scalable, distributed services using event-driven architectures to ensure reliability, observability, and long-term maintainability.

• Collaborate closely with design and product to translate intent into features that serve millions of consumers.

• Drive technical decisions in a zero-to-one product environment, balancing speed with high-quality execution.

• Apply AI-native workflows to accelerate development, testing, analysis, and documentation.

• Help define engineering best practices and culture within a fast-moving and outcome-driven team.

What we’re looking for: 

Minimum requirements:

• 4+ years of experience building backend systems in production, ideally for consumer-facing applications.

• Strong technical background in distributed systems and event-driven architecture (Kafka, SQS, Kinesis, or similar).

• Proficiency in object-oriented programming languages (e.g., Java, Kotlin, C#, Python, Ruby) and familiarity with relational databases, APIs, and caching.

• Demonstrated ability to work autonomously and thrive in ambiguous, early-stage product environments.

• Deep product sense with a strong focus on end-user experience and outcomes.

• Familiarity with observability and reliability concepts (metrics, logs, traces, SLOs).

• Actively uses AI tools in engineering workflows, with strong opinions about the future of AI in software development.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience at consumer-focused (B2C) fintech or technology companies with millions of users.

• Background in backend systems related to payments, credit, or high-scale user workflows.

• Experience building zero-to-one products and contributing to product direction in small teams.

• Exposure to schema evolution and safe data migrations in distributed environments (e.g., Protobuf, Avro).

• Entrepreneurial mindset—comfortable in dynamic environments, with a bias toward action and ownership.

• Track record of scrappy, high-quality execution and an interest in building software that serves underserved populations.

• Strong AI instincts—interest or experience building agentic systems or applying LLMs to development and testing.

What you'll love: 

• Competitive Compensation (base + bonus & equity)
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart 
• 401(k) with 100% company match up to $4,500 and immediate vesting and after-tax savings
• 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

Position Location - This role is available in the following locations: Remote, San Mateo, Columbus, Austin 

Time Zone Requirements - This team operates across all U.S. time zones.

Travel Requirements - This team has regular on-site collaboration sessions. These occur 3 days per quarter at an Upstart office. If you need to travel to make these meetups, Upstart will cover all travel related expenses.

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