Senior Manager, Software Engineering

About Upstart

Upstart is the leading AI lending marketplace partnering with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit. By leveraging Upstart's AI marketplace, Upstart-powered banks and credit unions can have higher approval rates and lower loss rates across races, ages, and genders, while simultaneously delivering the exceptional digital-first lending experience their customers demand. More than 80% of borrowers are approved instantly, with zero documentation to upload.

Upstart is a digital-first company, which means that most Upstarters live and work anywhere in the United States. However, we also have offices in San Mateo, California;
Columbus, Ohio; and Austin, Texas.

Most Upstarters join us because they connect with our mission of enabling access to effortless credit based on true risk. If you are energized by the impact you can make at Upstart, we’d love to hear from you!

Upstart’s Servicing Payments and Borrowers Experience team is responsible for delivering a seamless and reliable payment experience for borrowers, a critical part of Upstart’s financial ecosystem. Our team owns the infrastructure that powers all borrower-facing payments and the internal systems that ensure financial accuracy, compliance, and system reliability. As we scale our platform to support new products, payment types, and borrower volumes, we’re investing in leaders who can drive architectural clarity, foster high-performing teams, and build systems that balance speed, reliability, and compliance.

As the Senior Engineering Manager - Payments at Upstart, you will lead a team of 12+ across two engineering squads, partnering closely with Product, Risk, and Operations to translate business needs into resilient, scalable technical solutions. This role reports to a Sr Director of Engineering and is focused on driving architectural clarity and building systems that balance speed, reliability, and compliance.

• Define and execute the long-term technical strategy for borrower payments and servicing infrastructure.
• Lead multi-quarter, cross-functional initiatives that improve borrower outcomes and payment success rates.
• Build and scale engineering teams with a strong culture of ownership, execution, and operational excellence.
• Deliver platform improvements that enhance reliability, reduce latency, and increase payment success.
• Connect engineering work directly to business and borrower outcomes, enabling measurable improvements in financial performance.
• Create processes and systems that scale with growing borrower volume, product complexity, and compliance requirements.
• Establish clear technical and delivery visibility across squads, ensuring high confidence in roadmap execution.

• 10–15 years of software engineering experience, with 4–7 years in engineering management roles.
• Deep technical expertise in distributed systems, APIs, and systems design.
• Proven experience leading teams in regulated domains such as fintech, payments, or lending.
• Demonstrated ability to define and deliver complex technical strategies that align with business goals.
• Strong track record of building high-performing teams and mentoring engineering leaders.
• Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.

• Experience integrating with external payment networks and building highly reliable payment systems.
• Familiarity with data consistency models, reconciliation workflows, and transaction observability.
• Systems thinker with a bias for action—capable of moving quickly while maintaining compliance and quality.
• Experience working in consumer-facing domains with a strong empathy for user experience.
• Proven ability to lead platform migration or modernization efforts while minimizing risk.

This role is available in the following locations:
Remote

As a digital first company, the majority of your work can be accomplished remotely. The majority of our employees can live and work anywhere in the U.S but are encouraged to still spend high quality time in-person collaborating via regular onsites. The in-person sessions’ cadence varies…