Senior Software Engineer, Product

About Upstart

At Upstart, we’re united by a mission that matters: to radically reduce the cost and complexity of borrowing for all Americans. Every day, we bring creativity, experimentation, and advanced AI to reshape access to credit, helping millions move forward financially with clarity and confidence.

As the leading AI lending marketplace, we partner with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit through technology that’s both radically intelligent and deeply human. Our platform runs over one million predictions per borrower using more than 1,800 signals, powering smarter, fairer decisions for millions of customers. But the numbers only hint at the impact. Every idea, every voice, and every contribution moves us closer to a world where credit never stands between people and their financial progress.

We’re proudly digital-first, giving most Upstarters the flexibility to do their best work from wherever they thrive, alongside teammates across 80+ cities in the US and Canada. Digital-first doesn’t mean distant. We’re intentional about in-person connection through team onsites, planning sessions, and moments that spark creativity and trust. And whether you choose to work primarily from home or collaborate in-person from one of our offices in Columbus, Austin, the Bay Area, or New York City (opening Summer 2026), you’ll have the support to work in the way that works best for you.

If you’re energized by tackling meaningful problems, excited to innovate with purpose, and motivated by work that truly matters, we’d love to hear from you.

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.

• Design and build the frontend 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.

Minimum requirements:

• 4+ years of experience building frontend and 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…