Software Engineer, Backend Developer, Full Stack Developer

Overview

What We Do:

Ascend is building the first complete financial operations platform purpose-built for insurance, combining AI-powered accounting automation, payments, and premium financing in a single solution. We work with over 4,000 businesses, including more than half of the 50 largest brokers, to bring clarity to complex accounting operations from collection to close.

How We Do It:
Ascend automates the financial operations that insurers, MGAs, and agencies run daily and embeds into the transactions where money moves. AI is driving software value at the point of transaction, delivering measurable efficiency and a 5–7x ROI for customers. Our 70+ person team, based in San Francisco and Columbus, combines deep expertise in insurance, fintech, and AI to build industry-leading infrastructure.

Why We Do It:
The insurance industry intermediates trillions of dollars, yet legacy systems constrain the industry. Our mission is to become the leading financial automation platform for insurance by 2030, transforming how trillions of dollars move and building the financial backbone of the industry.

We are seeking a Software Engineer to join our team on-site in San Francisco. You will be part of a small but growing team focused on solving complex technical challenges using Ruby, interfacing directly with customers, and collaborating cross-functionally to develop new product features, dashboards, and checkout processes without layers.

Objective #1:
In your first 30 days

• Understand Ascend's platform, product, and customer workflows by collaborating with team members and engaging with customers
• Get up to speed on our prompt engineering and data extraction work, and how testing and monitoring are handled today
• Contribute to user-facing projects
• Partner with product managers and designers to solve customer challenges directly

Objective #2:
In your first 60 days

• Own prompt logic for a slice of the product — resolving data extraction issues and partnering with internal teams on testing and monitoring
• Track extraction accuracy and analyze trends when things go wrong
• Support new customer onboarding through internal tooling improvements
• Take ownership of end-to-end features that process millions in insurance premiums
• Build intuitive UIs to power financial operations
• Maintain high product quality through proactive monitoring and continuous improvements

Objective #3:
In your first 90 days and beyond

• Collaborate with customers to translate needs into scalable solutions for the multi-trillion-dollar insurance industry
• Build reusable playbooks and prompt strategies to enable future automation
• Develop the industry s leading point-of-sale system for insurance, enabling seamless payments and improved conversion rates
• Automate back-office tasks with AI to reduce time and improve accuracy for accounting teams
• Help shape technical architecture and processes as the platform scales
• Mentor engineers through thoughtful code reviews and technical guidance

• 1–3 years of relevant experience
• Experience working at a growth-stage startup
• Experience with relational databases
• Experience building and scaling consumer products
• A strong desire to learn new skills and solve business problems

• Familiarity or interest in learning Ruby on Rails and Next.js
• Familiarity with building external APIs and integrations with platforms such as Salesforce
• Experience in building payment, checkout, or insurance products

• Ruby on Rails API hosted on Heroku
• Next.js with Type Script hosted on Vercel
• Tailwind CSS across all frontend development
• Postgres and Redis for storage
• Continuous integration and delivery

Base Salary Range: $140,000–$175,000

All roles at Ascend are five days a week onsite at our SoMa office.

• 100% health premiums covered for you and your dependents
• 401k with employer matching options
• A fast growing team with promotion from within — 80% of all hires in the last 12 months have been promoted
• Unlimited PTO
• Company-paid commuter benefits
• Parental and family leave
• Lunch every day
• Dog-friendly office

We are committed to equal opportunity employment and embrace diversity within our organization. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We encourage candidates to apply even if their experience doesn t precisely match this opportunity. We value diversity and are dedicated to equal opportunity employment.