Staff Software Engineer (Fintech)

TL;DR

Staff Software Engineer (Fintech): Designing and driving the technical strategy for the Issuing platform, including backend services, APIs, and cardholder lifecycle management with an accent on scalability, reliability, and financial correctness. Focus on building high-availability distributed systems, optimizing authorization flows, and leading cross-functional initiatives to expand card issuing capabilities globally.

Location: Must be based in New York, South San Francisco, or Seattle (Hybrid)

Salary: $224,000 – $336,000

Company

Stripe is a financial infrastructure platform for businesses that enables millions of companies to accept payments and grow revenue.

What you will do

• Define and drive the multi-year technical strategy and architecture for the Issuing platform, covering backend services and APIs.
• Own end-to-end technical solutions for critical systems, including authorization flows, spending controls, and cardholder management.
• Lead infrastructure investments to unlock new issuing models and geographic expansion.
• Collaborate with product, design, and cross-functional partners to drive initiatives from design to launch.
• Mentor senior engineers and establish high engineering standards and operational rigor.
• Design and maintain large-scale systems capable of handling billions of money movement requests efficiently.

Requirements

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with demonstrated impact at a staff or equivalent scope.
• Proven track record of shipping large-scale user-facing products with highly available distributed backend systems.
• Strong API design instincts and experience building developer-friendly interfaces for complex requirements.
• Experience leading complex, cross-functional engineering projects from requirements through to delivery.
• Ability to influence technical direction and align multiple teams without direct authority.
• Must be based in New York, South San Francisco, or Seattle.

Nice to have

• Experience with real-time transaction processing systems (authorizations, payments, settlement).
• Familiarity with card network protocols (Visa, Mastercard) or BIN sponsorship models.
• Experience in regulated financial services, including compliance-aware design, audit trails, and KYC/KYB flows.
• Background in embedded finance, card-as-a-service, or Banking-as-a-Service platforms.
• Experience with high-volume event-driven architectures.

Culture & Benefits

• High-impact, high-visibility role at the intersection of financial infrastructure and developer experience.
• Opportunity to work on systems that increase the GDP of the internet.
• Collaborative environment within a distributed and hybrid team.
• Focus on professional growth and mentoring the next generation of technical leaders.