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.
The Team
Upstart’s Event Bus, Experimentation, and gRPC team is responsible for building frameworks and tooling to support Event Driven Architectures, safe and measurable roll out of new features, and efficient service to service communication. We do this by owning the build process and libraries for the four primarily supported languages at Upstart (Ruby, Kotlin, Python, and TypeScript). These platform products allow Upstart engineers to use them in a simple and secure way. Ease of use, performance, data quality, observability, and security are our guiding principles.
As a Senior Software Engineer on Upstart’s Event Bus, Experimentation, and gRPC team, you are empowered to design and implement high impact, cross cutting solutions that touch nearly every service within Upstart. We are a small and high impacting team contributing to Upstart’s North Star Architecture and need a product-oriented engineer who is excited to contribute across Event Bus, Experimentation, and gRPC internal tooling.
Position Location - This role is available in the following locations: Remote, San Mateo, Columbus, Austin
Time Zone Requirements - This team operates on the East/West Coast time zones.
Travel Requirements - As a digital first company, the majority of your work can be accomplished remotely. This team also has regular onsite collaboration sessions. These occur roughly once per quarter (~3 days at a time) in one of our main offices (Columbus, OH, Austin, TX or San Mateo, CA). If you need to travel to make these meetups, Upstart will cover all travel related expenses.
How you’ll make an impact:
- Lead the design and development of new features and improvements to existing features.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to understand requirements and bring those insights into building an impactful roadmap for the team
- Establish best practices for achieving an Event Driven Architecture, safe feature rollout, and service to service, API design.
- Mentor junior engineers and promote a culture of technical excellence
- Contribute to quality improvements within our team and the engineering organization in a meaningful way
What we’re looking for:
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field
- 5+ years of professional experience
- Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams.
- Strong proficiency in one or more of Kotlin, Java, Python, Ruby, or Typescript programming languages
- Proficiency in automated testing patterns
- Experience in building highly observable systems
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with Kotlin, Python, Ruby, or Typescript
- Experience with Kafka
- Experience with gRPC
- Experience with A/B testing and/or Feature Flagging
- Strong sense of ownership and accountability for the quality and timely delivery of work
- Ability to thrive both in self-directed work environments and in collaborative settings, contributing positively to team dynamic.
At Upstart, your base pay is one part of your total compensation package. The anticipated base salary for this position is expected to be within the below range. Your actual base pay will depend on your geographic location–with our “digital first” philosophy, Upstart uses compensation regions that vary depending on location. Individual pay is also determined by job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.
In addition, Upstart provides employees with target bonuses, equity compensation, and generous benefits packages (including medical, dental, vision, and 401k).
What you'll love
At Upstart, our benefits are designed to support your health, financial well-being, family, and personal growth. Here’s what you can expect:
- Competitive compensation, including base pay, bonus opportunities, and annual equity grants that vest quarterly
- Generous 401(k) plan with Upstart matching $2 for every $1 contributed, up to $15,000 per year
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) with discounted stock purchase options for eligible employees
- Affordable medical, dental, and vision coverage, with multiple plan options - Upstart covers 90% to 100% of the cost depending on the plans you choose
- Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart for eligible plans
- Income protection benefits, including company-paid Basic Life, AD&D, and Short- and Long-Term Disability coverage, with options to purchase supplemental coverage
- Paid time off, sick and safe time, and company holidays
- Paid family and parental leave to support caregiving and major life moments
- Family-centered benefits through Carrot and Cleo, supporting fertility, parenthood, and caregiving
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offering mental health support and life-centered resources
- Financial wellness resources, including access to financial planning tools and a financial concierge service
- Annual wellness allowance to support your physical and emotional well-being and personal development, based on what matters most to you
- Annual productivity allowance to invest in relevant tools and resources you need to do your best work, no matter where you work from
- Connection and community through team events and onsites, all-company updates, and employee resource groups (ERGs)
- Onsite perks, including catered lunches and fully stocked micro-kitchens when working from one of our four offices, located in the Bay Area, Austin, Columbus, and New York City (opening Summer 2026!).
Upstart is a proud Equal Opportunity Employer. Just as we are dedicated to improving access to affordable credit for all, we are committed to inclusive and fair hiring practices.
If you require reasonable accommodation in completing an application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please email [email protected]
https://www.upstart.com/candidate_privacy_policy
Top Skills
Similar Jobs at Upstart
What you need to know about the Seattle Tech Scene
Key Facts About Seattle Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 287,000; 13% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Google
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, software, biotechnology, game development
- Funding Landscape: $3.1 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Madrona, Fuse, Tola, Maveron
- Research Centers and Universities: University of Washington, Seattle University, Seattle Pacific University, Allen Institute for Brain Science, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle Children’s Research Institute
