Shape the future of banking with AI by creating innovative solutions that automate 90% of manual work in lending while mentoring junior engineers in a high-growth startup.
Staff Software Engineer
Our Client | AI-Native Banking Platform San Francisco, CA (On-site)
$185K – $255K base + competitive equity
US citizens preferred (no new H-1B sponsorship; case-by-case H-1B transfers possible)
About Our Client Our Client is building AGI for banking — replacing decades-old legacy systems with AI-native technology that automates 90% of manual work in small business lending and loan origination. They deliver a compliant, responsible AI Loan Origination System (LOS) for FDIC-insured banks, regional lenders, and non-bank lenders — enabling instant pre-qualification, superhuman underwriting, document analysis (10,000+ pages), 24/7 AI Loan Assistant, and massive cycle-time reduction. Founded in 2023 by Stanford banking + ML experts. Backed by Y Combinator, Peterson Ventures, Clocktower Technology Ventures, The Sarah Smith Fund, and others. ~$33M raised. Team of 35, high-intensity startup environment in SF.
The Role We are hiring a Staff Software Engineer (7+ years product-focused engineering) to act as a force multiplier: a holistic technical leader bridging code, people, and business outcomes while mentoring juniors and driving engineering excellence. You will have outsized impact on product, organization, and culture as the company scales.
Key Responsibilities
Lead architectural decisions and own complex, cross-team initiatives — balancing long-term system stability with the high velocity required in a Series A startup.
Spend ~70% hands-on coding and ~30% on technical leadership & mentorship for one of the core product teams (Applicant, Lender, or Platform).
Mentor and develop junior engineers; amplify team skills, vision, and best practices.
Collaborate across engineering, product, and leadership to ensure a cohesive, high-quality system; transplant learnings organization-wide.
Potentially interact directly with customers / customer-facing teams during working sessions to gather requirements and validate that the highly configurable platform meets real needs in regulated lending.
Must-Have Experience & Skills
7+ years product-focused software engineering.
Staff Engineer (or equivalent) at a Series A or B startup.
Proven track record delivering significant projects in fast-paced, production SaaS environments.
Experience in regulated industries (FinTech, Healthcare, or similar).
Quality-first mentality with bias for action — understands trade-offs between “doing it right” and “doing it now”.
Holistic understanding of web architectures, relational databases (PostgreSQL), and distributed cloud platforms (AWS).
Tech stack alignment: TypeScript, React, Next.js, Python, PostgreSQL, AWS.
Clear, succinct, precise communication.
Experience mentoring junior engineers and working directly with customers / customer-facing teams.
Thrives in fast-paced, high-intensity startup environments.
Traits to Avoid
Exclusively Big Tech or late-stage (late Series C+) experience.
Job hopping (more than two roles under one year).
Focused primarily on low-level firmware or foundational model training.
Why Join Our Client
Shape the future of banking with AI — help create a new category that automates 90% of manual lending work.
Staff-level role with heavy hands-on coding + genuine technical leadership.
Own significant parts of a complex, enterprise-grade system.
Mentor juniors and directly influence engineering culture and excellence.
Work with a mission-driven team backed by top-tier VCs in a high-growth AI fintech.
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🚫 Third-party recruiters, please do not reach out for this role.
Career Mentors, LLC connects ambitious job seekers with experienced mentors in various industries, enabling them to navigate their career paths more effectively. Our platform caters to individuals looking for guidance and insights as they pursue opportunities in high-growth fields. What sets us apart is our focus on personal mentorship, matching users with professionals who have firsthand experience in their desired roles.
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