Staff Engineer

• Set technical direction across domains — define architecture, establish patterns, and guide the design of complex, cross-team systems that underpin critical business initiatives.

• Drive the hardest initiatives end-to-end — lead large, multi-team efforts by turning ambiguity into execution, managing technical risk, and aligning teams around a single delivery path.

• Multiply engineering impact — partner with senior leaders to translate business strategy into technical roadmaps, coach tech leads to raise the bar, and elevate org-wide standards for reliability, scalability, and developer experience.

• Remote-first opportunity for US-based employees with the option to work in-person out of our Manhattan office

Start your adventure with Zip

• Lead large, cross-domain engineering initiatives that span multiple teams, systems, and product areas from concept through delivery.

• Design and evolve shared architectures and technical patterns that enable teams to build scalable, reliable, and maintainable systems.

• Break down complex, ambiguous problem spaces into clear technical strategies and executable multi-team plans.

• Own technical decision-making for high-risk or high-impact initiatives, balancing short-term delivery with long-term platform health.

• Create alignment across teams by managing dependencies, technical tradeoffs, and architectural consistency at scale.

• Coach tech leads and senior engineers on system design, planning, and technical leadership without taking over team ownership.

• Partner with product and engineering leadership to translate business strategy into coherent technical roadmaps.

• Improve organization-wide engineering excellence in reliability, performance, quality, and developer experience.

• Influence engineering standards and best practices through hands-on contributions, design reviews, and technical forums.

What you’ll bring to the team

• 12-15 years of professional software engineering experience, including senior or staff-level individual contributor roles in modern engineering organizations.

• Proven experience leading cross-team or cross-domain technical initiatives, such as major product launches, platform modernization, or complex system migrations.

• Deep expertise in system design and architecture, with experience building and operating scalable, distributed, and highly reliable production systems.

• Hands-on technical leadership, remaining actively involved in design, implementation, and technical decision-making.

• Deep hands-on expertise in modern backend platforms, including Azure or AWS, C#/.NET or equivalent, and designing distributed systems using domain-driven design, microservices, and event-driven architectures.

• Strong ability to influence without authority, aligning multiple teams and stakeholders around shared technical direction.

• Experience partnering with engineering managers and product leaders to turn business strategy into executable technical roadmaps.

• Sound judgment in balancing short-term delivery with long-term technical health, including managing risk and technical debt.

• Experience mentoring senior engineers and tech leads, raising the bar for technical quality and decision-making across teams.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience (advanced degrees optional).

• AI Component – Demonstrated ability to lead and scale AI-assisted engineering practices, partnering with tech leads and teams to embed AI into daily workflows and delivery rituals, and to measure and improve outcomes such as cycle time, quality, and developer productivity.

Nice to have

• Experience building and scaling systems in fintech or other highly regulated environments (e.g., payments, lending, banking).

• Familiarity with security, compliance, audit, and data protection requirements in regulated domains.

• Exposure to high-availability, high-throughput systems where correctness and resilience are critical.

What you’ll get in return

Zip is a place where you’ll get out what you put in. The newness of our sector means we need to move at pace and embrace change, and our promise to you when you join the team is that you’ll feel empowered and trusted to make big things happen quickly.

We want you to feel welcome and as though you have the support to be yourself, and care for yourself at work. Because it’s important to us that you make the most of the opportunities you’ll get to grow your skills and your career, and be surrounded by smart, friendly people and leaders that have your back.

We think these are just some of the best things about being a Zipster. We will also offer you:

• Flexible working culture

• Incentive programs

• Unlimited PTO

• Generous paid parental leave

• Leading family support policies

• Company-sponsored 401k match

• Learning and wellness subscription stipend

• Beautiful Union Square office with a casual dress code

• Industry-leading, employer-sponsored insurance for you and your dependents, with several 100% Zip-covered choices available

The Pay Range for this position: $175,000-190,000 based on the industry benchmark for position, function, level and Zip's compensation strategies. However, actual base salary will depend on varying circumstances and individualized factors, such as job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and other objective business considerations.

Subject to those same considerations, the total compensation package for this position may also include other elements, including a bonus and/or equity awards, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits.

#LI-Remote

Be a part of a team that reflects the diversity of our customers

We pride ourselves on being a workplace that provides equal opportunities to people of all ages, cultural backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender identities, abilities, veteran status, and everything else that makes you unique.

Equally, we’re committed to ensuring our recruitment processes are accessible and inclusive. Please let us know If there are any adjustments that need to be made to ensure you have a fair and equitable experience.

And finally…get to know us

Zip is a global ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ company that gives our millions of customers simpler and fairer ways to pay.

We are proud to be a global business built around our US and ANZ core markets working with merchant partners including Amazon, Best Buy, eBay and Uber. United by our mission, purpose and values - Customer First, Own It, Stronger Together & Change The Game - we are the next generation

We are Zip, and we are just getting started.

Before you apply, give Zip a try -> rebrand.ly/check-zip-out

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