Lead Backend Engineer, AI-Driven Banking & Operations

Happen Bank, N.A.; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 190,000 - 215,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Dental & Vision

401(k) match

Flexible PTO

Parental leave

Job summary

Happen Bank (formerly LendingClub) seeks a Lead Software Engineer to design and build scalable backend systems with frontend fluency when needed. You will work with Operations and Underwriting to streamline workflows, improve efficiency, and influence technical direction.

You will own tools end‑to‑end, balance speed and reliability, and apply strong security practices to protect PII. This role requires leadership and cross‑team collaboration.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of backend software engineering experience with a bachelor's degree or higher or equivalent.
• Deep expertise building backend services in Java and Spring Boot, with AWS and data stores.
• Ownership mindset, strong security practices, and ability to work across the stack.
• Experience with banking/underwriting domain and handling PII data responsibly.

Responsibilities

• Own and deliver tools and services that improve operational efficiency from design through production.
• Build understanding of banking/underwriting domains to fit and streamline workflows.
• Make architecture decisions balancing speed, reliability, and maintainability.
• Apply security and data access practices for PII and sensitive data, with auditing.
• Identify opportunities to automate workflows and use AI where appropriate.
• Partner with Operations/Underwriting to translate pain points into technical solutions.
• Review code and designs to raise quality and security standards.
• Troubleshoot production issues, perform root cause analysis, and implement improvements.

Skills

Java/Spring Boot

AWS

Relational databases

NoSQL databases

PII security

AI tooling

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher

Job description

Happen Bank (formerly LendingClub) seeks a Lead Software Engineer to design and build scalable backend systems with frontend fluency when needed. You will work with Operations and Underwriting to streamline workflows, improve efficiency, and influence technical direction.

You will own tools end‑to‑end, balance speed and reliability, and apply strong security practices to protect PII. This role requires leadership and cross‑team collaboration.