Senior Software Engineer, Backend

Perpay Inc.; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); On-site; USD 160,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Premium medical benefits

401k match

Unlimited PTO

Remote weeks around holidays

Catered lunch

Gym subsidy

Paid cell phone plan

Student loan repayment match

Relocation assistance

Employee discounts

Job summary

Perpay is seeking a senior backend engineer to design and implement scalable server-side features, write code, review PRs, mentor engineers, and help scope and design new backend capabilities.

You’ll work with Python/Django, React, Kubernetes, AWS, Docker, Postgres and Celery in a fast-paced, on-site team in center-city Philadelphia, with the option for flexible remote weeks and generous benefits.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience building web applications at scale in at least one modern language / framework (e.g. Python/Django, Rails, etc.)
• 2+ years of experience leading technical teams and large, complex projects
• Deep understanding of relational databases (e.g., Postgres), query optimization, indexing strategies, and schema evolution
• Experience operating production systems in a large cloud provider (e.g. AWS)
• Familiarity with containerized environments (Docker) and orchestration systems (Kubernetes)
• Experience with background job systems and message queues (e.g. Celery)
• Working knowledge of caching strategies (e.g. Redis)
• Experience with monitoring/observability tooling (e.g. Datadog, CloudWatch)
• Strong understanding of system reliability, failure modes, and operational tradeoffs
• Ability to communicate complex system behavior clearly to non-technical stakeholders
• A solutions-oriented mindset, willing to step outside your primary domain to unblock teammates and ensure successful delivery

Responsibilities

• Design and evolve RESTful APIs used by our frontend and internal systems
• Own data modeling decisions across our relational databases with an eye toward performance and maintainability
• Improve reliability, observability, and operational excellence of our backend systems (metrics, logging, tracing, alerting)
• Participate in architectural decisions around service boundaries, asynchronous workflows, and distributed system tradeoffs
• Diagnose and resolve production issues across multiple services
• Contribute to infrastructure-as-code and CI/CD improvements to increase developer velocity and system stability
• Partner with product and stakeholders to translate complex business rules into maintainable backend systems

Skills

Backend development

Distributed systems

Architectural design

Mentoring

Code reviews

Tools

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

Celery

Redis

PostgreSQL

Datadog

CloudWatch

Job description

About Us

Perpay is a certified B Corp and Philadelphia’s most impactful growth‑stage startup. We are driven by a mission to significantly improve the financial stability of everyday Americans. For the past decade, we have established strong product‑market fit and a profitable, efficient operating model across a suite of products, positioning Perpay as the premier financial partner for consumers with subprime credit.

With over 500,000 customers who have utilized more than $1 billion in spending power, we are at a pivotal moment. We are scaling our operations, building new offerings, and deepening our impact. We are looking for teammates eager to join us on this journey.

Our venture partners include First Round Capital and L Catterton.

Products we’ve built to make an impact

• Perpay Marketplace: Combines interest‑free payments and modern e‑commerce to reduce cost of ownership and promote healthy repayment behavior.


• Perpay+: Leverages Marketplace repayment history to help members monitor and build credit with all 3 credit bureaus.


• Perpay Credit Card: Expands access to the flexibility and benefits of a World Mastercard by removing common barriers like high security deposits and low approval odds.

Our team thrives on in‑person collaboration, operating from our unique center‑city Philadelphia office. This comfortable \"home away from home\" space offers river views and fosters rapid product development, strong relationships, and career growth. The energy from achieving big wins is palpable here. While we primarily work in the office, we offer sensible flexibility for personal needs, such as sick children or urgent errands, and coordinate official remote weeks around major holidays. If you are passionate about a meaningful mission, collaboration, equity, and generous perks, Perpay is the best place to be in Philadelphia right now.

About the Role

We are looking for senior backend engineers passionate about backend technology, excellent user experience and system reliability. The ideal candidate has helped lead the technical design and implementation of backend features on at least one sizable production application within the past year. A senior backend engineer at Perpay will spend their time writing code, reviewing PRs, mentoring engineers, and helping scope & design new features. We are looking for people who can bring backend technical expertise to push our technology forward — whether it’s hosting a lunch‑and‑learn on a new backend technology or directing a large refactor. We value engineers who demonstrate excitement around solving tough problems and delivering solutions in a fast‑paced environment.

Much of our team is full‑stack, so we look for team members excited to learn new technologies and work across all stacks, even if it’s not something you’ve done before! Our tech stack: Javascript, React, React Native, Redux, Python, Django, Flask, Kubernetes, AWS, Docker and more.

Responsibilities

• Design and evolve RESTful APIs used by our frontend and internal systems


• Own data modeling decisions across our relational databases with an eye toward performance and maintainability


• Improve reliability, observability, and operational excellence of our backend systems (metrics, logging, tracing, alerting)


• Participate in architectural decisions around service boundaries, asynchronous workflows, and distributed system tradeoffs


• Diagnose and resolve production issues across multiple services


• Contribute to infrastructure‑as‑code and CI/CD improvements to increase developer velocity and system stability


• Partner with product and stakeholders to translate complex business rules into maintainable backend systems

What You’ll Bring

• 5+ years of experience building web applications at scale in at least one modern language / framework (e.g. Python/Django, Rails, etc.)


• 2+ years of experience leading technical teams and large, complex projects


• Deep understanding of relational databases (e.g., Postgres), query optimization, indexing strategies, and schema evolution


• Experience operating production systems in a large cloud provider (e.g. AWS)Familiarity with containerized environments (Docker) and orchestration systems (Kubernetes)


• Experience with background job systems and message queues (e.g. Celery)


• Working knowledge of caching strategies (e.g. Redis)


• Experience with monitoring/observability tooling (e.g. Datadog, CloudWatch)


• Strong understanding of system reliability, failure modes, and operational tradeoffs


• Ability to communicate complex system behavior clearly to non‑technical stakeholders


• A solutions‑oriented mindset, willing to step outside your primary domain to unblock teammates and ensure successful delivery

NYC‑level total cash‑comp (base $160k into the $200’s, plus equity and a discretionary cash bonus)

What We’ll Bring to Full‑time Team Members

• Meaningful compensation and equity


• Premium medical benefits (fully paid base plan, and very reasonable premium for the buy‑up option)


• 5% employer 401k match


• Unlimited PTO policy


• Remote weeks around major holidays + extra holiday on weekends like MDW and LDW


• High quality catered lunch by local chefs, 4 days / week


• Gym subsidy


• Paid cell phone + plan


• Student loan repayment match program


• Family savings match program
  
• Relocation assistance


• Generous team member discounts

This is not a remote opportunity; it is 100% onsite () () ()

Perpay is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity in all its forms and are committed to creating an inclusive environment. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, sex (including pregnancy), marital status, political affiliation, age, veteran status, disability status or other non‑merit factor. Please contact us at [e-mail] to request accommodation.