Senior Software Engineer, Backend - Financial Product

Rippling; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 159,000 - 278,250; Full time

Job summary

Rippling is hiring a Senior Backend Engineer in Seattle, WA. In this role, you will own the design and implementation of core backend services and APIs crucial for the product. Candidates should have over 5 years of experience in backend development using Python or Go, along with expertise in distributed systems architecture, data modeling, and performance optimization. The position offers a competitive salary range of $159,000 - $278,250 per year, along with benefits and equity.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in a production environment using Python, Go, or a similar high-scale backend language.
• Deep expertise in distributed systems architecture, data modeling, and performance optimization of relational databases.
• Exceptional communication skills with technical and cross-functional stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Own the design and implementation of core backend services and APIs that power critical product capabilities.
• Ensure all systems are built for high-volume scale, reliability, and security.
• Work seamlessly with product, frontend, and platform teams to translate feature goals into robust technical solutions.

Skills

Python

Go

Distributed systems architecture

Data modeling

Performance optimization

Communication skills

Job description

About Rippling

Rippling gives businesses one place to run HR, IT, and Finance. It brings together all of the workforce systems that are normally scattered across a company, like payroll, expenses, benefits, and computers. For the first time ever, you can manage and automate every part of the employee lifecycle in a single system.

Take onboarding, for example. With Rippling, you can hire a new employee anywhere in the world and set up their payroll, corporate card, computer, benefits, and even third‑party apps like Slack and Microsoft 365—all within 90 seconds.

Based in San Francisco, CA, Rippling has raised $1.4B+ from the world’s top investors—including Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Sequoia, Greenoaks, and Bedrock—and was named one of America’s best startup employers by Forbes.

We prioritize candidate safety. Please be aware that all official communication will only be sent from @Rippling.com addresses.

About the Financial Product Team

The Financial Product Engineering team is at the forefront of Rippling's expansion into FinTech. Our mission is to build a unified, global financial system for businesses—one that is fundamentally integrated with the company's employee, HR, and IT data. We simplify complex, cross‑functional processes like global payroll, corporate spending, and expense management, ensuring businesses have precise control and real‑time visibility over all money movement.

What We Build

Our team builds and maintains the core financial products that enable businesses to operate seamlessly, covering areas such as:

• Global Payroll: Developing the systems for calculating, filing, and processing payroll across multiple countries, including tax logic, compliance, and direct money movement infrastructure.
• Spend Management: We’re building the system that gives companies total visibility and control over every dollar they spend. Our platform unifies corporate cards, reimbursements, procurement, bill pay, and travel into one integrated workflow that connects directly to accounting and payroll. Unlike point solutions, Rippling Spend ties policy enforcement, approvals, and accounting in real time, so finance teams can manage spend proactively instead of reconciling it after the facts.
• Banking & Fintech Infrastructure: We’re building the simplest, invisible, intelligent financial backbone for global money movement. This platform delivers secure, fault‑tolerant, scalable primitives for money movement, billing, reconciliation, compliance, and financial intelligence, enabling rapid launch of financial products with minimal effort, and zero disbursement failures or manual intervention.
• Tax & Compliance Platforms: Designing robust, scalable systems to handle complex, rapidly changing tax and regulatory requirements across all jurisdictions. We operate in a zero tolerance domain for accuracy, timelines and compliance. Our platform manages calculation, setup, filings and payments of taxes for US and ever expanding international markets.

What You Will Do

• Own the design and implementation of core backend services and APIs that power critical product capabilities and complex business logic.
• Ensure all systems are built for high‑volume scale, reliability, and security, making strategic decisions about infrastructure and data integrity.
• Work seamlessly with product, frontend, and platform teams to translate feature goals into robust, high‑performance technical solutions.
• Elevate the team's technical standards, lead code and design reviews, and mentor engineers on backend best practices.

What You Will Need

• 5+ years of experience in a production environment using Python, Go, or a similar high‑scale backend language.
• Deep expertise in distributed systems architecture, data modeling, and performance optimization of relational databases.
• You have seen and contributed to systems operating at a significant technical and organizational scale.
• Strong understanding of CS/algorithms fundamentals and experience with complex project delivery.
• Exceptional communication skills with technical and cross‑functional stakeholders.

Additional Information

Rippling is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, or any other legally protected characteristics. Rippling is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities who need assistance during the hiring process. To request a reasonable accommodation, please email [e-mail].

Rippling highly values having employees working in‑office to foster a collaborative work environment and company culture. For office‑based employees (employees who live within a defined radius of a Rippling office), Rippling considers working in the office, at least three days a week under current policy, to be an essential function of the employee's role.

This role will receive a competitive salary + benefits + equity. The salary for US‑based employees will be aligned with one of the ranges below based on location; see which tier applies to your location.

A variety of factors are considered when determining someone's compensation–including a candidate's professional background, experience, and location. Final offer amounts may vary from the amounts listed below.

The pay range for this role is:

159,000 - 278,250 USD per year (US Tier 1)

141,000 - 246,750 CAD per year (CA)