Software Engineer III

Lead; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 190,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity grants

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, 401k

Paid parental leave

Flexible vacation policy

Hybrid and inclusive culture

Disability accommodations

Fair Chance Ordinance compliance

Job summary

Lead Bank in San Francisco Bay Area is seeking an accomplished Senior Backend Engineer to design, build and maintain large-scale backend systems. You will focus on performance, reliability and scalability, collaborating with product managers and stakeholders to deliver robust features.

Ideal candidates have 7+ years shipping backend projects in cloud-native environments (AWS), strong skills in Go or Java, and proven leadership to mentor junior engineers while driving cross-functional initiatives.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience shipping successful projects.
• Experience with cloud-native architectures on AWS.
• Proficiency in Go or Java.
• Strong leadership and mentoring ability.
• Excellent cross-functional communication.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and maintain large-scale backend systems.
• Collaborate with PMs and stakeholders to ship features.
• Mentor and grow junior engineers.
• Drive performance and reliability across services.
• Navigate ambiguous problems and deliver high quality code.

Skills

Go

Java

Cloud native AWS

System design

Mentorship

Communication

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

AWS

Kubernetes

SQL/NoSQL databases

Job description

About Lead Bank

Lead is a banking infrastructure platform trusted by the most innovative companies to power complex financial products. We enable fintechs to offer compliant, programmable services like payments, lending, and digital assets at scale. Banking has moved beyond traditional institutions and is now embedded directly into everyday experiences, meaning companies need modern infrastructure that is safe, secure, and operationally sound.

Today, Lead is one of the only API-first, developer-focused partner banks with the financial, regulatory, and legal expertise required to help fintechs succeed. We operate offices in San Francisco, Sunnyvale, and New York City, and an FDIC-insured bank in Kansas City.

Engineering Team at Lead

The Engineering team builds and maintains the technology that powers Lead's modern banking platform. Partnering with the Product, Finance, and Compliance teams, they architect secure, scalable financial systems that power money movement, credit and lending, card issuing, and account products for fintechs. Success requires technical excellence, a passion for solving complex infrastructure challenges, and the ability to collaborate effectively with a diverse set of stakeholders. The team is made up of ambitious builders and pragmatic problem solvers who are genuinely excited to see their work reach millions of end users across the globe.

Role Description

This candidate will design, build and maintain large scale backend systems with a focus on performance, reliability and scalability. They will work closely with product managers and key stakeholders across the company to implement new features that address both product goals and customer needs. Candidates will prioritize effectively, develop systems from the ground up, navigate ambiguous problem domains, grow the team via mentorship and leadership and have a consistent track record of high performance and delivery.

This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties. Team members will also perform all other duties assigned based on business needs.

Basic Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience and a proven track record of shipping successful projects
• You are passionate about building large scale systems in a cloud native environment (preferably AWS)
• You have a strong command of at least one language (preferably Go and/or Java)
• Demonstrated experience in working on large scale systems, developing and maintaining a high quality code base, and consistently delivering challenging projects on schedule with high quality
• Demonstrated leadership skills and the ability to mentor and guide junior engineers
• Ability to collaborate/compromise to get to the best, most efficient outcome
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work cross-functionally to align stakeholders on the goals and deliverables
• You are curious, have humility and are open to learning

Preferred Qualifications

• Fintech experience is a plus
• Ability to perform in a fluid environment with high autonomy

What We Offer

• At Lead, we design our benefits to support company culture and principles, to foster an efficient and inspiring work environment, and to create the conditions for our team to give their best in both work and life
• Competitive compensation, including opportunities for equity grants, based on experience, geographic location, and role
• Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, 401k Matching, and other wellness benefits, including FSA, HSA and HRA
• Paid parental leave
• Flexible vacation policy, including PTO and paid holidays
• A fun and challenging team environment in a dynamic industry with ample opportunities for career growth
• Lead Bank is proud to have an inclusive culture committed to ensuring equal employment opportunity in all employment decisions regardless of race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, veteran status or any other legally protected status.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
• Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several US geographic markets. Pay is based on a number of factors and may vary depending on geographical market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. These ranges may be modified in the future.

Zone 1: $190,000 - $210,000 (SF/Bay Area, NYC)

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