Software Engineer, Payments

GovWell Technologies Inc.; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 160,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive cash compensation

Equity ownership

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) savings plan

Unlimited time off

Hybrid work environment

Meals, snacks, and team time

Job summary

GovWell Technologies Inc. is hiring a Payments Engineer in New York City to design and own the financial backbone of the platform.

You will build a ledger with auditability, implement precise fee calculations, and ensure reliable handling of partial payments, deposits, and refunds. You’ll shape the architecture with input from finance teams and engineers, working in a hybrid setup with strong autonomy and ownership.

Qualifications

• Experience designing financial or transactional systems where correctness isn’t optional.
• Ability to articulate and shape API contracts for payments workflows.
• Comfort with ambiguity at the domain-design level and ownership of architectural decisions.

Responsibilities

• Design the financial architecture GovWell runs on—the system of record for every dollar municipalities collect, refund, or hold.
• Build a real ledger from the ground up that is fully auditable and mathematically consistent.
• Turn fee calculation into a precise system, not a manual process.
• Make partial payments, deposits, and refunds first-class citizens of the platform.
• Own the migration from today’s payments to the future architecture with real customers and money.
• Collaborate with finance teams, municipal staff, and engineers to define the right abstractions.

Skills

Payments systems design

Ledger architecture

Webhooks & idempotency

API design & security

Tools

Stripe integration

Finix integration

Job description

Better government starts with better technology. GovWell is building the AI operating system transforming how governments in 40+ states serve their communities. Join our movement to help Americans believe in government again.

Help Americans believe in government again

INTERVIEW

What it’s like
to build at GovWell

Hear directly from our team about the problems we’re solving, how we work, and the ways we’re improving how governments serve their communities.

Built in NYC

From New York City,
for communities across the country

We work together from our New York City headquarters 3 to 5 days a week. Being in the same place helps us move faster, collaborate more effectively, and build lasting relationships.

Central Manhattan HQ

Our office is located in the heart of Manhattan overlooking Madison Square Park, providing easy access to major transit hubs as well as world class dining and entertainment.

Autonomy for all

While in-person is our default, we don't mandate specific days. Team members have the trust and flexibility to work the schedule that works best for them.

OURTEAM

“After working on presidential and Senate campaigns and alongside local governments, I wanted to focus on impact beyond elections. GovWell is where I can help improve how government works year after year.”

Account Executive

“Before GovWell, I ran operations on presidential campaigns, where nothing works unless the systems do. Now I help build the operational backbone public service needs to function day to day.”

"I spent years working with designers and planners, hearing the same frustration over and over: why is permitting so hard? With GovWell, we're building the solution."

Deployment Strategist

“Growing up, I helped my dad apply for hundreds of construction permits. Those frustrating experiences inspired me to found GovWell to build better solutions for the millions of tradespeople whose livelihoods depend on getting permits fast.”

CTO and Co-Founder

“Being raised by two public servants, my parents showed me early that meaningful change starts in local government and ripples outward. I’m incredibly proud to be part of GovWell and to support the people who serve their communities, helping make their work easier so residents receive the service they deserve.”

Senior Deployment Strategist

“My work has included building tools for election administration and public health during the pandemic. I joined GovWell to keep applying those skills to systems people rely on when it matters most.”

Public service mission,
with private sector perks

Great achievements require extraordinary talent. We invest in our people so you can focus on doing the best work of your career at GovWell.

01

Competitive cash compensation

We hire exceptional people to make public sector impact, with competitive private sector compensation.

02

Equity ownership

Every GovWell team member is an equity owner. When the company succeeds, we all share in the upside.

03

Medical, dental, and vision insurance, with up to 100% of premiums covered for you and your partner.

04

401(k) savings plan

We offer flexible retirement options so you can plan ahead confidently and stay in control.

05

Unlimited time off

We trust people to manage their time and encourage taking time off to rest, recharge, and stay effective.

06

Hybrid work environment

While we work together in person most days, we believe in providing all employees the autonomy and flexibility to work from home when needed.

07

Meals, snacks, and team time

A fully stocked kitchen, drinks on hand, and monthly team events and gatherings sponsored by us.

Who we are

We are uncomfortable with stasis. We believe a good life means striving vigorously towards difficult goals that challenge us to realize our full potential. We value colleagues who inspire and motivate us to level up. We seek and value feedback from others.

See open roles

Software Engineer, Payments

Location

New York, NY

Full time

Department

Compensation

We the people — and the taxpayers — deserve good government. Yet today, interacting with government services is often frustrating and inefficient. GovWell is building the AI operating system transforming how governments serve communities, starting with local agencies.

GovWell replaces legacy software for municipalities and counties, empowering public servants to radically streamline public services and cut internal processing time for permits and licenses by up to 95%.

Founded in 2023, GovWell powers 5,000+ mission-critical processes for agencies in 35+ states serving millions of residents. The company has raised $35M in funding from Insight Partners, Work-Bench, and Bienville Capital, and the team works in person at GovWell HQ in New York City. Read more about our founding story in TechCrunch .

Payments infrastructure for local government is a genuinely hard problem — real money, strict audit requirements, dozens of different fee types and collection methods, all running underneath workflows that can't afford to break. It's also a problem that’s specific to how municipalities and counties actually operate, not something you can bolt on from a generic payments product.

GovWell is hiring a Payments Engineer to own this space and build it into the financial backbone the rest of the platform runs on. This isn't a feature added to an existing system — it's a domain still being defined, which means the person who takes this on will shape the core architecture, not just extend someone else's.

We have strong opinions about the principles that this deserves — real auditability, precision in how fees are computed, a system finance teams can actually trust — but we're looking for someone who can take that point of view, sharpen it, and build it. Because so much of this is still unwritten, you'll have more autonomy and ownership here than in almost any other role at GovWell.

We have a hybrid work culture that combines regular in-person collaboration at our New York City office (3+ days per week) with flexibility to work remotely.

This role reports directly to our CTO and Co-Founder, Ben Cohen.

A mission that matters: Building AI-powered products to fix outdated government systems isn’t just a technical challenge—it’s a historic opportunity to improve our foundational relationship with government and ensure trillions of tax dollars result in high quality services. WATCH: Mission & Vision with CEO & Co-Founder Troy LeCaire

Real-world impact: GovWell’s product is the system of record for government services that affect millions of Americans. From streamlining permitting for small businesses to accelerating affordable housing development, your work will make an immediate difference.

Join a startup in hyper-growth: We’ve found product-market fit and are scaling the business very quickly (4X ARR growth in the last year). As an early team member, you’ll learn what it takes to build a successful startup. You’ll work closely with the founders while enjoying exceptional autonomy and ownership over your work.

What you’ll do

Design the financial architecture GovWell runs on — the system of record for every dollar municipalities collect, refund, or hold on someone's behalf.

Build a real ledger from the ground up: one that's fully auditable, mathematically consistent, and trusted by finance teams without a second look.

Turn fee calculation into a system that computes with precision, instead of something staff track by hand or reconstruct after the fact.

Make partial payments, deposits, and refunds first-class citizens of the platform, not workarounds bolted on after the core system was built.

Own the migration from where payments live today to where they need to be — with real customers, real money, and no room for a clean-slate do-over.

Partner directly with the people who depend on this system being right: finance teams, municipal staff, and the engineers building the workflows this ledger will support.

Set the technical standard other engineers build against once this domain exists — you're not implementing someone else's design, you're establishing it.

Who you are

Experience designing financial or transactional systems where correctness isn't optional — payments, billing, ledgers, or similar domains where an unbalanced number is a real problem, not a bug ticket.

You have real opinions about how a payments system should be architected, and you want a role where you can bring them, not just implement someone else's spec.

Comfortable with ambiguity at the domain-design level: this isn't "build this feature," it's "help decide what the right abstraction is," and you find that exciting rather than uncomfortable.

Experience with idempotency, webhooks, and payment processor integrations (Stripe, Finix, or similar) is a strong plus.

You think in terms of invariants and edge cases — what happens when a webhook fires twice, when a fee schedule changes mid-invoice, when a refund needs to partially reverse a payment that's already been partially paid.

You're excited to work with the latest AI models, both in the product and in your own development workflow.

You've owned a large product area end-to-end and can point to something specific you shipped and stayed accountable for.

Strong product instincts: you ask questions until you actually understand the customer's problem, not just the ticket description.

Compensation within the posted salary band will be commensurate with experience. All offers will include:

Below: a picture of the entire GovWell team celebrating our Series A with a boat cruise on the Hudson!

Compensation Range: $160K - $260K

GovWell in the news

GovWell Raises $25M Series A Led by Insight Partners to Build the AI Operating System for Modern Government