Staff Engineer, Growth

Chime; California (MO); On-site; USD 223,000 - 308,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Family planning reimbursement

Wellness stipend

Parental leave (up to 22 weeks)

Generous vacation policy

Backup care support

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Chime is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead architecture for high-traffic Growth systems and drive measurable improvements in member experiences. You will guide experimentation, reliability, and cross-team initiatives to accelerate growth outcomes, leveraging AI/LLMs to boost productivity across the org.

You will mentor engineers, influence product and tech direction, and collaborate with Product, Design, Analytics, and Data to ensure feasibility and excellence.

Qualifications

• Experience with architecting scalable, customer-facing systems.
• Track record of measurable impact in growth, activation, or consumer product problems.
• Experience with experimentation: test design, instrumentation, analysis, and iterating on results.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and implementation of high-impact, member-facing systems across the Growth stack.
• Set the technical vision for high-traffic systems with scalable reliability and latency targets.
• Drive experimentation strategy and rapid iteration without compromising durability.
• Resolve systemic performance, availability, and conversion challenges across Growth stack.
• Collaborate with Product, Design, Analytics, and Data to ensure technical feasibility and direction.
• Mentor engineers and promote best practices across teams.
• Represent Chime externally through recruiting, talks, and community engagement.

Skills

System design

High-traffic systems

Experimentation

Technical leadership

Communication

Job description

About the Role

Chime serves millions of members on a mission to help them unlock financial progress. Growth Engineering builds the product surfaces and systems that turn that mission into measurable outcomes for members — running fast, data-informed experiments to acquire, activate, and deepen member relationships at scale.

This role sits on our Early Stage Experience area, focused on the beginning of the member journey — the first experiences that turn new sign-ups into engaged, active members. It's high-volume, high-stakes work where small improvements compound, and the systems behind it have to be both quick to experiment on and dependable at scale.

As a Staff Software Engineer, you'll operate as a subject matter expert and technical leader across the Growth stack. You'll shape the architecture and technical strategy for high-traffic, member-facing systems, influence product direction, and drive cross-team initiatives that measurably move growth outcomes while raising the engineering bar across the org. You will leverage the capabilities of AI and LLMs to improve the productivity of the org, personalize member experience and speed up decision making.

The base salary offered for this role and level of experience will begin at $223,000.00 and up to $308,000.00. Full-time employees are also eligible for a bonus, competitive equity package, and benefits. The actual base salary offered may be higher, depending on your location, skills, qualifications, and experience.

In this role, you can expect to

• Lead the design and implementation of high-impact, member-facing systems across the Growth stack
• Set the technical vision for high-traffic systems with a scalable, forward-looking approach that meets Chime's reliability and latency standards
• Drive experimentation strategy and execution by building the systems and habits to test, learn, and iterate quickly — without sacrificing durability
• Identify and solve systemic challenges in performance, availability, and conversion-critical reliability across the Growth stack
• Collaborate closely with Product, Design, Analytics, and Data to shape product direction and ensure technical feasibility and excellence
• Mentor senior engineers, elevate engineering practices, and drive consistency in quality, architecture, and code craftsmanship across teams
• Represent Chime externally through recruiting, open source, technical talks, or community engagement

To thrive in this role, you have

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering
• Deep understanding of system design, service boundaries, and product-engineering tradeoffs, especially in high-traffic consumer systems
• A track record of driving measurable impact on business and engineering goals — ideally in growth, conversion, activation, or other consumer product problems
• Experience with experimentation: test design, instrumentation, analysis, and iterating on results
• Ability to influence technical and product direction across teams and orgs, and to lead through influence rather than authority
• Strong communication and collaboration skills
• Experience working in a fast-paced, product-focused environment (Fintech experience is a plus)

#LI-Onsite #LI-AC2

A little about us

At Chime, we believe that everyone can achieve financial progress. We created Chime—a financial technology company, not a bank*—on the premise that core banking services should be helpful, easy, and free. Through our user-friendly tools and intuitive platforms, we empower our members to take control of their finances and work towards their goals. Whether it's starting a savings account, purchasing a first car or home, launching a business, or pursuing higher education, we're proud to have helped millions unlock their financial potential.

We're a team of problem solvers, dreamers, and builders with one shared obsession: our members. From day one, Chimers have worked tirelessly to out-hustle and out-execute competitors to bring our mission to life. Their grit and determination inspire us to work harder every day to deliver the very best experience possible. We each bring an owner's mindset to our work, refusing to be outdone and holding ourselves accountable to meet and exceed the highest bars for our teams, our company, and our members.

We believe in being bold, dreaming big, and taking risks, while also working together, embracing our diverse perspectives, and giving each other honest feedback. Our culture remains deeply entrepreneurial, encouraging every Chimer to see themselves as stewards of our mission to help everyday Americans unlock their financial progress.

We know that to achieve our mission, we must earn and keep people's trust—so we hold ourselves to the highest standards of integrity in everything we do. These aren't just words on a wall—our values are embedded in every aspect of our business, serving as a north star that guides us as we work to help millions achieve their financial potential.

Because if we don't—who will?

*Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by The Bancorp Bank, N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A., Members FDIC.

What we offer for our full-time, regular employees

• Our in-office work policy is designed to keep you connected - with four days a week in the office and Fridays from home for those near one of our offices, plus team and company-wide events depending on location. Whether you’re coming in regularly or are part of our fully remote program, you’ll stay engaged with your work and teammates.
• Benefits that support your work and life, including backup child, elder, and pet care and subsidized commuter benefits for eligible employees.
• Comprehensive health, financial, and wellbeing benefits designed to support you at every stage of life.
• Generous vacation policy and company-wide paid days off
• 1% of your time off to support local community organizations of your choice
• Annual wellness stipend to use towards eligible wellness related expenses
• Up to 22 weeks of paid parental leave for birthing parents and 12 weeks of paid parental leave for non-birthing parents
• Access to family planning reimbursement
• A challenging and fulfilling opportunity to join one of the most experienced teams in FinTech and help millions unlock financial progress

We know that great work can’t be done without a diverse team and inclusive environment. That’s why we specifically look for individuals of varying strengths, skills, backgrounds, and ideas to join our team. We believe this gives us a competitive advantage to better serve our members and helps us all grow as Chimers and individuals.

Chime is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider qualified applicants without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital or family status, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis under provincial, federal, state, and local laws, regulations, or ordinances. We will also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of state and local laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Cook County Ordinance, NYC Fair Chance Act, and the LA City Fair Chance Ordinance, and consistent with Canadian provincial and federal laws. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation during any stage of the application process, please contact: [e-mail].

To learn more about how Chime collects and uses your personal information during the application process, please see the Chime Applicant Privacy Notice.