Staff Full Stack Software Engineer (Backend) - Time Products

Rippling; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Rippling is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead the Time and Attendance team within Workforce Management. You will own architecture, build scalable backend systems, and mentor engineers on a fast-moving team that impacts customers globally.

You will ship high-quality features rapidly, collaborate across product and design, and shape team culture and processes as an early member of this growing unit. Strong backend, architecture, and AI tool experience are valued.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of backend development experience
• Frontend knowledge with React or JavaScript is a plus
• Strong CS fundamentals, algorithms, and system design including async patterns and data sharding

Responsibilities

• Write scalable, high-performance backend systems powering critical workforce management products.
• Drive architecture and design, owning the full product lifecycle from ideation to production.
• Collaborate with product managers and designers to refine the roadmap and deliver features quickly with quality.

Skills

Backend development

System design

Async patterns

Caching strategies

Event-driven architecture

React

Tools

Python

Django

PostgreSQL

MongoDB

Job description

About the role

We’re looking for a Staff Software Engineer to join our Time and Attendance team, part of the Workforce management department. You’ll build innovative solutions that enable employees to track the time they spent working and make sure they are paid accordingly!. The products we create have a massive impact on how our customers operate at a global scale. Workforce management products surfaces have the highest QPS of any endpoints at Rippling, and we’re leading the company in terms of scaling our infrastructure and product experiences. Time and attendance ensure employees can report, review and submit their entries every day, at any time.

You’ll be a technical leader in the team, building and owning highly available, reliable, and scalable systems and responsible for the entire lifecycle of critical software. Your role encompasses architectural design, hands-on development, operational excellence, and technical mentorship for Sr and earlier career engineers on a fast-moving team with tremendous impact.

This is a chance to shape the future of a rapidly growing product suite, bringing new AI solutions in-product, solve complex challenges, and help businesses manage their most valuable asset: their people.

What you will do

• Write Exceptional Code: Build scalable, maintainable, and high-performance backend systems that power critical workforce management products.
• Move Fast, But with Precision: Deliver high-quality features quickly by balancing speed and safety in your code.
• Drive Architecture & Design: Own architectural decisions and guide the full product lifecycle, from ideation to production. Utilize systems thinking to design and ship fault tolerant highly available, scalable and extendable systems.
• Collaborate Cross-Functionally: Work closely with product managers, designers, and other teams to gather customer feedback and refine the product roadmap.
• Mentor & Lead: Support the growth of senior and junior engineers by sharing your expertise and promoting engineering best practices across the team.
• Shape the Future: As an early member of this team, you’ll have a direct influence on team culture, structure, and processes.

What you will need

• Experience: 8+ years of backend development experience with expertise in Python, Django, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB. Experience building systems with clean abstractions and event-driven architecture.
• Frontend Knowledge: Experience with React or JavaScript is a plus.
• Technical Expertise: Strong grasp of computer science fundamentals, algorithms, and system design—including async patterns, caching strategies, and database sharding. Comfortable developing scalable and extendable core services used across multiple products.
• Product Focused : You’re not just a coder—you care deeply about the end user, product design, and delivering an intuitive, polished experience.
• Entrepreneurial Spirit: You thrive in a fast-paced, unstructured environment. You proactively identify problems, effectively scope and review others’ work, provide strong coaching, and lead internal innovation such as building AI tools.

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 here.

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.