Staff Software Engineer, Backend - RQL

Rippling; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 189,000 - 315,000; Full time

Job summary

Rippling in San Francisco, CA is seeking a senior backend engineer to help build scalable core services on the Platform team, participating in both product and platform layers.

You will design and implement distributed systems using Python, MongoDB, CDC, Kafka, and big data tools, with autonomy and collaboration across 10+ product teams. This role offers strong ownership and opportunities to influence architecture and developer experience.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in backend engineering.
• Experience writing testable, performant backend code.
• Experience in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
• Ability to mentor junior developers and work with autonomy.

Responsibilities

• Work on distributed processing engines and databases.
• Develop high-quality software using stacks like Python, MongoDB, CDC, and Kafka.
• Leverage big data technologies (Aurora, Trino/Presto, Pinot, Iceberg, Flink).
• Build data platforms, data lakes, and ingestion systems at scale.
• Design, develop, test, and improve software and user-facing experiences.
• Collaborate with architects and senior developers on state-of-the-art projects.
• Contribute to product design and implementation discussions.
• Turn ideas into production-ready solutions.

Skills

8+ years experience

Backend development

Testable code

Mentoring

Autonomy

Tools

Python

MongoDB

CDC

Kafka

Job description

About this position

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 role

The Platform team is responsible for developing core services and cross‑cutting products that form the building blocks at Rippling. Other engineering teams at Rippling leverage these fundamental Lego blocks to create complex products on top of them. The team owns the analytics, customizable workflows, data platform, reporting, permissions, and custom fields products. All these projects have customer‑facing product components and core platform components supporting 10+ product teams. This is a unique opportunity to work on both product and platform layers at the same time.

At Rippling, we want users to configure and customize our features and products without complexity. Therefore, we’ve created a new language called Rippling Query Language (RQL) which allows our customers to write queries and scripts to create Formula Fields inside our analytics suite, applications in Data Cloud, and extend functionality elsewhere across Rippling. RQL internally has its own grammar, parser, query translator, distributed query processing engine, and a distributed datastore. You will work on challenging technical challenges like distributed systems and big data technologies.

What you will do

• Work on distributed processing engines and distributed databases
• Develop high‑quality software with attention to detail using tech stacks like Python, MongoDB, CDC, and Kafka
• Leverage big data technologies like Aurora, Trino, Presto, Pinot, Iceberg, Flink and more.
• Build custom programming languages within the Rippling Platform
• Create data platforms, data lakes, and data ingestion systems that work at scale
• Design, develop, code, and test software systems, improvements, products, and user‑facing experiences
• Work alongside software architects and senior developers doing state‑of‑the‑art development work
• Contribute to product design and implementation discussions
• Find and build unique solutions to implement projects from the idea phase to production

What you will need

• 8+ years experience in backend engineering roles
• Experience writing testable and performant backend code
• Experience working in a fast‑paced, dynamic environment
• Experience mentoring less‑experienced developersAbility to thrive in an environment that grants you a lot of autonomy to explore creative solutions

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.

Salary Information

Pay range for this role: 189,000 – 315,000 USD per year (US Tier 1).

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.