Staff Software Engineer - Card Tech

COMFORT SYSTEMS; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 269,000 - 307,000; Full time

Job summary

Capital One is seeking a Staff Software Engineer - Card Tech in McLean, VA. You will lead with technical excellence, ship production‑quality solutions, and mentor a community of engineers across AI native initiatives.

You will drive platforms, APIs, and cloud‑native architectures, partnering with product and ML teams to deliver impactful financial technology innovations at scale.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field.
• 7+ years of software engineering experience.
• Experience designing distributed systems, backend architecture, and API platforms.
• Experience with public cloud technologies.

Responsibilities

• Articulate and evangelize a bold technical vision for the domain.
• Decompose complex problems into practical, operational solutions.
• Ensure high quality in design and implementation.
• Serve as expert on non‑functional characteristics like performance and operability.
• Mentor teammates and contribute to a learning culture.
• Lead multiple projects to maximize impact.

Skills

Distributed systems design

Backend architecture

APIs

Public cloud

Technical leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Tools

Java

Python

Go

JavaScript

TypeScript

Swift

GraphQL

REST

gRPC

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Staff Software Engineer - Card Tech

As a Staff Engineer at Capital One, you will be a part of a community of technical experts working to define the future of banking in the cloud.

You will work alongside our talented team of developers, machine learning experts, product managers and people leaders. Our Staff Engineers are leading experts in their domains, helping devise practical and reusable solutions to complex problems. You will drive innovation at multiple levels, helping optimize business outcomes while driving towards strong technology solutions.

At Capital One, we believe diversity of thought strengthens our ability to influence, collaborate and provide the most innovative solutions across organizational boundaries. You will promote a culture of engineering excellence, and strike the right balance between lending expertise and providing an inclusive environment where the ideas of others can be heard and championed. You will lead the way in creating next‑generation talent for Capital One Tech, mentoring internal talent and actively recruiting to keep building our community.

Staff Engineers are expected to lead through technical contribution. You will operate as a trusted advisor for our key technologies, platforms and capability domains, creating clear and concise communications, code samples, blog posts and other material to share knowledge both inside and outside the organization. You will specialize in a particular subject area, but your input and impact will be sought and expected throughout the organization.

About the Team:

Card Tech is seeking a Staff Engineer to join our team and fundamentally redefine the speed and quality of software development. We are a high-velocity, mission-driven group obsessed with bridging the gap between Intent and Execution (I=E). In this role, you won't just manage; you will operate as a "Player-Coach," functioning both as a high‑leverage developer who ships production‑ready code in hours as well as mentoring a team to become elite AI‑native builders. You will own the technical benchmark, leveraging agentic development tools to its absolute limits through rigorous, spec‑driven design to solve complex problems with unprecedented urgency.

This leader must have the ability to attract top‑tier talent and the technical "whisperer" skills to ensure AI‑generated output is flawless, secure, and scalable. Success requires an innovative mind, a proven track record of delivering next‑generation products, and a passion for AI‑native execution. You are a master of technical specifications who can translate complex architectures into simple, actionable reality. If you are a high‑agency leader ready to define the 100x engineer era and make a massive, visible impact on our company trajectory, this is your team.

Key responsibilities:

• Articulate and evangelize a bold technical vision for your domain

• Decompose complex problems into practical and operational solutions

• Ensure the quality of technical design and implementation

• Serve as an authoritative expert on non‑functional system characteristics, such as performance, scalability and operability

• Continue learning and injecting advanced technical knowledge into our community

• Handle several projects simultaneously, balancing your time to maximize impact

• Act as a role model and mentor within the tech community, helping to coach and strengthen the technical expertise and know‑how of our engineering and product community

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree

• At least 7 years of experience in software engineering

• At least 7 years of experience designing distributed systems, backend architecture, and API platforms

• At least 7 years of experience with public cloud technologies

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's Degree in Computer Science or a related field

• 8+ years of professional experience coding in commonly used languages like Java, Python, Go, JavaScript, TypeScript, Swift,

• 8+ years of experience in event-driven systems and architecting scalable, fault‑tolerant, highly‑available services

• 8+ years of experience in building high-performance API platforms and federated BFF architectures (GraphQL, REST, API gateways, gRPC, caching, and streaming).

• 8+ years of experience with cloud‑native engineering (AWS, Azure, or GCP), containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and automated deployment

Capital One will consider sponsoring a new qualified applicant for employment authorization for this position.

The minimum and maximum full-time annual salaries for this role are listed below, by location. Please note that this salary information is solely for candidates hired to perform work within one of these locations, and refers to the amount Capital One is willing to pay at the time of this posting. Salaries for part-time roles will be prorated based upon the agreed upon number of hours to be regularly worked.

Chicago, IL: $244,700 - $279,200 for Distinguished Engineer

McLean, VA: $269,100 - $307,200 for Distinguished Engineer

New York, NY: $293,600 - $335,100 for Distinguished Engineer

Richmond, VA: $244,700 - $279,200 for Distinguished Engineer

San Francisco, CA: $293,600 - $335,100 for Distinguished Engineer

Candidates hired to work in other locations will be subject to the pay range associated with that location, and the actual annualized salary amount offered to any candidate at the time of hire will be reflected solely in the candidate’s offer letter.

This role is also eligible to earn performance based incentive compensation, which may include cash bonus(es) and/or long term incentives (LTI). Incentives could be discretionary or non discretionary depending on the plan.

Capital One offers a comprehensive, competitive, and inclusive set of health, financial and other benefits that support your total well‑being. Learn more at the Capital One Careers website (https://www.capitalonecareers.com/benefits) . Eligibility varies based on full or part‑time status, exempt or non‑exempt status, and management level.

This role is expected to accept applications for a minimum of 5 business days.

No agencies please. Capital One is an equal opportunity employer (EOE, including disability/vet) committed to non-discrimination in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Capital One promotes a drug‑free workplace. Capital One will consider for employment qualified applicants with a criminal history in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable laws regarding criminal background inquiries, including, to the extent applicable, Article 23-A of the New York Correction Law; San Francisco, California Police Code Article 49, Sections 4901-4920; New York City’s Fair Chance Act; Philadelphia’s Fair Criminal Records Screening Act; and other applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations regarding criminal background inquiries.

If you have visited our website in search of information on employment opportunities or to apply for a position, and you require an accommodation, please contact Capital One Recruiting at 1-800-304-9102 or via email at [e-mail] . All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations.

For technical support or questions about Capital One's recruiting process, please send an email to [e-mail]

Capital One does not provide, endorse nor guarantee and is not liable for third‑party products, services, educational tools or other information available through this site.

Capital One Financial is made up of several different entities. Please note that any position posted in Canada is for Capital One Canada, any position posted in the United Kingdom is for Capital One Europe and any position posted in the Philippines is for Capital One Philippines Service Corp. (COPSSC).