Staff Software Engineer – Global Payroll Calculation

Rippling (Netherlands); Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 189,000 - 315,000; Full time

Job summary

Rippling is hiring a Staff Software Engineer for the Payroll Calculation Team in the United States to lead architecture for payroll systems, optimize distributed services, and drive scalable, auditable calculations across jurisdictions.

You will write production code, mentor engineers, and partner with product and payroll operations to deliver accurate, transparent payroll at global scale.

Qualifications

• Staff-level experience designing and scaling complex production systems where correctness and auditability are critical.
• Strong engineering fundamentals across architecture, data modeling, distributed systems, databases, caching, and reliability.
• A track record of setting technical direction and leading complex initiatives across multiple teams.
• Strong product judgment and the ability to connect platform decisions to customer outcomes.
• Excellent communication skills and comfort driving alignment across engineering, product, and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment where priorities and requirements evolve quickly.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture and technical strategy for Rippling’s payroll calculation systems.
• Write critical production code and lead from the front on high-impact technical initiatives.
• Design frameworks that make payroll logic configurable, versioned, testable, explainable, scalable, and easy to debug.
• Leverage AI to make payroll logic easier to build, validate, explain, and operate, without compromising accuracy, auditability, or control.
• Build systems that support enterprise-scale payroll for large employers with complex legal-entity structures and approval workflows.
• Help expand Rippling’s native payroll capabilities across new countries and jurisdictions.
• Drive improvements in distributed systems, database performance, caching, reliability, and operability.
• Partner cross-functionally with product, design, payroll operations, HRIS, and other engineering teams to deliver end-to-end customer outcomes.
• Mentor senior and mid-level engineers across payroll calculation areas such as platform, earnings, deductions, taxes, and jurisdiction-specific logic.

Skills

Staff-level experience

Architecture

Distributed systems

Data modeling

Reliability

Communication

Job description

Rippling is hiring a Staff Software Engineer for the Payroll Calculation Team in the United States to lead architecture for payroll systems, optimize distributed services, and drive scalable, auditable calculations across jurisdictions.

You will write production code, mentor engineers, and partner with product and payroll operations to deliver accurate, transparent payroll at global scale.