Staff Software Engineer, Identity & Trust

Ripple; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 208,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Bonuses and equity

Flexible work environment

Professional development budget

Generous vacation policy

Wellness programs

Job summary

A leading financial technology company in San Francisco is looking for a Staff Engineer to spearhead the Identity and Trust Platform. You will lead the development of cloud-native backend services and define system integration strategies. The ideal candidate has over 8 years of experience in backend systems, strong API design skills, and a proven track record in large-scale, complex environments. Competitive compensation and a dynamic working culture await you at this innovative company.

Qualifications

• 8+ years experience in Software Engineering, especially backend systems.
• Experience with large-scale distributed systems in regulated environments.
• Strong skills in API design with reusable service contracts.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and development of cloud-native backend services.
• Define foundational data model and APIs for customer records.
• Drive migration strategies from legacy systems.

Skills

Backend systems design

API design and integration

Cloud-native technologies

Technical leadership

Event-driven architecture

Tools

Java

Kubernetes

AWS

Job description

Overview

At Ripple, we’re building a world where value moves like information does today. It’s big, it’s bold, and we’re already doing it. Through our crypto solutions for financial institutions, businesses, governments and developers, we are improving the global financial system and creating greater economic fairness and opportunity for more people, in more places around the world. If you’re ready to see your impact and unlock incredible career growth opportunities, join us, and build real world value.

THE WORK:

At Ripple, The Identity and Trust Platform is proposed as the foundation to enable the "One Ripple" vision. Its goal is to solve identity problems across all products and acquisitions by establishing a single system of record for customers, users and their identities. This platform will decouple operational identity from legacy systems, unify compliance and verification context (such as shared KYB readiness), and define a shared entitlements layer for consistent product access.

We are looking for Staff Engineers who are passionate about solving complex, foundational problems, eager to make a high impact by solving the identity and trust challenges across a global financial network, and are driven to design the scalable platform that will define the unified customer experience for all of Ripple's current and future products. The Identity and Trust Platform is foundational to building customer trust and defining the single system of record. As the technical anchor for a small, high-impact team, you will:

• Build the Foundation for 'One Ripple': Establish the Identity Platform as the single system of record, decoupling operational identity from legacy systems to enable a unified experience across all Ripple products (Payments, Custody, Stablecoins, Ripple Prime, and others).
• Drive Strategic Decoupling: Own the critical migration of core identity logic out of legacy systems, eliminating years of technical debt and preparing a path to retire them.
• Define the Future of Trust: Design and build the shared entitlements layer and unified compliance context (e.g., shared KYB readiness) to ensure consistent, secure product access for all customers.
• Scale and Mentor: Serve as a technical anchor, setting architectural direction, championing engineering excellence, and mentoring engineers to grow a high-performing, foundational platform team.

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

• Lead the design and development of distributed, cloud-native backend services that power the Identity and Trust Platform across Ripple’s product suite.
• Define and implement the foundational data model and APIs that serve as the single system of record for customers, entities, and users.
• Drive the strategic migration of core identity and customer lifecycle logic out of legacy systems into resilient, observable, and Identity Platform-first services.
• Design and build the core platform capabilities, including the unified entitlements layer and shared compliance context, to ensure consistent and secure access across all products.
• Partner with Product, Compliance, and other engineering teams to define and champion standard integration patterns and contracts for the platform.
• Champion engineering excellence in architecture, code quality, testing, and operational practices.

WHAT YOU’LL BRING:

• 8+ years experience in Software Engineering, with a significant focus on backend systems.
• Deep, hands-on backend engineering experience building and operating modern, cloud-native, and highly-available distributed systems at scale.
• Proven track record designing and delivering foundational, large-scale systems in complex, regulated environments.
• Expert-level skills in API design and integration (e.g., REST and/or gRPC), with a focus on defining clear, reusable service contracts.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS preferred) and container orchestration (Kubernetes, ECS).
• Ability to strategically navigate and reduce technical debt while driving significant business value and high-leverage migration efforts.
• Strong technical leadership skills: proven ability to set architectural direction, mentor high-performing engineers, and influence critical, cross-team decisions across an organization.

Preferred (But Not Required)

• Experience with our current stack: Java + Spring Boot. We encourage candidates from other robust backend stacks (Go, Kotlin, C#, Python, Rust, etc.) who can quickly learn JVM technologies.
• Experience with event-driven architecture (Kafka, SNS/SQS, etc.), crucial for building a decoupled and resilient platform.
• Domain knowledge in FinTech, RegTech, KYC/KYB, identity verification, or compliance-heavy systems.

Salary

For positions based in CA, the annual base salary range is CA Annual Base Salary Range: $208,000 USD - $260,000 USD. Actual salaries may vary based on factors including experience and qualifications. This range does not include equity or additional compensation such as bonuses or commissions.

WHO WE ARE

Do Your Best Work

• The opportunity to build in a fast-paced start-up environment with experienced industry leaders
• A learning environment with a professional development budget to support other modes of learning
• Thriving, inclusive culture where every employee is respected, valued, and empowered
• Flexible in-office collaboration
• Bi-weekly all-company meetings with Leadership Team
• Team offsites, bonding activities, happy hours and more

Take Control of Your Finances

• Competitive salary, bonuses, and equity
• Competitive benefits covering health, retirement, family planning, and family support
• Employee giving match
• Mobile phone stipend

Take Care of Yourself

• R&R days to rest and recharge
• Wellness reimbursement and programming
• Generous vacation policy and parental leave benefits
• Catered lunches and stocked kitchens with snacks/beverages

Benefits listed above are for full-time employees.

Ripple is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive team and do not discriminate against qualified applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, gender identity, sex, sexual identity, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, marital status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by local law. Please find our UK/EU Applicant Privacy Notice and our California Applicant Privacy Notice for reference.