Staff Software Engineer, Link

Stripe; New York (NY); On-site; USD 224,000 - 336,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

401(k) plan

Medical, dental, and vision benefits

Wellness stipends

Job summary

Stripe is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead money-movement capabilities within Link Balance. You will own large, cross-functional initiatives from concept to launch, delivering scalable services and intuitive experiences for merchants and consumers.

This hands-on IC role requires strong backend and full-stack skills, delivering complex fintech products, and guiding architectural decisions while balancing safety, reliability, and user trust across Stripe's payments network.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of backend and/or full-stack software development experience.
• Demonstrated experience leading the design and delivery of large, complex software projects from early definition through production launch.
• Strong full-stack engineering skills with reliable backend services and polished user-facing experiences.
• Experience guiding and unblocking a team of engineers on substantial projects as a senior IC.
• Ability to operate effectively in high-ambiguity environments and make durable technical decisions.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical strategy, architecture, and execution for large, ambiguous Link initiatives that create new money-movement primitives.
• Own projects end to end: clarify the problem, define an incremental technical plan, align stakeholders, drive delivery, launch safely, and use results to guide further investment.
• Build robust, scalable backend services and high-quality consumer-facing experiences across Java, Ruby, and TypeScript.
• Lead a project team of engineers through execution with clear priorities, decisions, risks, and milestones.
• Partner with Product, Design, Data Science, Risk, Infrastructure, and other Stripe teams to build safe, reliable, and useful capabilities.
• Navigate dependencies across Stripe’s payments and money-movement platforms, balancing speed, UX, reliability, and durable foundations.
• Raise engineering bar through leadership, design reviews, mentoring, and constructive feedback across the team.
• Shape the long-term roadmap by identifying opportunities and investments to scale Link’s capabilities globally.

Skills

Java

Ruby

TypeScript

Backend architecture

Cross-functional leadership

System reliability

Job description

About Stripe is a financial infrastructure platform for businesses. Millions of companies—from the world's largest enterprises to the most ambitious startups—use Stripe to accept payments, grow their revenue, and accelerate new business opportunities. Our mission is to increase the GDP of the internet, and we have a staggering amount of work ahead. That means you have an unprecedented opportunity to put the global economy within everyone's reach while doing the most important work of your career.

Who we are

Stripe is a financial infrastructure platform for businesses. Millions of companies—from the world's largest enterprises to the most ambitious startups—use Stripe to accept payments, grow their revenue, and accelerate new business opportunities. Our mission is to increase the GDP of the internet, and we have a staggering amount of work ahead. That means you have an unprecedented opportunity to put the global economy within everyone's reach while doing the most important work of your career.

About The Team

Link helps Stripe's merchants deliver frictionless and secure checkout experiences by auto-filling customers' payment information, letting customers check out in seconds and pay in one click across the Link merchant network. The Link Balance team is building on top of that network to transform Link from a one-click checkout into a global consumer financial platform. Link Balance lets consumers hold, spend, earn rewards on, and off-ramp digital dollars—stored as stablecoins, powered by Bridge and Privy, and distributed through Stripe's network of hundreds of millions of consumers. We're bringing the borderless, programmable, and instant utility of digital dollars into everyday use.

What you'll do

We’re hiring a Staff Software Engineer to lead the design and delivery of new money-movement capabilities in Link. You will take ambiguous product opportunities and turn them into reliable, scalable, and intuitive experiences for consumers and merchants. This is a hands‑on individual‑contributor role with broad technical and organizational scope. You will own large, cross‑functional projects from early product and technical definition through launch and iteration; lead teams of engineers through complex execution; and partner closely with the many Stripe systems and teams that make money movement possible. You will work across the stack, building services and APIs as well as the user experiences that expose those capabilities. The work may involve modern financial infrastructure—including stablecoin‑enabled capabilities—while requiring sound judgment around safety, reliability, compliance, and user trust. You will make the architectural decisions that let the balance model scale globally, and raise the engineering bar for the team as we grow.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical strategy, architecture, and execution for large, ambiguous Link initiatives that create new money‑movement primitives.
• Own projects end to end: clarify the problem, define an incremental technical plan, align stakeholders, drive delivery, launch safely, and use results to guide further investment.
• Build robust, scalable backend services and high‑quality consumer‑facing experiences across Java, Ruby, and TypeScript.
• Lead a project team of engineers through execution, creating clarity on priorities, decisions, risks, and delivery milestones.
• Partner with Product, Design, Data Science, Risk, Infrastructure, and other Stripe teams to build capabilities that are safe, reliable, and useful.
• Navigate dependencies across Stripe’s payments and money‑movement platforms, making thoughtful tradeoffs between speed, user experience, operational reliability, and durable technical foundations.
• Raise the engineering bar through technical leadership, design reviews, mentoring, and constructive feedback across the team.
• Help shape the team’s longer‑term roadmap by identifying opportunities, technical risks, and investments needed to scale Link’s financial capabilities globally.

Who you are

We're looking for someone who meets the minimum requirements to be considered for the role. If you meet these requirements, you are encouraged to apply. The preferred qualifications are a bonus, not a requirement.

Minimum Requirements

• 8+ years of backend and/or full‑stack software development experience, with a track record of owning large, ambiguous systems end-to-end.
• Demonstrated technical experience leading the design and delivery of large, complex software projects from early definition through production launch.
• Strong full‑stack engineering skills, including experience building reliable backend services and polished user‑facing product experiences.
• Experience leading and unblocking a group of engineers on a substantial project as a senior individual contributor.
• Ability to operate effectively in high‑ambiguity environments: framing problems, making durable technical decisions, and creating an actionable path forward.
• Excellent cross‑functional and cross‑organizational collaboration skills, with the ability to align teams with different systems, priorities, and constraints.
• Strong engineering judgment around system reliability, operational excellence, security, and maintainability.
• A product‑minded approach to engineering, with a focus on delivering meaningful outcomes for users and the business.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Java, Ruby, and/or TypeScript. We care more about strong engineering fundamentals and the ability to learn than expertise in a particular language or framework.
• Experience building payments, money‑movement, fintech, or other regulated financial products.
• Experience building consumer products at scale, particularly products that require a high degree of user trust.
• Experience working on 0-1 products or taking new capabilities from concept through launch and iteration.
• Familiarity with stablecoins, digital assets, or the infrastructure that enables global financial products.
• Appreciation for the importance of good documentation—internal and external—and taking pride in seeing projects through to successful completion

In‑office expectations

Office‑assigned Stripes in most of our locations are currently expected to spend at least 50% of the time in a given month in their local office or with users. This expectation may vary depending on role, team and location. For example, Stripes in Stripe Delivery Center roles in Mexico City, Mexico, Bengaluru, India, and Dublin, Ireland work 100% from the office. Also, some teams have greater in‑office attendance requirements, to appropriately support our users and workflows, which the hiring manager will discuss. This approach helps strike a balance between bringing people together for in‑person collaboration and learning from each other, while supporting flexibility when possible.

Pay and benefits

The annual US base salary range for this role is $224,000 - $336,000. For sales roles, the range provided is the role’s On Target Earnings (\"OTE\") range, meaning that the range includes both the sales commissions/sales bonuses target and annual base salary for the role. This salary range may be inclusive of several career levels at Stripe and will be narrowed during the interview process based on a number of factors, including the candidate’s experience, qualifications, and location. Applicants interested in this role and who are not located in the US may request the annual salary range for their location during the interview process. Additional benefits for this role may include: equity, company bonus or sales commissions/bonuses; 401(k) plan; medical, dental, and vision benefits; and wellness stipends.

At Stripe, we're looking for people with passion, grit, and integrity. You're encouraged to apply even if your experience doesn't precisely match the job description. Your skills and passion will stand out—and set you apart—especially if your career has taken some extraordinary twists and turns. At Stripe, we welcome diverse perspectives and people who think rigorously and aren't afraid to challenge assumptions. Join us.