Staff Software Engineer, Startup Products

Stripe; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 224,000 - 336,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Company bonus or sales commissions/bon

401(k) plan

medical

dental

vision benefits

wellness stipends

Job summary

Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform, is seeking a Staff Software Engineer for Startup Products to shape technical strategy and own 0→1 initiatives from exploration to launch. You will align cross-functional teams across product, design, legal, data, and engineering to create experiences that help founders run their companies simply and confidently.

This role demands 10+ years of software engineering, strong full‑stack skills, and the ability to influence roadmaps without direct

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience in end-to-end ownership of large systems.
• Experience defining and delivering large, ambiguous software initiatives from early product and technical exploration through production launch.
• Strong full-stack engineering with reliable backend services and polished user experiences.
• Ability to create technical direction and align teams with different priorities without relying on direct authority.
• Product-minded engineering with a deep commitment to user outcomes and business impact.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to move between strategic discussions and detailed technical decisions.
• High quality bar and attention to detail across product experience, implementation, reliability, and operational readiness.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive technical strategy across Startup Products, connecting near-term product delivery to a durable engineering vision.
• Lead large, ambiguous 0→1 initiatives from problem definition and architecture through implementation, safe launch, and iteration.
• Design, build, and maintain polished user experiences, reliable backend services, APIs, and systems.
• Identify technical risks, dependencies, and foundational investments early, creating incremental plans that de-risk the roadmap.
• Partner with engineering teams across Stripe, building alignment and influencing roadmaps and priorities when Startup Products depends on shared capabilities.
• Work directly with founders to understand their needs and translate complex workflows into intuitive products.
• Raise the team’s engineering bar through clear standards, documentation, mentoring, and constructive technical feedback.
• Advise product and engineering leadership on emerging opportunities, technical constraints, and investments needed to support long-term ambitions.

Skills

Software engineering

Full-stack

Technical leadership

Strategic thinking

Communication

Tools

Ruby

TypeScript

Job description

About Stripe

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

The Startup Products team builds Stripe Atlas and other products that help founders start and run a company from anywhere in the world. We believe startups are one of the most effective ways to solve the world’s problems, and we want to give founders a running start—and keep them running. We help founders form companies, raise capital, execute critical legal agreements, access the internet’s best tools, and automate their operations while feeling ambitious, smart, and assured. Our goal is to help more startups reach product-market fit, faster. Our team comprises high-agency, high-ownership product thinkers who genuinely care about founders. Everyone is responsible for making our products the best they can be and ensuring our roadmap contains the highest-impact work for our users. We have a broad and ambitious roadmap spanning global company formation, legal and financial workflows, AI-enabled operations, and products beyond Atlas. Delivering it requires strong technical leadership to shape future investments, de-risk complex initiatives, and build durable partnerships across Stripe.

What you’ll do

As a Staff Software Engineer on Startup Products, you will shape the technical strategy for the team while leading major 0→1 products from early exploration through launch and iteration. You will turn ambiguous opportunities into clear technical plans, align teams around those plans, and remain hands‑on throughout execution. You will work across product surfaces, services, APIs, data models, and integrations with internal and external systems. You will partner closely with Product, Design, Legal, Data, Operations, and engineering teams across Stripe to create experiences that make complex and consequential tasks feel simple and trustworthy for founders.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive technical strategy across Startup Products, connecting near-term product delivery to a cohesive, durable engineering vision.
• Lead large, ambiguous 0→1 initiatives from problem definition and architecture through implementation, safe launch, and iteration.
• Design, build, and maintain polished user experiences, reliable backend services, APIs, and systems.
• Identify technical risks, dependencies, and foundational investments early, creating incremental plans that de‑risk the roadmap and accelerate future work.
• Partner with engineering teams across Stripe, building alignment and influencing their roadmaps and priorities when Startup Products depends on shared capabilities.
• Work directly with founders to understand their needs and translate complex legal, financial, and operational workflows into intuitive products.
• Raise the team’s engineering bar through clear standards, strong documentation, mentoring, and constructive technical feedback.
• Advise product and engineering leadership on emerging opportunities, technical constraints, and investments needed to support the team’s long‑term ambitions.

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

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with a track record of owning large, ambiguous systems end‑to‑end.
• Demonstrated experience defining and delivering large, ambiguous software initiatives from early product and technical exploration through production launch.
• Strong full‑stack engineering skills, including experience building reliable backend services and polished user‑facing product experiences.
• Ability to create technical direction and align teams with different priorities and constraints without relying on direct authority.
• Product‑minded engineering judgment, with a deep commitment to understanding users and delivering meaningful outcomes for them and the business.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to move between strategic discussions and detailed technical decisions.
• A high quality bar and attention to detail across product experience, implementation, reliability, and operational readiness.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with early stage startups and a deep understanding of the challenges founders face all over the world.
• Experience building 0→1 products and taking them from concept through launch and iteration.
• Experience building products involving legal, financial, compliance, or other complex and high‑trust workflows.
• Experience building AI‑powered product experiences or platforms that safely automate consequential user tasks.
• Experience with Ruby, and/or TypeScript. We care more about strong engineering fundamentals and the ability to learn than expertise in a particular language or framework.

Hybrid work at Stripe

This role is available either in an office or a remote location (35+ miles or 56+ km from a Stripe office).

In‑office expectations

Office‑assigned Stripes spend at least 50% of the time in a given month in their local office or with users. This hits a balance between bringing people together for in‑person collaboration and learning from each other, while supporting flexibility about how to do this in a way that makes sense for individuals and their teams.

Working remotely at Stripe

A remote location is defined as being 35 miles (56 kilometers) or more from one of our offices. While you would be welcome to come into the office for team/business meetings, on‑sites, meet‑ups, and events, our expectation is you would regularly work from home rather than a Stripe office. Stripe does not cover the cost of relocating to a remote location. We encourage you to apply for roles that match the location where you currently live or plan to live.

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.

• equity
• company bonus or sales commissions/bonuses
• 401(k) plan
• medical
• dental
• and vision benefits
• wellness stipends

We look forward to hearing from you.

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.

The application window will remain open for 100 days after the Job Post is published. However, this opportunity will remain open based on the needs of the business, which may cause the application window to close before or after the 100-day mark.