Lead Software Engineer - Payments

US Based Salary: $110,000 - $145,000 DOE

About Us

Bonterra exists to propel every doer of good to their peak impact. We measure that impact against our vision to increase the giving rate as a percentage of GDP from 2% to 3% by 2033. We know that this goal is lofty, but we are confident that the right technology and expertise will strengthen trust in the sector, allowing the social good industry to accelerate growth and reach peak impact. Bonterra's differentiated, end-to-end solutions collectively support a unique network of over 20,000 customers, including over 16,000 nonprofit organizations and over 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies. Learn more at bonterratech.com.

About the Role

Who We Are:

Are you a passionate innovator looking to harness the power of technology to do more good? You've come to the right place. At Bonterra, our purpose is to power those who power social impact. To that end, we serve the people who make social good possible-the doers behind the scenes across nonprofits, public agencies, corporations, philanthropic organizations, and foundations.

As the second largest and fastest-growing social good software company in the world, Bonterra brings together leading solutions from Strategic Philanthropy, Fundraising & Engagement, and Impact Management and their respective entities. By bringing our intuitive technology and expertise together, Bonterra will enable unprecedented connectivity between social good organizations and their community of supporters and constituents. This will reshape philanthropic giving, empower digital transformation, and bring the social good sector the technology it needs to accelerate lasting social change.

Who You Are:

Are you a technical lead with deep expertise in payments infrastructure and event-driven systems? Do you thrive owning the technical health of a platform-making key design decisions, setting the quality bar, and ensuring the team delivers with correctness and reliability? Are you ready to own the core infrastructure of a payments platform that processes $3B+ annually?

At Bonterra, we're looking for a Lead Software Engineer to own technical leadership for our Payments Platform domain. You'll drive architecture decisions across our API gateway, event infrastructure, webhooks, and reconciliation systems-working closely with the Platform Director and cross-functional engineering teams to deliver a platform that organizations around the world depend on to move money reliably.

What You Will Do:

• Own technical health and quality for the Payments Platform: architecture decisions, sprint processes, release cycles, and release quality
• Set team norms for spec-driven development and AI-assisted delivery; proactively improve specs and practices when AI output falls short of quality standards
• Drive architecture decisions across API gateway and auth, EventBridge/FundraisingBus event infrastructure, webhooks, and Reporting & Reconciliation
• Ensure API and event schemas are designed for durability, extensibility, and idempotency at financial-grade correctness standards
• Partner with the Platform Director on technical sequencing and roadmap delivery
• Collaborate with leads in Online Contribution and Corporate Giving on cross-domain integration points
• Design and build agents to automate repeatable platform engineering workflows, reducing manual overhead for the team
• Ensure team knowledge is structured, current, and consolidated so agents and engineers can operate without ambiguity
• Mentor engineers on the platform team; participate in interviewing and candidate evaluation
• Remove systemic sources of build, test, deployment, and integration friction that limit AI-assisted delivery

Requirements:

• 7+ years of software engineering experience, with 2+ years in a lead or technical leadership role-owning release cycles, making architecture decisions, or equivalent
• Deep expertise in payments systems and event-driven architecture; experience with payment provider integrations (Stripe strongly preferred)
• Strong TypeScript and Node.js in production; experience with AWS serverless infrastructure (Lambda, SQS, EventBridge, Aurora Serverless or equivalent)
• Understanding of financial correctness requirements-idempotency, duplicate detection, reconciliation, and partial failure handling
• AI-first mindset: actively uses AI coding tools, writes specs that enable AI-generated code, evaluates AI output for correctness and technical debt
• Track record of owning end-to-end delivery quality for a platform or product area
• Strong communication and collaboration skills across product and engineering teams
• Passion for empowering the social good sector through technology

Nice to Have:

• Familiarity with PCI compliance requirements in a SaaS context
• Experience with API schema governance or platform-wide contract management
• Experience with fraud detection patterns or payment risk systems
• Background in nonprofit, civic, or political technology
• Experience designing or operating agents in production engineering workflows

What You Can Expect:

You can expect growth and innovation and to have fun along the way. You will not only be rewarded for your personal achievements, but you will also have the opportunity to be part of an organization that lives by its motto every day: Powering those who power social impact!

Our team is made up of industry experts and advocates who are 100% committed to supporting the doers of social good. We are currently undergoing an effort to create the vision and values that embody our collective organization and embrace the individuals who make up our community.

At Bonterra, we're building AI-powered tools to solve real human challenges-and we want teammates who share that enthusiasm. We value people who will champion AI and bring diverse perspectives from different industries, backgrounds, and cultures. Together, we create AI that breaks down barriers, empowers communities, and delivers better outcomes

At this time, we are unable to consider candidates who require current or future sponsorship for employment authorization.

Our Culture

At Bonterra, we're innovating with a higher purpose: to increase giving to 3% of US GDP by 2033, creating $573 billion more in global impact every year. At Bonterra, we foster an inclusive, equitable culture where every team member belongs and contributes to meaningful impact. Read more about our values and culture here.

Compensation & Benefits

We offer a comprehensive benefits package that supports your health, well-being and growth - explore full details here.


Compensation and benefits for this role apply to full-time employees in the United States and may vary based on local standards, laws and norms. Pay is determined by location, skills, experience, and education, and is one part of Bonterra's total rewards package, which may also include bonuses, incentives, equity, and a comprehensive benefits program.


Equal Opportunity & Accommodations

At Bonterra, we are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you require a reasonable accommodation during the application process, please submit a request.