Senior Software Engineer, Marketplace Optimization

Role Description

As a Senior Software Engineer, you'll partner closely with Product, Machine Learning, Pricing, Capital Markets, Lending Partnerships, and Analytics to build highly reliable distributed systems that power millions of lending decisions. You'll work on systems at the heart of Upstart's lending marketplace. The software your team builds determines how borrowers are matched with capital, how offers are constructed, and how marketplace decisions are executed in real time. It's an opportunity to solve challenging distributed systems problems while building software with direct, measurable impact on borrowers, investors, and the business.

• Design, build, and operate highly available backend services that power Upstart's real-time lending marketplace.
• Develop scalable systems that enable rapid experimentation while maintaining the reliability of business-critical production services.
• Partner with Product, Machine Learning, Capital Markets, and Analytics to translate complex business problems into elegant technical solutions.
• Build flexible platform capabilities that enable new marketplace optimization and monetization strategies.
• Improve the scalability, observability, and operational excellence of systems responsible for real-time marketplace decisions.
• Participate in architecture discussions, code reviews, testing, and operational ownership of critical production systems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience building backend or distributed systems.
• Experience developing production services using one or more of Ruby on Rails, Python, or Kotlin.
• Experience designing APIs and building scalable distributed systems.
• Experience operating business-critical production services with an emphasis on reliability, monitoring, testing, and operational excellence.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS preferred) and modern cloud-native application development.
• Experience collaborating across engineering, product, and business stakeholders.

Requirements

• Experience building marketplaces, recommendation systems, optimization engines, financial systems.
• Experience with event-driven architectures, Kafka, workflow orchestration, or real-time data processing.
• Experience partnering with Machine Learning or Data Science teams.
• Experience improving platform scalability and evolving distributed system architecture.
• Interest in solving complex optimization problems that combine technical and business tradeoffs.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation, including base pay, bonus opportunities, and annual equity grants that vest quarterly.
• Retirement benefits to help you plan for the future, including a 401(k) or Group Retirement Savings Plan with a company match of $2 for every $1 contributed, up to $15,000 annually (USD in the US, CAD in Canada).
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) with discounted stock purchase options for eligible employees (US only).
• Comprehensive health coverage designed to support you and your family, including medical, dental, vision, and wellness resources for US and supplemental health coverage for Canada.
• Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart for eligible plans (US only).
• Income protection benefits, including life insurance and disability coverage for added financial security.
• Paid time off, sick leave, and company holidays, in line with local requirements.
• Paid family and parental leave to support caregiving and major life moments (duration varies by country).
• Family-centered benefits to support fertility, parenthood, and caregiving needs.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offering mental health support and life-centered resources.
• Financial wellness resources, including access to financial planning tools and a financial concierge service (US Only).
• Annual wellness allowance to support your physical and emotional well-being and personal development, based on what matters most to you.
• Annual productivity allowance to invest in relevant tools and resources you need to do your best work, no matter where you work from.
• Connection and community through team events, all-company updates, and employee resource groups (ERGs).
• Onsite perks, including catered lunches and fully stocked micro-kitchens when working from one of our offices in the Bay Area, Austin, Columbus, and New York City (opening Summer 2026!).