Principal Financial Services Engineer

Role Description

Rockstar is recruiting for a mission-driven company at the forefront of solving the affordable housing crisis. They are looking for a Principal Financial Services Engineer to serve as the technical leader responsible for the systems that power money movement across their platform.

As they continue to scale, they need someone who can architect secure, reliable, and compliant financial infrastructure while partnering closely with Engineering, Product, and Finance to ensure every transaction is accurate, auditable, and dependable.

The Person They’re Looking For

• Highly experienced engineer who has built and scaled complex financial systems such as payments, billing platforms, ledgers, banking integrations, or fintech products.
• Combines exceptional technical judgment with strong leadership skills.
• Thrives in high-accountability environments where accuracy matters.
• Enjoys mentoring other engineers while remaining hands-on with architecture and development.
• Has a pragmatic relationship with AI, treating it as a lever for both how they build and what they build.
• Able to identify where AI meaningfully improves the financial experience for customers and turn those ideas into shipped products.

Here’s What You’ll Be Doing Day-to-Day:

• Define and evolve the architecture, strategy, and long-term roadmap for the financial services domain.
• Design and build secure, scalable systems supporting payments, billing, collections, and ledger management.
• Lead integrations with banks, payment processors, fintech partners, and financial service providers.
• Collaborate closely with Finance, Product, and Engineering leaders to align technical solutions with business objectives.
• Establish and drive best practices around reliability, observability, transaction integrity, and financial accuracy.
• Mentor senior and staff engineers through architecture reviews, technical guidance, and engineering leadership.
• Lead investigation, resolution, and prevention efforts for issues impacting financial systems and money movement.
• Assess emerging technologies, payment solutions, and AI capabilities that improve efficiency, reliability, or customer experience.

Here’s What You’ll Need to Be Successful:

• Significant experience designing and scaling payment systems, billing platforms, ledgers, banking integrations, or fintech infrastructure.
• Deep expertise in Python and Django, with the ability to design and maintain complex backend services.
• Strong working knowledge of JavaScript and React in modern web applications.
• Hands-on experience working with ACH, card payments, payment processors, and financial APIs.
• Expertise with PostgreSQL and designing systems that support reconciliation, auditability, and financial accuracy.
• Proven experience building distributed, fault-tolerant systems on AWS with strong reliability and scalability practices.
• Understanding of financial security requirements, data protection, and compliance considerations for financial systems.
• Demonstrated ability to influence engineering strategy, mentor senior engineers, and drive cross-functional alignment.
• Strong judgment regarding where AI can create meaningful value within financial services and customer experiences.
• Ability to translate complex financial, technical, and regulatory requirements into clear direction for technical and business stakeholders.

The Interview Process:

• Your application will be reviewed by the Hiring Manager.
• If selected, you’ll have a 30-minute phone call with a member of the People Operations team.
• Next is a 1-hour video interview with the CTO.
• Followed by a 2-hour panel interview with key stakeholders.
• As part of the panel, you’ll complete a technical assessment and discuss your approach with the interview team.
• Successful candidates move to the offer stage.

Compensation, Benefits, and Perks:

• Fully remote position
• Competitive compensation package, including equity and company-wide bonus opportunities
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Company-paid life insurance
• Optional accident insurance, FSA, and DCFSA benefits
• Unlimited PTO plus 11 company-observed holidays
• 401(k) plan
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave for both birth and non-birth parents
• Opportunity to make an impact at a company helping solve the affordable housing crisis
• $220,000 – $255,000 USD annually
• Compensation is based on the role’s scope, market benchmarks, experience, and expected impact.

Notice to Applicants

• The client participates in E-Verify. All new employees must complete an I-9 form and be authorized to work in the United States. Employment is contingent upon successful completion of the E-Verify process.
• The client is an Equal Opportunity Employer and considers all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.
• The client may use AI tools to support portions of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, assessing responses, or identifying potential inconsistencies. These tools assist the recruitment team but do not replace human decision-making. Final hiring decisions are always made by people.