Staff Engineer I
TrueMLSalary not specified
Full Time
Expert & Leadership (9+ years)
$200,000 – $260,000Compensation
Senior (5 to 8 years)Experience Level
Full TimeJob Type
UnknownVisa
FintechIndustries
Requirements
- 5+ years of experience building and scaling production systems
- Experience with Ruby on Rails is a plus but not required; strong fundamentals and ability to learn quickly
- Deep understanding of system design, API development, and integrations, especially with third-party platforms or payment providers
- Experience with payment processing systems, ACH, cards, or other financial transaction flows is a major plus
- Comfort working across the stack and collaborating closely with mobile and product engineers
- Passion for experimentation and optimization, using data and iteration to improve customer outcomes
- Strong product sense — care about building the right thing, not just building it right
- Builder’s mindset — thrives in ambiguity, takes initiative, and enjoys owning systems end-to-end
Responsibilities
- Design and implement core backend systems for payments processing, reconciliation, and transaction management — scaling to handle hundreds of millions of dollars in volume
- Own the payments domain within Kikoff’s core product team, ensuring reliability, scalability, and high-quality user experiences
- Integrate with third-party payment providers and internal services, building robust APIs and data pipelines that ensure accuracy and consistency at scale
- Experiment and iterate on payment and repayment flows to improve conversion and repayment success rates
- Collaborate cross-functionally with product, data, and finance teams to ensure payments are seamless, compliant, and insightful
- Contribute across the stack on user-facing experiences tied to core subscription payments and related features — from checkout and repayment flows to account management
- Extend payments capabilities beyond Kikoff’s own products to support external transaction data, helping users build a holistic picture of their finances
- Enhance observability and reliability, introducing monitoring, alerting, and fault tolerance into payment-critical systems
- Support adjacent product areas, contributing to shared systems and features beyond payments as part of a cross-functional engineering team
Skills
Key technologies and capabilities for this role
Questions & Answers
Common questions about this position
What is the salary range for this Senior Software Engineer position?
The salary range is $200K - $260K.
Is this role remote or hybrid, and what are the location requirements?
The position is hybrid.
What skills and experience are required for this role?
Candidates need 5+ years of experience building and scaling production systems, deep understanding of system design, API development, and integrations (especially with third-party platforms or payment providers), and comfort working across the stack. Experience with payment processing systems, ACH, cards, or financial transaction flows is a major plus, and Ruby on Rails is a plus but not required.
What is the team structure like for this position?
You'll be part of a broader cross-functional product team, owning the payments domain and collaborating with product, data, finance, mobile, and product engineers.
What makes a strong candidate for this Senior Software Engineer role?
Strong candidates have 5+ years building scalable systems, expertise in system design and integrations (especially payments), and the ability to learn quickly and experiment to optimize flows.
Kikoff
Credit building services for individuals
About Kikoff
Kikoff helps individuals, especially those with low or no credit, build a positive payment history and improve their credit scores. Its services are user-friendly and do not require credit checks, making them accessible to a wide range of clients. Kikoff offers tools for credit management, including easy disputing, rent reporting, and credit monitoring reports, along with an optional Autopay feature. The company's goal is to empower users to take control of their credit journey and achieve significant improvements in their credit scores.
San Francisco, CaliforniaHeadquarters
2019Year Founded
$41.3MTotal Funding
SERIES_BCompany Stage
Fintech, Financial ServicesIndustries
51-200Employees
Benefits
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
Stock Options
Unlimited Paid Time Off
Risks
Increased competition from new fintech startups could dilute market share.
Regulatory scrutiny may lead to increased compliance costs for Kikoff.
Economic downturns could decrease consumer spending, impacting revenue.
Differentiation
Kikoff offers credit building without credit checks, making it accessible to many.
The platform provides easy disputing and rent reporting to enhance credit scores.
Kikoff's Autopay feature ensures clients never miss a due date.
Upsides
Kikoff recognized as a top credit builder app in 2024.
AI-driven tools can enhance user experience with personalized strategies.
Partnerships with educational platforms can attract younger demographics.
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