Staff Software Engineer (Platform Core Team)

Felix

$175K — $220K *
Information Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 8+ years of software engineering experience in complex distributed systems.
  • Expertise in backend technologies including Python, Go, or Java.
  • Deep understanding of distributed systems principles and microservices architecture.
  • Experience with system resilience strategies and observability solutions.
  • Proficient in operating systems on Google Cloud Platform, Kubernetes, and Terraform.
  • Strong technical leadership and strategic influence capabilities.
  • Ability to navigate ambiguity and communicate decisions to non-technical stakeholders.

Responsibilities

  • Architect and build foundational microservices and infrastructure.
  • Enhance platform resilience by implementing graceful failure mechanisms and observability solutions.
  • Identify and resolve system bottlenecks while ensuring high availability.
  • Set architectural vision for the platform's infrastructure and services.
  • Collaborate with other teams on infrastructure and API standards.
  • Mentor junior engineers on best practices in system design and engineering culture.
  • Execute rapidly in an agile environment, transforming product requirements into production-ready code.

Benefits

  • Initial stock options grant
  • Annual performance bonus
  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance
  • 401(k) with employer matching
  • Flexible hybrid working model
  • Opportunities for continuous learning
  • Unlimited paid time off (PTO)
  • Paid parental leave
  • Growth opportunities in a dynamic startup environment
Full Job Description
About the Role

As a Staff Software Engineer on the Platform Core team, you will join a high-caliber group responsible for the foundational services and infrastructure that power Félix's products. You will identify bottlenecks, improve system efficiency, and ensure that our services can support the company's continued growth while maintaining a high level of availability.

This role requires balancing rapid execution with sound engineering principles. You will participate in the development of customer-facing and business-critical features in a fast-paced environment, ensuring that new functionality is delivered without compromising system stability or accumulating unnecessary technical debt. Success in this role requires curiosity, strong technical judgment, and the ability to think beyond individual components to deliver solutions that benefit the organization as a whole.

The ideal candidate is someone who enjoys solving complex distributed systems problems, takes ownership of outcomes, and is passionate about building systems that are scalable, reliable, and easy for other teams to build upon.

Technology Stack:

We are technology agnostic and value candidates with diverse backgrounds. While familiarity with the following is helpful, your willingness to learn and adapt is paramount:

  • Front-end: React, HTTP, HTML/DOM, JavaScript, CSS, AJAX
  • Back-end: Python, Flask/FastAPI, REST APIs, Redis, SQL, gRPC
  • Cloud: Google Cloud services (Firestore, Cloud Storage, Pub/Sub, Google Artifact Registry, Cloud Run, BigQuery, Cloud Composer, etc.)
  • Infrastructure: Kubernetes, Terraform, NewRelic, PagerDuty


Responsibilities

  • Architect & Build: Design, build, and optimize foundational microservices and infrastructure that power the company's products.
  • System Resilience: Improve the resilience of the platform by designing systems that gracefully handle failures. Implement monitoring and observability solutions, improve incident response processes, and build mechanisms such as retries, circuit breakers, fallbacks, and automated recovery strategies.
  • Scalability & Performance: Identify bottlenecks, improve system efficiency, and ensure services support continued hyper-growth while maintaining high availability.
  • Strategic Technical Leadership: Set the architectural vision for the platform. Understand how services interact, how data flows through the system, and how decisions made in one area impact the broader platform.
  • Cross-Squad Collaboration: Work alongside other Staff Engineers across Payments, Disbursements, and GRC to align on shared infrastructure, API contracts, and event-driven standards.
  • Mentorship & Talent Development: Mentor Senior and Mid-level engineers, championing best practices in system design, testing, domain-driven design, and engineering culture.
  • Fast-paced execution: Thrive in an agile, high-velocity environment, translating product requirements into production-ready code with speed and precision.


Requirements

These are the applicable requisites, although equivalent competencies in any of the above will also be considered.

  • 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a proven track record in building and operating complex distributed systems.
  • Expertise in backend technologies such as Python (preferred), Go, or Java, along with solid experience in REST APIs, gRPC, and SQL/NoSQL databases.
  • Deep understanding of distributed systems principles, including idempotency, concurrency control, failure domains, and microservices architecture.
  • Proven experience improving system resilience (circuit breakers, retries, fallbacks) and building robust observability/monitoring solutions.
  • Experience operating distributed systems on Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Kubernetes, Terraform, or equivalent cloud-native stacks.
  • Strong ability to navigate ambiguity, set architectural vision, and drive technical initiatives with company-wide impact.
  • Strategic Influence: Ability to break down ambiguous business problems, communicate technical decisions to non-technical executives, and drive alignment across multiple teams.
  • Demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality software rapidly in a continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) environment.
  • Fluent or advanced English.


What We Offer

  • Salary range: 175k - 220k USD
  • Initial stock options grant
  • Annual performance bonus
  • Health, dental, and vision plans
  • 401(k) with employer matching
  • Hybrid working model
  • Continuous learning opportunities
  • Unlimited PTO
  • Paid parental leave
  • Empowering opportunities for growth in a dynamic entrepreneurial environment

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