The role
From Upstart's own posting.
About Upstart
At Upstart, we’re united by a mission that matters: to radically reduce the cost and complexity of borrowing for all Americans. Every day, we bring creativity, experimentation, and advanced AI to reshape access to credit, helping millions move forward financially with clarity and confidence.
As the leading AI lending marketplace, we partner with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit through technology that’s both radically intelligent and deeply human. Our platform runs over one million predictions per borrower using more than 3,000 signals, powering smarter, fairer decisions for millions of customers. But the numbers only hint at the impact. Every idea, every voice, and every contribution moves us closer to a world where credit never stands between people and their financial progress.
We’re proudly digital-first, giving most Upstarters the flexibility to do their best work from wherever they thrive, alongside teammates across 80+ cities in the US and Canada. Digital-first doesn’t mean distant. We’re intentional about in-person connection through team onsites, planning sessions, and moments that spark creativity and trust. And whether you choose to work primarily from home or collaborate in-person from one of our offices in Columbus, Austin, the Bay Area, or New York City, you’ll have the support to work in the way that works best for you.
If you’re energized by tackling meaningful problems, excited to innovate with purpose, and motivated by work that truly matters, we’d love to hear from you.
The Team:
The Core Pricing Team is responsible for building a best-in-class platform to accurately create loan offers for all of Upstart’s loan products like Personal Loans, Auto loans and Home loans. The services owned by the team are responsible for validating applicant data, interfacing with Machine Learning models to calculate borrower risk, matching applicants to lenders, and calculating interest rates, fees, etc. We are developing new capabilities for Upstart’s loan products and building a next generation software platform to accelerate innovation on behalf of our customers.
As a Principal Software Engineer, you will drive technical excellence and innovation within the Core Pricing team, with a focus on Personal and Unsecured Loans, one of Upstart’s primary revenue drivers. You will set the technical vision and direction for the team, working backward from our product strategy. You will lead efforts to deliver software that uses machine learning to optimize pricing and continuously improve the efficiency of our borrower-lender marketplace.
You will have the opportunity to design and build large-scale systems, partner closely with machine learning scientists, and work in a highly collaborative, fast-paced environment. We are looking for a seasoned technical leader with a passion for machine learning, finance, experimentation, and distributed systems. If this sounds exciting, we would love to hear from you.
How you’ll make an impact
Define the long-term technical direction and roadmap for Pricing in alignment with Upstart’s business objectives.
Lead the design and development of a system that continuously optimizes the matching of supply and demand for Upstart’s borrower-lender marketplace.
Work closely with ML scientists to improve and develop new models that improve core business metrics.
Guide the architectural evolution of Pricing engineering systems with an emphasis on scaling innovation across multiple engineering teams.
Uncover and drive alignment across complex technical requirements, designs, trade-offs, influencing product direction
Proactively evaluate, prototype, and roll out new technologies/frameworks to help cultivate a culture of innovation
Lead from the front, while mentoring and developing technical leaders
Minimum Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or Mathematics, or a related field (or its equivalent) + 8 years of experience
Experience building highly scalable systems using containerization technologies like Docker and Kubernetes
Experience building flexible, extensible and consistent APIs
Solid grasp of software development principles and best practices for creating scalable, extensible and maintainable systems
Proficiency in one or more object oriented programming languages like Python, Java, C#, C++
Strong communication skills and ability to explain complex business and technical concepts to all audiences
Track record of successfully mentoring and developing technical leaders
Experience working in dynamic fast paced organizations
Ability to balance the needs of the business with the needs of engineering improvements
Passion for clean code and architecture and initiative to “level-up” the engineering team with better practices & design
You are able lead and resolve company-wide technical discussions and are able to collaborate and include input from cross-functional teams (security, devops, data, compliance and product)
You have a good sense for build-vs-buy and are able to prioritize the highest ROI architectural investments
Preferred Qualifications
High proficiency with Python
Experience with A/B testing, GRPC, and Kafka
Experience working in Fintech, Pricing, Ads, or ML.
Background in statistics, mathematics, or econometrics is a big plus.
Experience designing and building microservice-based architectures
Experience developing large scale distributed systems in AWS
Strong sense of ownership and accountability for the quality and timely delivery of work
Ability to thrive both in self-directed work environments and in collaborative settings, contributing positively to team dynamics
Demonstrated ability to take feedback well and actively incorporate it into work with a desire to continuously improve
Ability to influence and lead without direct authority
Strong product and analytical mindset that allows you to think in terms of ROI, risk, and trade offs
Experience working at companies that have gone through periods of rapid business or organizational growth
Position location This role is available in the following locations: Remote
Travel requirements As a digital first company, the majority of your work can be accomplished remotely. The majority of our employees can live and work anywhere in the U.S but are encouraged to to still spend high quality time in-person collaborating via regular onsites. The in-person sessions’ cadence varies depending on the team and role; most teams meet once or twice per quarter for 2-4 consecutive days at a time.
#LI-REMOTE
At Upstart, your base pay is one part of your total compensation package. The anticipated base salary for this position is expected to be within the below range. Your actual base pay will depend on your geographic location–with our “digital first” philosophy, Upstart uses compensation regions that vary depending on location. Individual pay is also determined by job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.
In addition, Upstart provides employees with target bonuses, equity compensation, and generous benefits packages (including medical, dental, vision, and 401k).
United States | Remote - Anticipated Base Salary Range
$195,300 — $270,400 USD
What you'll love
At Upstart, our benefits are designed to support your health, financial well-being, family, and personal growth. Here’s what you can expect:
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