Principal Software Engineer, Personal Loans

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 1,800 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 (opening Summer 2026), 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:

Personal Loans Engineering owns the applicant journey and experience as they move through the loan application and verification process. PL Engineering is a conversion- and revenue-critical part of Upstart’s flagship product. The team brings single-threaded ownership to an experience that is aligning funnel outcomes and architectural evolution around one goal: maximizing originations while maintaining trust, risk integrity, and compliance.

How You’ll Make An Impact

• Set technical direction for the applicant funnel

• Define and drive the architecture of the end-to-end “Got Rate → Funded Loan” journey

• Identify and resolve systemic bottlenecks impacting conversion, latency, and reliability

• Lead large, cross-team initiatives

• Own ambiguous, high-impact efforts that span Growth, Verifications Platform, Risk/Decisioning, and Lending Partners

• Align multiple teams around cohesive technical strategies and execution plans

• Evolve platform architecture

• Drive decomposition of tightly coupled systems into scalable, reusable services and APIs Enable cross-product reuse across unsecured lending while maintaining system integrity

• Translate complex business problems into systems

• Balance product velocity, risk constraints, compliance requirements, and long-term maintainability Partner deeply with product, risk, compliance, and operations to deliver measurable business outcomes

• Drive experimentation and intelligent automation

• Elevate experimentation frameworks and data-driven iteration across the funnel

• Identify and lead opportunities for AI-driven experiences (e.g., adaptive flows, conversational interfaces, automation)

• Raise the engineering bar

• Establish best practices in system design, observability, testing, and operational excellence

• Mentor senior and staff engineers and influence engineering culture across the organization

• Operate as a force multiplier

• Provide technical leadership beyond the team, influencing architecture and strategy across Personal Loans and adjacent domains

• Proactively identify long-term risks and opportunities, and drive alignment with leadership

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field (or equivalent experience) and 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a strong track record of building and scaling consumer-facing systems
• Proven experience operating at a Staff or Principal level, leading large, ambiguous, cross-functional initiatives
• Deep expertise in distributed systems, service-oriented architectures, and system design at scale
• Demonstrated experience decomposing or modernizing tightly coupled systems into modular components/services with clear interfaces, while maintaining reliability and continuity.
• Experience with experiment-driven development (instrumentation, A/B testing, analysis/iteration) and translating product goals into technical execution.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, able to explain complex technical topics to non-technical stakeholders
• Track record of successfully mentoring and developing other engineers around you while seeking out and appreciating constructive feedback

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with full stack web development with Ruby on Rails, React, and cloud-native development (AWS preferred) and Docker, GitHub Actions, utilizing CI/CD technologies including infrastructure as code
• Familiarity with onboarding/funnel optimization in high-scale consumer products, including conversion and time-to-complete improvements.
• Experience in the customer support tech domain (e.g., contact center platforms, customer engagement solutions, or conversational AI systems)
• Experience building in regulated or high-trust domains (e.g., fintech, lending, identity/verification, payments) where correctness and compliance are first-class constraints.
• We’re a distributed team of remote workers (from coast to coast), and while we predominantly build asynchronously, we prefer facetime when collaborating in a tight feedback loop. You’ll need to be comfortable with a few hours of Zoom per day (e.g. pair/mob programming) to excel in this role

Position location This role is available in the following locations: Remote

[OPTIONAL] In-Office requirements. You will be required to work from the {insert location} office x days per week/month.

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 expected 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.

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
• Generous 401(k) plan with Upstart matching $2 for every $1 contributed, up to $15,000 per year
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) with discounted stock purchase options for eligible employees
• Affordable medical, dental, and vision coverage, with multiple plan options - Upstart covers 90% to 100% of the cost depending on the plans you choose
• Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart for eligible plans
• Income protection benefits, including company-paid Basic Life, AD&D, and Short- and Long-Term Disability coverage, with options to purchase supplemental coverage
• Paid time off, sick and safe time, and company holidays
• Paid family and parental leave to support caregiving and major life moments
• Family-centered benefits through Carrot and Cleo, supporting fertility, parenthood, and caregiving
• 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
• 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 and onsites, all-company updates, and employee resource groups (ERGs)
• Onsite perks, including catered lunches and fully stocked micro-kitchens when working from one of our four offices, located in the Bay Area, Austin, Columbus, and New York City (opening Summer 2026!).

Upstart is a proud Equal Opportunity Employer. Just as we are dedicated to improving access to affordable credit for all, we are committed to inclusive and fair hiring practices.

If you require reasonable accommodation in completing an application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please email _candidate_accommodations@upstart.com

_https://www.upstart.com/candidate_privacy_policy