Sr. Software Engineer, Personal Loans Engineering at Upstart

**Who this is for** This role is for a Senior Software Engineer who is passionate about improving the customer journey in personal loans. You will focus on opti

Work type: remote

Location: United States | Remote

Salary: $166,900 – $239,000/yr

Type: Full-time

Summary

**Who this is for** This role is for a Senior Software Engineer who is passionate about improving the customer journey in personal loans. You will focus on optimizing the application and verification process, contributing to a critical part of Upstart's core product. **Key highlights** You will own and enhance key stages of the loan funnel to boost funded-loan conversions and reduce applicant drop-off. You'll also work on decomposing complex systems, designing cleaner APIs, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver end-to-end applicant outcomes. **You might be a good fit if you...** - Have 7+ years of professional software development experience building scalable consumer-facing products. - Can decompose and modernize tightly coupled systems into modular components. - Have experience with experiment-driven development and translating product goals into technical execution. - Possess excellent communication skills to explain complex technical topics to various stakeholders.

Job Description

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

• Own and improve key steps in the Got rate to Funded loan funnel to increase funded-loan conversion and reduce applicant drop-off, grounded in clear measurement and iteration loops.

• Design and implement cleaner service boundaries and APIs to decouple tightly coupled Personal Loans systems, enabling faster iteration and cross-product reuse across unsecured lending.

• Partner closely with Growth, Verifications Platform, Pricing/Decisioning/Risk, Lending Partners, and downstream teams to deliver end-to-end applicant outcomes without losing single-threaded ownership.

• Lead complex, high-stakes changes that improve the user journey while protecting business continuity and operating within risk/compliance constraints.

• Identify and prototype opportunities for intelligent automation (e.g., AI-driven nudges or chat/voice touchpoints) that reduce friction and accelerate time-to-fund.

• Bachelor's degree and 7+ years of professional software development experience building scalable public or consumer-facing web and/or mobile products displaying high standards for user-experience, and a product-first mindset or 10+ years of relevant experience.

• 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.

• Ability to quickly comprehend and reiterate complex requirements from product or engineering leadership and translate those to both technical and non-technical stakeholders

• 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

• 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

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.

#LI-REMOTE

#LI-Senior

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
$166,900—$239,000 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!).

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](mailto:candidate_accommodations@upstart.com)

[https://www.upstart.com/candidate_privacy_policy](https://www.upstart.com/candidate_privacy_policy)

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