About the position
Upstart is the leading AI lending marketplace partnering with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit. By leveraging Upstart's AI marketplace, Upstart-powered banks and credit unions can have higher approval rates and lower loss rates across races, ages, and genders, while simultaneously delivering the exceptional digital-first lending experience their customers demand. More than 80% of borrowers are approved instantly, with zero documentation to upload. Upstart is a digital-first company, which means that most Upstarters live and work anywhere in the United States. However, we also have offices in San Mateo, California; Columbus, Ohio; and Austin, Texas. Most Upstarters join us because they connect with our mission of enabling access to effortless credit based on true risk. If you are energized by the impact you can make at Upstart, we’d love to hear from you! The Team: Our team is responsible for building a best-in-class underwriting platform to quickly and 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 combine AI, econometrics, and software engineering to optimally match capital supply to borrower demand. 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 Senior Engineering Manager, you will lead a team of engineers to deliver the new pricing platform that enables machine learning scientists and engineers to innovate faster while raising the bar on quality. You will set the technical direction for Pricing and define an execution roadmap that works backwards from the company’s goals and the needs of our customers.
Responsibilities
- Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing engineering team focused on providing high quality solutions and incrementally enhance systems with each pull request.
- Foster a collaborative and inclusive team culture that promotes innovation, continuous learning, and excellence.
- Oversee the design, development, and implementation of the next generation pricing platform and the launch of new underwriting ML models.
- Ensure the reliability, performance, and scalability of pricing systems, leveraging best practices in software engineering.
- Collaborate with architecture and infrastructure teams to ensure alignment with broader engineering goals.
- Partner with product, machine learning, and engineering leaders across Upstart, legal, operations, analytics, and compliance teams to gather requirements and ensure the Pricing platform meets business needs and regulatory standards.
- Communicate effectively with stakeholders to keep them informed of project status, risks, and opportunities.
- Manage project timelines and resources to deliver high-quality solutions on time.
- Implement frameworks to ensure efficient project execution and continuous delivery.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
- 10+ years of experience developing and maintaining large scale distributed systems in the cloud.
- Experience launching large scale ML-based products in domains like Fintech, Pricing, or Ads.
- 5+ years of management experience.
- Experience building highly scalable APIs using containerization technologies like Docker and Kubernetes.
- Solid grasp of software development principles and best practices for creating scalable and maintainable systems.
- Experience working in dynamic fast paced organizations.
- Strong proficiency in any programming language.
- Experience with delivering full stack solutions to customers.
- Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud) and microservices architecture.
- Excellent leadership and people management skills, with a track record of building and leading successful engineering teams.
- Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to make data-driven decisions.
- Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- 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.
- Experience with agile development methodologies and project management tools like Jira.
- Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
- Commitment to continuous learning and staying updated with the latest industry trends.
Nice-to-haves
- Background in statistics, mathematics, or econometrics.
- Experience designing and building microservice-based architectures.
- Experience developing and maintaining large scale distributed systems in AWS.
- 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.
Benefits
- Competitive Compensation (base + bonus & equity)
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart.
- 401(k) with 100% company match up to $4,500 and immediate vesting and after-tax savings.
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
- Life and disability insurance.
- Generous holiday, vacation, sick and safety leave.
- Supportive parental, family care, and military leave programs.
- Annual wellness, technology & ergonomic reimbursement programs.
- Social activities including team events and onsites, all-company updates, employee resource groups (ERGs), and other interest groups such as book clubs, fitness, investing, and volunteering.
- Catered lunches + snacks & drinks when working in offices.
