Staff Software Engineer, API Engineering

Ridgeline • San Ramon, CA

138d • $185,000 - $220,000

About The Position

As a Staff Software Engineer in API Engineering, you will shape the future of Ridgeline’s API platform, driving strategy, architecture, and implementation for mission-critical services. You’ll design and evolve our gateway infrastructure, define and enforce API product standards, and ensure that reliability, security, and usability are at the core of every API. Your leadership will directly impact both internal teams and external customers, empowering them to build on Ridgeline’s cloud-native investment management platform. You’ll work with cutting-edge technologies and AI tools—including ChatGPT, Claude Code, and Cursor—to accelerate development and improve code quality.

Requirements

• 8+ years of software engineering experience, including technical leadership of large-scale platform or product APIs
• Deep expertise with cloud-native distributed systems (AWS preferred), secure RESTful API design, and API management/gateway solutions (Kong or equivalent)
• Proven experience setting API design standards and delivering production-grade APIs documented with OpenAPI spec
• Strong understanding of API reliability, monitoring, and operational best practices
• Familiarity with event-driven architectures, WebSockets, and authentication/authorization models for APIs
• Excellent communication and mentoring skills with an inclusive approach to technical leadership
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field
• Creative problem-solving mindset and passion for helping others succeed

Nice To Haves

• Experience contributing to or defining API product strategy
• Hands-on experience with developer productivity tooling for APIs
• Exposure to financial services or investment management domain
• Practical experience with modern AI frameworks that support software development

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of a Kong-based API Gateway hosting thousands of highly available, secure, and scalable APIs
• Define and codify API design standards that elevate internal, external, and agentic developer usability
• Identify and eliminate friction in API development through simplification, automation, and tooling that improve developer velocity and experience
• Establish reliability and observability practices to monitor and ensure API performance, availability, and security
• Develop and maintain API documentation using automated OpenAPI spec generation and validation tools
• Participate in API design forums to ensure alignment with Ridgeline’s architecture and developer experience principles
• Write high-quality, well-tested code and provide thoughtful peer reviews that foster growth across the team
• Apply modern engineering practices including CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and test automation
• Leverage AI tools like ChatGPT, Cursor, and Claude Code to accelerate development, improve code quality, and inspire innovative solutions
• Collaborate across teams with transparency, ownership, and resilience, driving outcomes that reflect the Ridgeline Way

Benefits

• Unlimited vacation
• Educational and wellness reimbursements
• $0 cost employee insurance plans
• Participation in Company Stock Plan

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees