Staff Software Engineer (Ledger)

Puzzle.io•San Francisco, CA

13d•$210,000

About The Position

Accounting software hasn't fundamentally changed in decades. The tools professional accountants and bookkeepers rely on every day were built for a world of manual entry, month-end closes, and single-client workflows. We think that's broken- and we're fixing it. Unlike other players that bolt AI onto existing software, Puzzle completely rebuilt the general ledger from scratch, designed for how modern accounting firms actually operate. The result: firms can manage books for dozens of clients with the kind of real-time accuracy, auditability, and automation that legacy tools simply can't deliver. We're giving accounting professionals the infrastructure they've never had. And we're just getting started. We're looking for a Staff Software Engineer who can take hard problems, figure out the right path forward, and execute- with the experience to know when to move fast and when to slow down. The Problem Space Much of our core financial engine is built: an immutable, event-driven ledger that ingests high volumes of data from dozens of fintech sources (Stripe, Gusto, Rippling, Mercury, Brex, Ramp, and more), reconciles it across multiple clients, and produces clean, auditable financials that accounting professionals stake their reputation on. Now the focus is on expanding what sits on top of that foundation- reporting, insights, workflow automation, and power-user features that help accounting professionals operate faster and with more confidence. This means designing systems that turn high-fidelity financial data into speed, clarity, and leverage. The bar remains the same. For a bookkeeper managing 50 client entities, a reconciliation error isn’t a minor bug- it’s a trust problem. A confusing workflow isn’t an inconvenience, it’s lost time and margin. We build for precision, performance, and clarity at scale. If you're drawn to systems where correctness is non-negotiable, the design space is wide open, and the end users are sophisticated enough to stress-test every edge case, this is the role.

Requirements

8+ years building and scaling complex backend systems in production
Deep experience with distributed systems, event-driven architecture, and data modeling
Strong database design skills (SQL required; analytics or NoSQL a plus)
You’ve worked in multi-language production environments and can navigate unfamiliar parts of the stack
You design systems where outputs are correct, explainable, and reproducible- especially when financial accuracy matters
Other engineers trust your systems and build on top of them
High Agency- you pick up ambiguous projects, define the path forward, and execute with minimal handholding
Good judgment- you know what to prioritize, what tradeoffs to make, and when to slow down or speed up
You care about long-term system integrity, not just closing tickets
Strong communicator who can align stakeholders and bring engineers along without relying on process to do it for you

Nice To Haves

Experience with financial systems, ledgers, or fintech infrastructure- or strong familiarity with accounting principles a big plus

Responsibilities

Own meaningful backend initiatives end-to-end: from scoping through shipping and iteration
Enhance and extend our existing financial engine with new functionality, reporting capabilities, and deeper system interconnectivity
Ship customer-facing value quickly without compromising correctness or trust
Design and evolve APIs that power reporting, insights, and client-facing product experiences
Improve performance, observability, and resilience across core systems
Contribute to forward-looking architecture (e.g., multi-currency, multi-entity) where thoughtful design today unlocks scale tomorrow
Partner with Product, Data, and Design to turn complex accounting workflows into scalable, high-leverage solutions that meaningfully accelerate customer outcomes
Raise the technical bar through thoughtful design reviews, high-quality code, and proactive mentorship — amplifying team velocity and impact, not just your own output