Staff Software Engineer, Full Stack

Job Description

Job Description

Staff Software Engineer, Full Stack

Hybrid | North America | IC-Only

Read This Before Applying

This role is for engineers who have owned real systems end-to-end — built them, scaled them, fixed them when they broke, and lived with the consequences.

If you need:

• perfect specs

• heavy process

• a management path

• or a soft landing t

  his is not the role.

The Work

Youll own mission-critical product and payments-adjacent systems that move real money and sit directly on customer trust.

This is a small, senior engineering org where:

• Ownership is obvious

• decisions stick

• shortcuts get paid back with interest

What Youll Be Trusted With

• Leading ambiguous, high-stakes initiatives from design production iteration

• Building and owning full-stack product surfaces (frontend + backend)

• Designing APIs and services tied to real financial workflows

• Making hard tradeoffs between speed, correctness, and scale

• Working directly with product, growth, and customer stakeholders

• Mentoring by example — no org charts, no theatre

• Leaving systems materially better than you found them

The Bar (Non-Negotiable)

You should clearly recognize yourself here:

• 6–15 years of professional engineering experience

• Proven Staff-level ownership of real systems (not just influence)

• Strong full-stack capability

• Hands-on React or Ruby on Rails experience (at least one)

• Background in B2B SaaS, fintech, marketplace, or payments-adjacent products

• Experience shipping and operating production software used by real customers

• Comfort operating without perfect information

Strong Signals

• Early or growth-stage startup experience

• Built something, lived with it, improved it

• Product-minded engineers who care about outcomes, not abstractions

• Experience working close to customers, partners, or revenue

Clear Non-Fits

• Engineering managers looking for an IC reset

• Backend-only or infra-only profiles

• Fully remote-only candidates

• Engineers whose recent work is exclusively large-company, low-ownership work

• Heavy Java-only backgrounds

Tech (Kept Boring on Purpose)

• React

• Ruby on Rails

• PostgreSQL

Proven tools. No résumé-driven architecture.

Compensation & Ownership

• Base Salary: $225k–$300k USD (location-adjusted)

• Equity: $200k–$400k in meaningful ownership

This is not a refresh equity.
This is early, material ownership tied directly to the systems you build and scale.

If you want upside without accountability, this isnt it.

Work Model

• Hybrid required

• Major U.S. & Canadian tech hubs

• ~3 days/week in the office on average

• Remote-only candidates should not apply

Interview Process (Direct and Practical)

• Recruiter screen

• Live technical pairing (practical, not LeetCode)

• System design

• Technical depth discussion (projects you personally led)

• Final behavioural interview with engineering leadership

Optional (Strongly Recommended)

Include one project you personally led end-to-end :

• What you built

• What broke

• What you fixed

• What youd do differently now

Final Word

This role is for engineers who want:

• real ownership

• real consequences

• real upside

If this excites you, you're probably a good fit.
If it doesn't, that's the filter doing its job.