About Upstart
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
Upstart’s Verifications – PL Applicant Experience team is focused on modernizing the borrower journey end-to-end. The team reduces friction, automates verifications, and enables dynamic decisioning while ensuring fraud prevention and credit risk mitigation. We partner closely with Product, ML, and Platform teams to deliver a seamless and transparent experience for borrowers.
As a Software Engineer on the PL Applicant Experience team, you will design and build borrower-facing flows that improve conversion, reduce operational touchpoints, and scale verifications across Upstart products. You’ll own features across the full stack, collaborate cross-functionally to optimize the borrower journey, and contribute to building our next-generation decisioning and automation platform.
How you’ll make an impact
- Build and own borrower-facing verification flows end-to-end across frontend and backend.
- Minimize fraud losses to Upstart through better data and ML models
- Drive automation to reduce manual reviews, strengthen fraud defenses, and improve borrower satisfaction.
- Improve UI experience for operations teams and applicants
- Collaborate with ML and data teams to enable dynamic repricing, risk insights, and continuous decisioning.
- Design scalable services in a distributed service architecture
Minimum Qualifications
- 4+ years of experience developing full-stack web applications professionally.
- Proficiency in Kotlin or Ruby on Rails, plus familiarity with at least one additional programming language.
- Experience with React, TypeScript, Spring Boot, PostgreSQL, Databricks, AWS, or event-driven architecture.
- Solid grasp of software development principles and best practices for building scalable, maintainable systems.
- Proven ability to analyze and solve complex technical problems effectively.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with React, TypeScript, Spring Boot, PostgreSQL, Databricks, AWS, or event-driven architecture.
- Knowledge of KYC/verification vendors (Socure, Plaid, OCR) and integrating sensitive data services.
- Strong sense of ownership and accountability for delivering high-quality features on time.
- Ability to thrive in both independent and collaborative settings, contributing positively to team dynamics.
- Demonstrated ability to take and incorporate feedback, with a continuous improvement mindset.
Travel requirements: As a digital first company, the majority of your work can be accomplished remotely. But our team still has regular onsite collaboration sessions. These occur roughly once per quarter (~3 days at a time) in one of our main offices (Columbus, Austin, or San Mateo). If you need to travel to make these meetups, Upstart will cover all travel-related expenses.
What you'll love:
- 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
#LI-REMOTE
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).
Upstart is a proud Equal Opportunity Employer. We are dedicated to ensuring that underrepresented classes receive better access to affordable credit, and are just as committed to embracing diversity and inclusion in our hiring practices. We celebrate all cultures, backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences, and know that we can only become better together.
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 [email protected]
https://www.upstart.com/candidate_privacy_policy
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