Staff Software Engineer

Forward Financing is a financial technology company based in Boston, Massachusetts with team members throughout the United States, Dominican Republic, and Canada. The company is on a mission to unlock the capital that fuels small businesses across America. Recognized as a Best Place to Work by Built In Boston and certified as a Great Place To Work®, Forward is investing in its employees, technology, and customer experience – with long-term success in mind every step of the way.

At Forward, we're building a world-class fintech platform to empower small businesses. Our engineering team isn't just a support function, we're a core driver of the business. We use data from dozens of third-party vendors to fuel our AI/ML initiatives and create a more sophisticated financial ecosystem.

We are seeking a Staff Software Engineer to be a pivotal technical leader within our engineering teams. This person will take ownership of the design and implementation of highly complex and impactful systems that span across multiple domains, with a particular focus on our frontend systems. As a subject matter expert, you will set the technical direction and raise the bar for code quality, design patterns, and operational excellence for your domain. Your ability to influence others will be crucial as you lead cross-functional initiatives and mentor engineers, helping to elevate the quality and efficiency of the entire team.

In this role, you will:

• Architectural Influence: Lead the design and implementation of significant, cross-functional systems that require technical alignment across multiple engineering teams. They also have significant expertise in designing and implementing complex systems across multiple software applications and/or languages.

• Technical Leadership: As a lead engineer for their domain, this Staff Engineer sets the technical direction and raises the bar for code quality, design patterns, and operational excellence. They are a subject matter expert on the frontend software ecosystem, actively promoting architectural integrity and technical best practices, and serving as a long-term visionary who can drive change and directionally shape the frontend architecture.

• Cross-Team Collaboration: The Staff Engineer leads complex, cross-team initiatives and maintains a high level of engagement across multiple teams. This includes ensuring timely resolution of technical challenges and addressing technical debt.

• Mentorship and Elevation: This role improves the quality and efficiency of the engineering team through technical guidance, mentorship, and sponsorship. They act as a mentor for junior engineers, instilling best practices and raising the bar.

• Problem-Solving: The Staff Engineer is instrumental in addressing technical debt and promptly resolving incidents and bugs

Why you should apply:

• Mission-driven company: Forward is a trusted source of fast, flexible funding for small businesses that have often been underserved by traditional financing options. When you join the team, you will help ensure all small businesses have access to the financial support they need to succeed.

• Flexibility is a top priority: Our employees are empowered to choose where they want to work (whether that’s from home, in the office, or a combination of both) with flexible hours.

(Even if you don’t check every box, but see yourself contributing, please apply.)

• Typically has 8+ years of experience in technical leadership, mentorship, and sponsorship.

• Has deep expertise in designing and implementing frontend systems and scalable architectures across multiple software applications and/or languages.

• Has a significant ability to influence others.

• Possesses a full-stack perspective or experience with front-end architecture, with an understanding of how backend services impact the end-user experience.

• Typically has a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or additional relevant experience.

• Typically has several years of experience in agile software development.

• Modern React & TypeScript at scale: Years of production experience with React and TypeScript in long-lived codebases.

• State & data architecture: Deep familiarity with current server-state and client-state patterns and a clear point of view on where each belongs.

• Design system stewardship: Has owned or meaningfully shaped a shared component library — comfortable with primitive-based foundations, composition-first component APIs, and Storybook-driven development.

• Design partnership & craft: Reads Figma fluently, collaborates closely on designs, and cares about the loading, empty, and error states that define polished products.

• Accessibility as a baseline: Fluent in WCAG 2.1 AA, keyboard and focus management, and ARIA semantics

• Full-stack capability: Holds their own across the stack — can design API contracts with backend partners, read and ship backend changes when the work crosses service boundaries, and reason about how data shape, latency, and auth choices flow through to the end-user experience.

• Performance & observability: Tunes for real-user performance using Web Vitals, bundle analysis, and RUM (Datadog or equivalent)

Compensation:

Annual Targeted Salary: $170,000-$200,000 USD

Annual Target Bonus: 12%

At Forward Financing, we're committed to fair and transparent compensation. We believe in providing a compensation package that recognizes your skills, experience, and the unique value you bring to our team. We take a market-based approach to pay, regularly reviewing benchmark data to ensure our compensation remains competitive, equitable, and aligned with our performance-driven culture.

Final offers are determined by a variety of factors, including the candidate's qualifications, relevant experience, specific skills, and internal equity. This approach ensures that our compensation is competitive and equitable. Your recruiter will provide specific details on the expected base and variable earnings as it pertains to this specific role.