Software Engineer, Full Stack
Full Stack Engineer · Mid · Full Time
Opens Plaid's application page
Role
What you'll do.
Join Plaid as a Full Stack Software Engineer to design and build scalable backend APIs and intuitive frontend experiences that power financial connectivity for millions of users worldwide. This mid-level role emphasizes backend development (60-70%) while offering full-stack growth opportunities, working across microservices architectures and modern web technologies at a leading fintech company that partners with Fortune 500 companies and thousands of financial institutions. You'll collaborate with product teams to ship secure, reliable financial products that directly impact user financial freedom.
Responsibilities
- Backend API Development & Optimization: Design, develop, and maintain scalable backend services and APIs with a primary focus on performance optimization and security. Build microservices architectures that handle millions of financial transactions daily, ensuring high availability and fault tolerance while following RESTful API design principles.
- Frontend Experience Design & Implementation: Craft intuitive, high-quality user interfaces using modern JavaScript frameworks and libraries. Create responsive web components that connect users to their financial accounts while maintaining excellent performance and accessibility standards.
- Full-Stack Feature Ownership: Take end-to-end ownership of features from conception through deployment, working across the entire technology stack. Participate in architectural decisions and technical design reviews that impact millions of users across Plaid's platform.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with product managers, designers, and customer success teams to translate business requirements into technical solutions. Engage directly with financial institution partners and developers to understand integration needs and pain points.
- Code Quality & Testing Excellence: Develop and maintain comprehensive automated test suites including unit tests, integration tests, and end-to-end tests. Write clean, maintainable, and efficient code following best practices and established coding standards for a production environment serving millions.
- Troubleshooting & Performance Monitoring: Investigate production issues using monitoring tools and logs, implement fixes for critical bugs, and optimize system performance. Participate in on-call rotations when applicable to ensure platform reliability and customer satisfaction.
- Technical Knowledge Sharing: Mentor junior engineers, document architectural decisions, and contribute to engineering best practices and standards within the organization. Share learnings across teams to improve overall engineering culture and capability.
Qualifications
What we look for.
Technical
Full-Stack Development Architecture
Demonstrated expertise in designing and implementing scalable systems across frontend and backend layers. Experience building microservices architectures, REST APIs, and distributed systems that handle significant scale and complexity.
Backend Development Proficiency
Strong proficiency in at least one backend language such as Python, Java, Go, or Node.js. Experience building and maintaining production backend services with emphasis on scalability, security, and performance optimization.
Frontend Web Technologies
Working knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with hands-on experience using modern frontend frameworks and libraries such as React, Vue, or Angular. Ability to build responsive, accessible user interfaces.
Relational Database Design & Optimization
Practical experience with MySQL or other relational databases including schema design, query optimization, indexing strategies, and data integrity management. Understanding of database performance tuning and scaling considerations.
Microservices & API Design
Solid experience architecting and working with microservices patterns, service discovery, inter-service communication, and deployment orchestration. Expertise in RESTful API design principles, versioning strategies, and API security.
Automated Testing & Quality Assurance
Excellent testing skills including writing unit tests, integration tests, and understanding test coverage metrics. Familiarity with testing frameworks and practices for ensuring code reliability and regression prevention.
Education
Computer Science or Related Field
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent field providing strong computer science fundamentals. Alternatively, equivalent industry experience demonstrating mastery of core computer science concepts.
Experience
Full-Stack Development Experience
2-4 years of professional experience in full-stack software engineering or backend development roles. Track record of successfully shipping features and maintaining production systems.
Fintech or Financial Services Experience
Preferred experience working in fintech, payments, banking, or financial services sectors where you've handled sensitive financial data and built compliant systems. Understanding of financial data security and regulatory requirements is valuable.
High Ownership & Problem-Solving
Demonstrated ability to take ownership of complex problems without precedent, proactively identify solutions, and drive results independently. Track record of rolling up sleeves to solve challenging technical and product problems.
Customer Empathy & Collaboration
Proven ability to engage directly with customers and stakeholders to understand their needs and pain points. Experience translating customer feedback into product improvements and technical solutions that drive user satisfaction.
Skills
Required
Python
Production-level Python development for backend services, including async programming patterns and performance optimization.
JavaScript/TypeScript
Modern JavaScript and TypeScript for both frontend and backend (Node.js) development, including ES6+ features and async patterns.
REST API Design
Design and implementation of RESTful APIs with proper HTTP semantics, versioning strategies, and comprehensive documentation.
React or Modern Framework
Hands-on experience with React, Vue, or Angular for building interactive user interfaces, state management, and component architecture.
SQL & Relational Databases
SQL query writing, database schema design, index optimization, and working proficiency with MySQL, PostgreSQL, or similar RDBMS.
Microservices Architecture
Understanding of microservices patterns, inter-service communication, service discovery, and distributed system design principles.
Automated Testing
Writing unit tests, integration tests, and end-to-end tests using testing frameworks. Understanding of test coverage and testing best practices.
Version Control (Git)
Proficiency with Git, branching strategies, pull requests, code reviews, and collaborative development workflows.
Preferred
Go Programming Language
Nice to haveExperience building backend services in Go, leveraging its performance characteristics and concurrency model for scalable systems.
Java Development
Nice to haveEnterprise Java development experience including Spring Framework, building robust backend systems, and handling high-throughput applications.
Fintech/Payments Domain Knowledge
Nice to haveBackground in payments processing, APIs, banking systems, or financial data handling. Familiarity with PCI compliance, data security standards, and financial regulations.
API Gateway & Routing
Nice to haveExperience with API gateways, load balancing, and routing systems in microservices architectures.
DevOps & Infrastructure
Nice to haveFamiliarity with Docker containerization, Kubernetes orchestration, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) for deployment and scaling.
System Design & Scalability
Nice to haveExperience designing systems for scale, including caching strategies, database optimization, async processing, and performance profiling.
Security Best Practices
Nice to haveUnderstanding of application security, encryption, authentication, authorization, and secure coding practices for financial systems.
Agile Development
Nice to haveExperience working in Agile/Scrum environments with iterative development cycles, sprint planning, and collaborative team dynamics.
Tech stack
Languages
Frameworks
Databases
Tools
Other
Compensation
Pay and benefits.
Base·USD 176,400 – 243,600
Equity·Stock options
Benefits
Comprehensive Health Coverage
Medical, dental, and vision insurance plans with competitive coverage options and employer contributions for employee and dependent coverage.
Retirement Planning
401(k) retirement savings plan with employer matching contributions to support long-term financial security and wealth building.
Equity Compensation
Stock options or equity grants as part of compensation package, allowing you to share in Plaid's growth and success as the company expands globally.
Professional Development
Opportunities to grow full-stack engineering expertise, mentorship from senior engineers, and investment in continuous learning and skill development.
Flexible Work Environment
Collaborative office locations in major tech hubs including San Francisco, New York, Seattle, and international offices in London and Amsterdam with potential flexibility options.
Impact-Driven Work
Direct opportunity to impact millions of users' financial lives and contribute to Plaid's mission of unlocking financial freedom for everyone globally.
Diverse & Inclusive Culture
Commitment to building a diverse team and fostering an inclusive environment where all employees feel valued and supported in their careers.
Financial Services Innovation
Work with cutting-edge fintech technology, partnering with Fortune 500 companies, major banks, and thousands of financial institutions across 12,000+ financial networks.
Full posting
Original listing.
We believe that the way people interact with their finances will drastically improve in the next few years. We’re dedicated to empowering this transformation by building the tools and experiences that thousands of developers use to create their own products. Plaid powers the tools millions of people rely on to live a healthier financial life. We work with thousands of companies like Venmo, SoFi, several of the Fortune 500, and many of the largest banks to make it easy for people to connect their financial accounts to the apps and services they want to use. Plaid’s network covers 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, UK and Europe. Founded in 2013, the company is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Seattle, Washington D.C., Raleigh, London, and Amsterdam.
Plaid’s mission is to unlock financial freedom for everyone by making money movement and access to financial data simple and secure. As a Fullstack Software Engineer, you will design and build the systems and experiences that power how millions of people connect to their finances.
You will work across the stack, building scalable backend services and APIs while also crafting intuitive, high-quality frontend experiences that bring those systems to life. This role is ideal for engineers who enjoy switching between backend problem-solving and frontend user experience work, and who are excited to grow their impact across both.
You will collaborate closely with product managers, designers, and other engineers to ship products that are reliable, secure, and delightful to use. At Plaid, engineers take ownership early, contribute to architectural decisions, and see their work reach millions of users.
Responsibilities:
Design & Development: Design, develop and maintain both frontend and backend components
Majority Backend Focus (60-70%): Develop APIs and services, focusing on scalability, security and performance.
Frontend Focus (30-40%): Build delightful experiences using modern JavaScript frameworks and libraries.
Collaboration: Work closely with product managers, product designers and other stakeholders to define and implement new features that meet product and customer needs.
Code Quality: Write clean, maintainable and efficient code.
Testing & Debugging: Develop automated tests to ensure the quality and reliability of the codebase. Troubleshoot and resolve issues.
Qualifications:
2-4 years of experience in full-stack development.
Working knowledge of HTML, CSS, Javascript and modern frameworks and libraries.
Working knowledge of one or more programming languages such as Python, Java, Go, or Node.js.
Experience MySQL or other relational databases.
Experience working with microservices
Experience with API design.
Excellent coding and testing skills.
High ownership. You are excited to roll up your sleeves and figure things out that don’t have precedent at Plaid.
Customer empathy. You want to be face to face with customers to understand their needs and design Investments products together.
Our mission at Plaid is to unlock financial freedom for everyone. To support that mission, we seek to build a diverse team of driven individuals who care deeply about making the financial ecosystem more equitable. We recognize that strong qualifications can come from both prior work experiences and lived experiences. We encourage you to apply to a role even if your experience doesn't fully match the job description. We are always looking for team members that will bring something unique to Plaid!
Plaid is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and values diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion or religious belief, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, military or veteran status, disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Plaid is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance with your application or interviews due to a disability, please let us know at [email protected].
Please review our Candidate Privacy Notice here.
Additional compensation in the form(s) of equity and/or commission are dependent on the position offered. Plaid provides a comprehensive benefit plan, including medical, dental, vision, and 401(k). Pay is based on factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's work experience and skillset, and location. Pay and benefits are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefit plans.
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