Staff Software Engineer

As a Staff Engineer, your role is deeply technical and will extend beyond individual contribution. You will continue demonstrating ownership of code quality, leading projects, and writing software but with the added responsibility of setting technical direction, sponsoring initiatives, and injecting important technical context when necessary. Your ability to explore uncharted waters will be crucial to your success in this role.

Working in a startup environment, you will contribute to our long-term goals that may take weeks or months to materialize. Your deep understanding of the mortgage industry will allow you to drive the design and implementation of industry-specific features and improvements, ensuring our technical solutions align with the real-world needs of our users and effectively solve the problems inherent in the mortgage industry.

Role Outcomes

• Close the gap between current and target technical quality standards
  • 30 days: Understand our current code quality standards and identify areas for improvement.
  • 90 days: Regularly contribute to our codebase and provide insightful feedback during code reviews.
  • 180 days: Have a substantial impact on our code quality, demonstrating improvements in stability, performance, and maintainability.
• Lead the successful delivery of complex cross-functional projects
  • 30 days: Participate in planning sessions for upcoming projects.
  • 90 days: Lead a project or significant feature enhancement, coordinating with cross-functional teams.
  • 180 days: Successfully lead the delivery of at least one major mortgage industry-specific feature or improvement.
• Independently identify and champion work which generates the most value to the organization
  • 30 days: Get acquainted with the product, current projects, and business strategy.
  • 90 days: Identify at least one major mortgage industry-specific enhancement or feature that could improve our product.
  • 180 days: Display a track record of identifying and championing high-value work, making a significant impact on our product and the organization as a whole.
• Drive the design and implementation of mortgage industry-specific features and improvements
  • 30 days: Gain a comprehensive understanding of our mortgage-related features, workflows, and user needs.
  • 90 days: Develop and share a roadmap for technical improvements to our mortgage product offerings based on your deep industry understanding.
  • 180 days: Contribute significantly to the technical strategy of our product, using your understanding of the mortgage industry to guide us toward valuable features and improvements.
• Integrate mortgage industry standards and best practices into our software design and architecture
  • 30 days: Understand the regulatory landscape of the mortgage industry and how it applies to our product.
  • 90 days: Begin to integrate mortgage industry standards and best practices into our software design and architecture.
  • 180 days: Ensure that our technology is fully compliant with mortgage industry standards and best practices, and that our design and architecture reflect this.
• Serve as a mortgage industry subject matter expert within the engineering team
  • 30 days: Begin to build relationships with team members and stakeholders.
  • 90 days: Begin to take on the role of mortgage industry subject matter expert within the team, answering questions and providing guidance as necessary.
  • 180 days: Guide and mentor junior engineers, helping them understand the nuances of the mortgage industry.
• Translate individual technical decisions into opinionated guiding principles
  • 30 days: Start contributing to code and participate in the code review process.
  • 90 days: Have a strong grasp of the technical challenges and opportunities of our product and provide valuable input to guide technical decisions.
  • 180 days: Play a key role in the technical decision-making process, translating individual technical decisions into opinionated guiding principles.
• Contribute to a great organization through sponsorship
  • 30 days: Understand our team's working style and culture.
  • 90 days: Begin to foster a positive and collaborative team culture.
  • 180 days: Foster an environment that encourages continuous learning, collaboration, and innovation within the team.

Role Traits

• System Thinker: Our product will continue to grow with new features and abstractions, and we need you to envision this growing system and guide us in making the right technical decisions.
• Amazing Communicator: Can read between the lines in what people say and write, and simplify, express, and teach complicated subjects, including the intricacies of the mortgage industry.
• Autonomous: Can intuitively prioritize work, holds themselves accountable, and requires little to no direct supervision to generate high value work.
• Foresight: The ability to see around corners to identify and navigate broad, ambiguous problems is crucial in this role.
• Skilled Collaborator: Must be easy to involve, practice active listening, and be able to work cross-functionally with folks more and less senior.
• Mortgage Industry Savvy: An extensive understanding of the mortgage industry, including the pain points, workflows, regulations, and opportunities.
• Regulatory Compliant: Knowledgeable of the regulatory landscape of the mortgage industry and able to guide the team in creating architecture that meet all necessary regulations and standards.
• Client-Focused: An ability to leverage your understanding of the mortgage industry to empathize with our users, understand their needs, and develop technical solutions that address these needs.
• Innovator: Keeps up with the latest trends and technology in the mortgage industry and drives innovation in our own products.

By joining our team as a Staff Engineer, you will have the opportunity to shape the future of our company and make a significant impact on the mortgage industry. If you're ready to take on this challenge and meet the qualifications listed above, we invite you to apply.

There is flexibility in the interview process depending on the candidate, their qualifications, and experience. Generally, the steps involved are as follows:

1. Screening call (~20mins)
2. Hiring Manager Interview (~45mins)
3. [Potentially] Take-Home Challenge (~2 hours)
4. Virtual On-Site Focus-Interviews
   1. Architecture & Design
   2. Cross-Functional Collaboration
   3. Leadership & Autonomy