Staff Software Engineer

Our Staff Engineers are technical leaders who provide expertise in software architecture and mentorship to teams that focus on specific domains. They shape and maintain engineering standards and best practices, and lead our internal engineering communities. They are self-led and able to tackle complex technical challenges that have a significant impact on the company's strategic initiatives.
The team you are joining is transitioning to Operations Software (OpsSoft). Through automation and product deployment, their objective is to improve the operational efficiency of internal teams (such as Support, Operations, Engineering) and to enhance risk and fraud controls across Betterment's business. They build and maintain application features, reusable libraries, and Command Line Interface (CLI) tools, primarily in Ruby on Rails, so having or quickly developing high competency with those technologies within three months is required.

Joining this team will require leadership, emotional intelligence, problem-solving, and an ability to influence without authority.

This role is remote eligible. Below we've reflected the base salary range we would offer for this position in locations with city or state requirements. For those located elsewhere, the actual compensation offered will be based on candidate experience and geographic location.  Actual salaries may vary depending on factors including but not limited to location, experience, and performance. The range listed is just one component of Betterment’s total compensation package for employees. 

• New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston & Orange County, CA : $175,000 - $205,000
• Remote Tri-State and Other locations: $140,000-$184,500

We offer a competitive equity package, health, dental and vision benefits, life and AD&D, short-term and long-term disability insurance, EAP, commuter and parking benefits FSA/HSA, and 401(k) with employer match as well as a flexible PTO policy. This job may also be eligible for variable compensation in the form of a company incentive bonus.

• Lead. As a Staff Engineer, you uphold our company values, champion our engineering principles, and prioritize impact as a leader. You know how to get things done and inspire others to follow suit. 
• Build things people love. Our goal is to delight our customers whenever possible. Sleek design, simple user experience, and access to sophisticated advice.
• Teach and Learn.  As a Staff Engineer, we expect you to lead others and share your knowledge with less experienced engineers.  Help mentor and grow our team professionally as well as learn from our leaders to level up your own talents.  
• Solve “impossible” problems. Take your ideas to the next level right away. We experiment, iterate, learn, and repeat.
• Collaborate, with purpose. You’ll work in small groups with other talented thinkers and figure out how to make Betterment’s revolutionary software even better.
• Create efficiency. Our software helps customers save time and money. We maintain it through quality code, pragmatic programming, and lean engineering.
• Work with people who care. Half of our team is made up of engineers, but we believe everyone at Betterment is an engineer with their own tools. We’re a group of talented professionals who pride ourselves on what we do. We’re smart, innovative, energetic, and lots of fun.

Staff Engineers are expected to be technical leaders. While they don’t manage people directly, they spend a significant amount of their time leading teams and projects. 

They should have experience in coordinating across teams, leading projects, mentoring and delegating responsibility to junior and senior engineers, making significant technical decisions, and driving technical strategy. 

Successful candidates will have the following:

• Extensive background of more than 3 years in engineering team leadership, demonstrating the ability to foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• 7+ years of full-stack web development experience (Rails, Spring, Node, Django, React, Angular, etc.).
• High emotional intelligence, dedication to ongoing leadership development, and proven experience adhering to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) principles.
• A history of successfully managing complex projects that involve multiple teams, departments, or stakeholders to deliver a large-scale project.
• An ability to delegate, provide guidance, knowledge, and feedback to engineers to help them develop new skills, achieve their goals, and grow as leaders.
• An ability to take calculated risks and think outside the box in pursuit of innovative ideas, new technologies (e.g., ML/AI, chatbots), and approaches to problem-solving.
• An ability to participate in leadership meetings that refine and execute on the vision and strategy of a 50 person engineering organization.
• An ability to make difficult prioritization decisions, while still ensuring that the software is thoroughly tested and meets our quality standards.
• Experience using tests, monitors, alerts, dashboards, and split tests to ensure software meets high standards for quality, reliability, and accuracy.
• Experience with Agile methodologies (e.g., Kanban, Scrum, Scrumban) and leading team ceremonies.
• Comfort communicating work or interests by writing technical articles, educational materials, or presenting at town halls or meetups.