Senior Software Engineer

**January** Senior Software Engineer; $210,250 – $243,525 + Equity; NYC/SF - Hybrid

**About Company** At January, we're rebuilding one of the most broken parts of consumer finance: what happens after someone falls behind on debt. Our autonomous, compliant collections platform works directly for creditors, using data and AI to personalize outreach and offer consumers clearer, more compassionate ways to resolve what they owe. Creditors recover more effectively with less risk; consumers get dignity and control during a distressing situation.

January has serviced $20B+ in debt and engaged 20M+ consumers. We outperform traditional agencies by 30%+ for 80%+ of our clients, consumer satisfaction is ~50% higher than at the largest banks, and the product is roughly 300x more efficient than traditional collection agencies. Customers like Affirm and LendingClub stay and expand. We're now growing beyond late-stage debt collection into a multi-product platform, backed by Series B funding, with ~100+ people working out of Nolita, NYC.

**About the Role** We are hiring Senior Software Engineers to help shape the future of January’s platform. Instead of applying to individual teams, you will apply once and we will work together during the process to find the team where your skills and interests will make the biggest impact. Senior Engineers at January do more than write code—they're backend-leaning but able to traverse the full stack. They own product outcomes, set technical direction, and mentor others while building systems that directly improve the financial lives of millions. Current teams hiring include Borrower Acquisition, where we're scaling our communication platforms to reach the right borrowers with the right message at the right time; Borrower Activation, where we're developing features in the Borrower Portal to help people resolve accounts and regain financial stability; and Compliance and Money Operations, where we're ensuring our financial systems are accurate, scalable, and compliant while supporting money movement at scale. There are two teams we're open to P4 Senior SWE Candidates for: 1. Consumer Conversation (CONVO) - The unicorn candidate would have experience with LLMs and/or building AI agents, in any capacity. 2. Client Experience (CX) - Experience with data integrations or client-facing work (engaging directly with clients or non-technical teams).

**Responsibilities** - Design and implement scalable systems that serve millions of borrowers and financial partners. - Contribute to architecture and roadmap planning, influencing the direction of core projects. - Lead by example through engineering excellence, best practices, and high code quality. - Mentor junior engineers, helping grow the team’s skills and capabilities. - Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Design, and Operations to deliver meaningful solutions. - Propose and iterate on organization-wide engineering processes, with the help of other senior leaders.

**Required Skills** A. 5+ years of professional software development experience. B. Strong technical expertise (we use Python, React, Postgres, AWS, but welcome diverse backgrounds and teach these technologies). C. Experience building and maintaining production-grade systems at scale. D. Computer Science Degree E. Strong communication skills (this is a writing-first engineering culture)

**Bonus Skills** - Strong collaboration skills and the ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. - A product-oriented mindset. You care about the impact of your work on users and the business, not just the code. - Big plus if they've migrated large systems. - Proven system design / architecture chops - Strong people leadership (within team + cross-functional)

**Ideal Background** 1. Engineering Cheat Sheet: link here 2. Eng Overview Snapshot: january.com/eng-overview - Background from **top‑pedigree schools** (e.g., Harvard, Berkeley, NYU, Brown, Purdue) - Prior experience at **high‑caliber engineering/big-tech/mid-size (Meta, Google, Asana, Scala, Drive) companies** + startup/founding experience is the right combination - Clear **“spike” signals** in the resume: entrepreneurial ventures (even failed), founding side projects, starting clubs, or other forms of hustle and ambition. - Rapid rise through ranks at previous companies and evidence of high‑ceiling potential. - Consumer Conversation (CONVO) team - The unicorn candidate would have experience with LLMs and/or building AI agents, in any capacity. - Client Experience (CX) - Experience with data integrations or client-facing work (engaging directly with clients or non-technical teams).

**Logistical Info** - Location: NY/SF (hybrid, 3+ days per week in-office) - Compensation: $210,250 – $243,525 + Equity - **Number of openings:** Up to 12 - **Other:** Open to relocation for strong candidates (must relocate within 60 days); visa transfers by default (not new visas), case-by-case discussion

**Green Flags** - Full-stack range — January hires mostly full-stack; a pure-backend profile is a downgrade. - Concrete AI/LLM work shipped in production (a feature or workflow where the LLM is core — not IDE/assistant usage). - Individual ownership with quantified, durable outcomes — frames impact as "I owned/shipped," evidence over intuition. - Startup / scrappy-stage pedigree with a clear standout ("spike") on at least one dimension. - Specific, personal reason for wanting January (articulated unprompted). **Red Flags** - Pure-backend-only profile. - Below the tenure/level bar; no startup or scrappy-stage experience ("companies not at bar"). - Primarily contract / consulting experience (prioritizing full-time now). - Employment gap of roughly a year or more (historically underperforms here). - AI usage only at the tool-name level ("I use Cursor / ChatGPT / Claude") with nothing concretely built. - "Cog in the machine" — big-tech / incumbent background with no evidence of standout impact or initiative. **Interview Process** - Recruiter Screen - Hiring Manager Screen - Round 1 (Cultural Interview, Coding interview & System Design interview) - Executive Interview - Offer