Principal Software Engineer, Upstart
Core GenAI Platform
$186.1-257.5k
+ Bonus + Equity + ESPP
AI lending marketplace
Be an early applicant
AI lending marketplace
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
$186.1-257.5k
+ Bonus + Equity + ESPP
1001+ employees
Company mission
To enable effortless credit based on true risk.
Role
Who you are
- 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, with at least 3 years leading large-scale, cross-team technical initiatives
- Proven track record of delivering complex, distributed systems and platform infrastructure that span multiple teams
- Deep expertise in backend systems and infrastructure technologies such as Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, and cloud-native architectures
- Experience designing and operationalizing ML/LLM platforms at scale, including optimization for cost, latency, and reliability
- Demonstrated ability to set long-term technical direction and influence organizational strategy
- Excellent communication skills with a history of driving alignment across engineering and business stakeholders
Desirable
- Full-stack engineering experience (Python, FastAPI, Kotlin, Spring, React/TypeScript, or similar)
- Expertise in LLM-specific infrastructure such as inference optimization (quantization, ONNX, streaming), retrieval-augmented generation, and vector databases
- Hands-on experience with LLM toolchains such as LangChain, LlamaIndex, or OpenAI APIs
- Recognized as a technical leader beyond your immediate team, influencing platform strategy across organizations
- Awareness of industry best practices and risks in GenAI including hallucination mitigation, fairness, explainability, and data privacy
- Experience mentoring senior engineers and shaping organizational standards for operational excellence
What the job involves
- Upstart’s GenAI Core Platform team builds the foundational infrastructure that democratizes access to generative AI across the company
- As a Principal Software Engineer, you will provide technical leadership across multiple cross-functional teams, shaping the vision, architecture, and adoption strategy for our new GenAI platform for Engineers and non-Engineers alike
- You will work closely with engineering leaders, ML researchers, and product stakeholders to ensure Upstart can scale the safe, efficient, and responsible use of LLMs across all business domains
- This role goes beyond delivery. It is about setting long-term direction, de-risking our most ambitious AI initiatives, and raising the bar for technical excellence across the organization
- In short, you will have a direct influence and impact on how we enable and implement GenAI and LLMs internally at Upstart
- Define and drive the multi-year technical roadmap for the Core GenAI Platform, influencing adoption and alignment across several engineering teams
- Lead architecture and design of large-scale, mission-critical systems for model inference, orchestration, and compliance
- Identify and solve systemic technical risks that impact multiple teams and business-critical AI initiatives
- Build high-leverage, generalizable platform components that meaningfully accelerate the productivity of engineers across Upstart
- Mentor senior engineers (L5) and shape the growth of future technical leaders, fostering a culture of learning and excellence
- Collaborate with VP-level and above leadership to influence business strategy with technical insight
- Represent Upstart internally and externally as a thought leader in GenAI systems through executive reviews, cross-company forums, and industry venues
- Establish operational standards for GenAI integrations, ensuring security, fairness, and reliability at scale
Our take
Business startups across the world usually seek out funding, but this is often difficult for companies led by millenials. Millennial entrepreneurs with an excellent track record in business are increasingly requiring access to these loans, but their lack of credit history results in proposals frequently being declined.
Upstart provides loans that are aimed towards the target audience of millennials with entrepreneurial intentions, offering low interest rates that average at 12%. The company claims these rates are 10% lower than traditional lenders, and the service aims towards ensuring that the client is subject to no further fees (such as prepayment penalties).
Upstart claims that its unique selling point lies in the fact that its loans are funded the day after approval. Whilst the service focuses on personal loans for business, the company has also expanded to offer loans for car refinancing. Over 2022 and 23, Upstart's stocks fell dramatically and an investigation was undertaken by a law firm representing the company's long-term investors over alleged security law violations by its board of directors. However, the end of 2023 saw a 20% stock value rise for Upstart after its partnership with Mutual Security Credit Union led to a rise in customers, indicating that it is on the up after a difficult two years.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
-16% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 6 rounds)
Apr 2019
$50m
SERIES D
Mar 2017
$32.5m
SERIES D
Total funding: $135.7m
Company benefits
- Comprehensive health plans
- 401k Plan
- Life insurance
- Disability insuranc
- Generous vacation policy
- Flexible time off
- Parental leave
- Technology equipment budget
- Personal development budget
- Various clubs and extracurricular activities
- Catered lunches
- Fully-stocked micro-kitchen
Company HQ
South San Mateo, San Mateo, CA
Leadership
David Girouard
(CEO)They started their career at Accenture and Booz Allen & Hamilton before working in Product Management at Apple and Virage. They left their role of 8 years as President of Enterprise at Google to found Upstart in March 2012.
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