Senior Software Engineer, Summer
$150-170k
+ Equity
Student loan management & repayment platform
Job no longer available
Student loan management & repayment platform
101-200 employees
Job no longer available
$150-170k
+ Equity
101-200 employees
Company mission
To act as a “trusted advisor” to student loan borrowers.
Role
Who you are
- 5+ years of experience building and maintaining production-grade web applications, including both frontend and backend work
- A track record of owning features or systems in complex environments—ideally within fintech, edtech, or other verticals that may manage sensitive data
- Comfort navigating ambiguity and making thoughtful trade-offs when perfect information isn’t available
- Experience leading technical decisions at the team level and balancing long-term scalability with short-term needs
- Strong communication skills that allow you to collaborate cross-functionally and influence without authority
- Experience with emerging tools and practices in software development using or evaluating AI-assisted development tools like GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, etc
What the job involves
- We could spend paragraphs talking about coding requirements, algorithms, and data structures—but you’ve already mastered those. There are plenty of companies where you can write code all day, every day. This role is different
- As a full-stack Senior Software Engineer at Summer, you’ll play a critical role in shaping our products, our engineering practices, and our team culture
- This isn’t just about closing tickets or reviewing pull requests—it’s about deeply owning areas of the product and helping build something that people truly need
- You’ll work cross-functionally to ship scalable, secure, and customer-centric solutions that make higher education more accessible and affordable
- This is an opportunity to grow your technical leadership, mentor peers, and contribute meaningfully to a mission-driven company working in fintech and education
- Take full ownership of features and systems, from idea to production. You’ll lead technical design and implementation for team-level projects, ensuring scalability, reliability, and security
- Contribute to full-stack development—from frontend UI components in React to backend services in Node.js and database design in Postgres
- Help build scalable platforms, including integrations with external partners, and making thoughtful architectural decisions with long-term impact
- Work closely with product managers and designers to translate customer needs into well-scoped, technical solutions. Write clear specs and contribute to the broader product strategy
- Contribute to and help evolve our engineering processes, tooling, and standards. Drive improvements in code quality, team velocity, and system resilience. Leverage AI tools responsibly to improve documentation, debugging, and developer productivity, while maintaining code quality and review standards
- Provide thoughtful, constructive code reviews. Help unblock teammates and support their growth through knowledge sharing and collaboration
- Languages & Frameworks: TypeScript, JavaScript, Node.js, React, HAPI
- Database & Storage: PostgreSQL, Redis, AWS RDS
- Infra & DevOps: Netlify, Heroku, AWS, CircleCI, Snowflake
- Monitoring & Security: Sentry, Datadog, and a strong emphasis on security-first development
- Lead technical design for team-level projects; ensure reliability, security, and scalability while weighing trade-offs thoughtfully
- Anticipate risks and manage cross-team dependencies; help the team consistently meet its commitments
- Navigate ambiguity and help others do the same; proactively identify areas for improvement in tools, systems, and processes
- Engage in productive disagreement, create alignment post-debate, and contribute to a psychologically safe team culture
- Translate technical decisions into product impact; drive cross-functional alignment through clear specs and proposals
- Shape the team’s technical direction; mentor engineers across the team and connect engineering decisions to user and business value
- Our Product, Engineering, Design and Data (PEDD) team is guided by a strong set of values about how we work together
- High-Integrity Commitments: We do what we say we’ll do—and we hold ourselves accountable. You’ll be empowered to make and own commitments that matter
- Ambiguity as Opportunity: We lean into uncertainty with curiosity. This role is ideal for someone who thrives when things aren’t perfectly defined
- Constructive Disagreement: We believe the best ideas come from respectful debate. You’ll be expected to challenge and be challenged in service of better outcomes
- Customer-Centric Impact: We focus on real, measurable outcomes for users—not just shipping features
- Work Environment:
- Summer is a remote-first company with team members across the U.S. We collaborate asynchronously and meet virtually each week, with in-person gatherings for key moments during the year
Our take
Nearly two trillion dollars in outstanding student loans has pulled more than 45 million US students, and the country at large, into a student debt crisis. The company has attracted the attention of a slew of fintech startups and investors looking to build solutions - some are available for companies to offer their staff as employee benefits. Summer is one of them, but doing something unique.
Summer scans multiple sources to compile a directory of student loan forgiveness and repayment opportunities, and utilises these options to develop a personalised debt management program for eligible employees - all managed digitally. Not only is this a savvy way for employers to enhance benefits packages for top-tier graduates in a competitive labour market, but it’s also something for which they've recently begun to receive tax incentives.
Summer has seen good sign-ups, and it's helped tens of thousands of borrowers save millions of dollars. Through a partnership with Credit Karma, the company has also been broadening its service beyond being a simple employment benefit. It has also raised significant funds that will expand the platform's reach.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
39% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)
Apr 2024
$9m
EARLY VC
Apr 2023
$6m
SERIES A
Total funding: $32.8m
Company benefits
- Significant equity allocations
- Healthcare coverage
- 401(k) plans with an employer match
- Contribution toward student loan repayment
- Flexible vacation/PTO
Company HQ
Union Square, New York, NY
Leadership
Will Sealy
(Co-Founder & CEO)Has held various Washington positions, including White House business council, policy analyst and special assistant to Elizabeth Warren at the US Department of the Treasury. Was also an advisor and student loan policy expert at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Vincent Tran
(Co-Founder & Advisor)Previously an investment analyst at Loews Corporation, before moving into senior product roles at Orchard Platform and then Pave. Subsequently returned to investment with the Partnership Fund for New York City.
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