Staff Software Engineer, Varo
Banking (Backend)
$180-200k
Fee-free online banking platform
Be an early applicant
Fee-free online banking platform
501-1000 employees
Be an early applicant
$180-200k
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To improve the financial health of our customers through better technology and total transparency.
Role
Who you are
- 10+ years of industry experience in software development leading large and strategic high-impact areas in business
- Technical leadership and ownership in bringing multiple engineering functions to production
- Experience with scalable, distributed systems with a test-first approach
- Deep understanding of microservices and event-driven architectures
- Experience in strong consistency in a distributed environment, transactional databases, and caching systems
- Deep understanding of the software security practices
- Experience with testing methodologies including contract testing and testing in vendor environments
What the job involves
- This is a backend focused position that deals with reliability, load, and scale in every thing that we do. System design thinking, reliable and quality code, and extreme customer focus are what you bring to the table
- You’ll get to work in a fast-paced environment, with modern technology stacks, be part of a great and diverse workplace, and improve the financial lives of others
- Design and build scalable distributed solutions that our customers or employees can build their lives around
- Evolve our core banking platform systems to support the latest financial services
- Lead large-scale projects from ideation to creation with a customer-first mindset
- Mentor engineers and help build a tech culture that makes magical products
- Influence the technical strategy with a drive to improve products, infrastructure, processes, or organizations
- Work cross-functionally with various engineering, product, and operations teams
- Technologies we use:
- Kotlin, Java, Spring Boot
- AWS - EKS, S3, SNS, SQS, KMS
- PostgreSQL, Kafka, Airflow, Kubernetes, Istio
- Gitlab, Grafana, Loki
Our take
The traditional banking system leaves many US citizens underserved, with some minority groups struggling to access accounts. Varo is one of many companies offering no-fee, high-interest accounts, as it takes on the traditional banks - with additional features such as a rewards program and access to early paychecks.
With many young customers distrustful of traditional banks, Varo has capitalised on this sentiment and grown to serve more than 7 million customers. It has a number of competitors such as Chime and Step, and it's also in competition with established traditional brick-and-mortar banks. However, as the first consumer fintech to be granted a national bank charter in the US, the company is at the front of the fintech revolution with a path to future success.
In response to economic uncertainty, the bank was forced to take cost-reduction measures throughout 2022. The effect has been positive, with a drastic reduction in its burn rate, which had been a primary concern. One point of interest is a shift in marketing strategy that has seen Varo focus more on growing the number of customers using it as their main bank, as opposed to growing overall user numbers. The company also has a new tech unit named "Varo Tech".
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Few candidates hear
back within 2 weeks
-12% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 7 rounds)
Feb 2023
$50m
LATE VC
Sep 2021
$515m
SERIES E
Total funding: $1.0bn
Company benefits
- Health, dental, vision insurance
- Free life coaching and counseling
- 401k
- Office snacks and drinks
- Flexible PTO
- Company and team outings
Company values
- Customer first: Understand problems our customers are trying to solve. Respond with a sense of urgency. Build relationships that result in loyalty. Be data and insights-driven. Test everything. Achieve results through strong execution. Build a product people love.
- Take ownership: Have a bias toward action and high standards. Be accountable for the results of your work and our product. Trust others to own it.
- Stay curious: Ask why. Dare to make things better. Learn something new each day (even from mistakes). Be open to growth. Develop creative solutions.
- Make it better: Think big. Set high goals. Work toward long-term value rather than short-term wins. Create change. Be resilient.
- Respect: Treat others how you want to be treated. Listen first before being heard. Speak the truth even when it’s not easy. Assume best intentions. Bring your full self to work.
Company HQ
Financial District, San Francisco, CA
Articles
Leadership
Colin Walsh
(CEO)Former EVP at American Express. Has also worked in banking at Wells Fargo, Visa, Executive Networks, and Lloyds.
Salary benchmarks
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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Varo
- Varo takes a long-term, strategic approach to Diversity and Inclusion. We’re committed to building long term awareness and engagement with employees at all levels, our customers, and our communities. We grow and strengthen the Varo team by acquiring, developing, promoting, and retaining exceptional and diverse talent.
- Voluntary employee-led resource groups let us connect with each other, boost engagement, and keep important conversations going. Our groups include; "Women", that aims to increase women’s leadership roles, hiring and retention; "Adept", that sustains Varo’s efforts to support employees with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities; "Unity", that works to advance representation and opportunity for Black and African American employees; and "Pride", that helps us build a fully inclusive workplace offering education, support, and networking for LGBTQ employees.
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