Head of Engineering, Mercury
Risk
$278-327k
Salary range for Canada: $253,000 - $297,600 (CAD). + Stock options
Banking services for startups
Open for applications
Banking services for startups
501-1000 employees
Open for applications
$278-327k
Salary range for Canada: $253,000 - $297,600 (CAD). + Stock options
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To make scaling tech companies simpler with a personalized banking stack for startups, and power the next generation of companies that will shape the American industry.
Role
Who you are
- Proven leadership in engineering: 10+ years of engineering experience with at least 2 years in a senior leadership role (e.g., head, director, or senior manager), ideally within fintech or regulated technology environments
- Risk and compliance expertise: deep experience in fraud prevention and compliance (KYC/KYB, AML), ideally within the financial services industry
- Technical proficiency: knowledge of backend systems, and risk-related technologies (e.g., machine learning for fraud detection). Familiarity with Mercury’s stack (Haskell, TypeScript, React) is a plus
- Customer-centric approach: heavy focus on understanding users and developing strong and well-informed opinions on the product
- Data-driven mindset: skilled at leveraging data and analytics to inform risk strategies, with a strong understanding of the role data systems play in decision-making and real-time risk management
- Strong cross-functional collaboration skills: ability to work closely with diverse teams, including product, compliance, and design, to develop holistic risk solutions that enhance security while preserving user experience
- Adaptability and innovation: ability to navigate and lead in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. Skilled in designing systems that are both secure and flexible that evolve with the company’s growth
What the job involves
- As the Head of Risk Engineering, you will lead a group of engineers and managers dedicated to designing, developing, and scaling systems that underpin Mercury’s approach to fraud detection and regulatory compliance
- You’ll work cross-functionally with product managers, designers, data scientists, compliance officers, and other product teams to ensure that Mercury’s risk systems are robust and adaptable to evolving challenges
- Mercury stands out by embedding user experience at the heart of its products, ensuring risk systems are as intuitive as they are functional
- Mercury is at a pivotal moment of growth, and we need a leader who can blend strategic vision with technical expertise, capable of building and leading a world-class risk engineering team that keeps us safe as we scale
- Define and execute a risk engineering strategy: develop plans that align with Mercury’s long-term vision to ensure that our approach to risk supports rapid and compliant growth
- Lead a team of talented managers and engineers: foster a culture of excellence, innovation, user-centric design, and collaboration in our engineering team
- Build and scale risk infrastructure: architect and scale foundational risk systems to support real-time decision-making, effective data management, and advanced fraud prevention
- Develop self-service tools for internal teams: empower product, compliance, and risk operations teams with extensive and user-friendly risk tooling, enabling independent monitoring and management of risk processes and reducing dependencies for day-to-day operations
- Support compliance and regulatory standards: collaborate with legal and compliance experts to keep Mercury a compliance leader in an evolving regulatory climate
- Champion data-driven risk management: lead initiatives to leverage data and machine learning in fraud detection and compliance, providing Mercury with actionable insights and automated solutions that improve our resilience
Our take
Frustrated by the archaic, fee-laden banking services offered to entrepreneurs, the founders of Mercury set out to create a better solution. They envisioned a platform that was dynamic, tech-driven, and free from unnecessary fees.
Mercury delivers on this vision by automating business payment processes, offering FDIC-insured accounts, and providing full API access, empowering entrepreneurs with greater control and efficiency. This approach stands in stark contrast to traditional startup banking, which often burdens young businesses with high fees and limited functionality.
By prioritizing user experience and offering a free service tier, Mercury has attracted over 100,000 businesses and achieved a $1B valuation in 2021. As a rising unicorn in the stagnant world of startup banking, mercury is poised for continued growth, constantly adding new features and expanding its team to further disrupt the industry.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
50% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 5 rounds)
Mar 2025
$300m
SERIES C
Jul 2021
$120m
SERIES B
Total funding: $450.9m
Company benefits
- Health, dental, & vision
- 12+ weeks of paid parental leave
- $600 USD custom WFH equipment setup
- Unlimited vacation policy (with a mandatory minimum)
- Retirement matching up to 4% of base salary (401k/RRSP)
- Paid 6-week sabbatical after the 5-year mark
- Annual $1K USD learning & development budget
- Unlimited book budget
- Weekly $100 USD food budget
- Monthly $100 USD wellness budget
- Monthly $50 USD cellphone reimbursement
- Pet-friendly offices with free tea & lunch
Company HQ
SoMa, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Jason Zhang
(COO)Studied Biology at Stanford before spending over 4 years at Heyzap in Business Development.
Immad Akhund
(CEO)Graduated from the University of Cambridge, then worked as a Software Developer at Aquila and Bloomberg. Also founded Clickpass and Heyzap, and was a Part-time Partner at Y Combinator.
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