Lead Software Engineer, Summer
$150-170k
+ Equity
Student loan management & repayment platform
Be an early applicant
Student loan management & repayment platform
21-100 employees
Be an early applicant
$150-170k
+ Equity
21-100 employees
Company mission
To act as a “trusted advisor” to student loan borrowers.
Role
Who you are
- 7+ years of experience building and maintaining production-grade web applications and 2+ years of experience leading engineers or owning technical direction for a small or mid-sized team
- A proven ability to design, build, and scale complex systems across frontend and backend environments
- Strong experience across our core stack: TypeScript, Node.js, PostgreSQL, and React
- A clear, empathetic communication style that builds trust and drives alignment across technical and non-technical teams
- A passion for coaching and developing engineering talent – you love helping others grow
- Familiarity with or interest in AI-assisted development tools like GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude
- Experience collaborating across product, design, and analytics to deliver impactful solutions
- Exposure to both startup and enterprise environments, with clear opinions on what works best from each
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
- As a full-stack Lead Software Engineer at Summer, you’ll manage and mentor a small pod of engineers while remaining hands-on in the codebase
- You’ll guide the team through technical design, planning, and delivery of major product initiatives
- This isn’t just about shipping features, it’s about setting direction, building strong systems and people, and ensuring your pod delivers high-quality, scalable software that makes a real-world impact
- This is an opportunity to grow your leadership skills, contribute to Summer’s technical vision, and build a mission-driven engineering culture that values ownership, quality, and empathy
- Mentor and manage a team of engineers through thoughtful technical leadership and day-to-day support
- Review and assess completed work in collaboration with fellow engineering leads to uphold a high bar for quality
- Clarify complex requirements and help design sustainable, long-term solutions that are maintainable and scalable
- Lead by example: stay hands-on in the codebase, supporting your team as they build and ship great products
- Drive product planning, ensuring we commit to initiatives that are realistic, high-impact, and delivered at a high standard
- Oversee the design, implementation, and maintenance of internal tools and systems to streamline engineering workflows across the organization
- Collaborate closely with the Head of Engineering, your product management lead, and product design partner to ensure your pod’s work aligns with our values, vision, and long-term goals with a focus on prioritization, double bottom-line impact, and thoughtfully designed experiences
- Guide technical direction for your pod while remaining an active contributor to the codebase
- Set and uphold a high bar for engineering excellence, security, and maintainability
- Drive cross-functional alignment through clear technical communication and documentation
- Identify and mitigate risks, manage dependencies, and help the team consistently meet commitments
- Lead design discussions and ensure thoughtful trade-offs between speed, scalability, and reliability
- Create a healthy, supportive, and high-performing team culture grounded in accountability and curiosity
- Translate product and business priorities into actionable, technical roadmaps
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. It’s attracted the attention of a slew of fintech startups and investors looking to build solutions - some of them 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 uses these options to build a personal debt management program for eligible employees - all managed digitally. Not only is this a savvy way for employers to improve benefits packages for top-tier graduates in a hot labor market, it’s also something for which they've recently begun to receive tax incentives.
Summer's seen good sign-up, and has helped tens of thousands of borrowers save millions of dollars. Through a partnership with Credit Karma, the company has also been broadening its service out beyond being a simple employment benefit. It has also raised significant funds towards expanding the reach of the platform.
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
Midtown East, New York, NY
Leadership
Will Sealy
(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
(CPO)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.
Paul Joo
(COO)Consulted with TechnoServe and BCG before working as a law associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.
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