Senior Staff Software Engineer, Platform

Senior Staff Engineer

Rippling is seeking a Senior Staff Engineer to join our Platform Engineering team. This role will focus on defining and driving the long-term architecture of core platform systems that power dozens of products and hundreds of engineers.

About the role

We are looking for a seasoned engineer who can help us architect the platform that enables hundreds of engineers to build products faster, while also defining the infrastructure that powers the next generation of AI experiences across the company.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a senior technical leader within Rippling's engineering organization
• Define and drive the long-term architecture of core platform systems
• Design highly scalable, reliable, and extensible distributed systems
• Lead large, cross-organizational initiatives
• Translate ambiguous business and product requirements into elegant, durable technical solutions
• Drive architectural decisions that impact the future evolution of Rippling's Business Operating System
• Partner closely with senior engineering leaders to shape platform strategy and technical direction
• Build the infrastructure that enables AI systems to securely interact with live business data, workflows, permissions, and operational systems
• Develop core platform primitives that accelerate product development across the company
• Raise the engineering bar through mentorship, design reviews, technical leadership, and operational excellence
• Act as the directly responsible individual (DRI) for some of the company's most critical technical initiatives
• Help define how platform infrastructure evolves to support increasingly intelligent and autonomous software systems

Requirements

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, including significant experience operating at the Staff or Senior Staff level
• Deep expertise designing, building, and operating large-scale distributed systems
• Strong experience developing platform infrastructure, shared services, or foundational engineering systems
• Proven ability to lead complex technical initiatives across large engineering organizations
• Strong architectural judgment and a track record of designing systems that scale with both business growth and organizational complexity
• Experience building highly reliable backend systems in languages such as Python, Go, Java, or similar
• Strong computer science fundamentals, including distributed systems, concurrency, data modeling, networking, and systems design
• Experience operating in fast-paced, high-growth environments where ambiguity is high and execution speed matters
• Exceptional communication and influence skills, with the ability to align engineers, engineering leaders, and executive stakeholders
• A product mindset and passion for building platforms that unlock leverage for both developers and customers
• Excitement about the role AI will play in transforming enterprise software and the infrastructure required to support it

Qualifications

• Experience building highly reliable backend systems in languages such as Python, Go, Java, or similar
• Strong computer science fundamentals, including distributed systems, concurrency, data modeling, networking, and systems design
• Experience operating in fast-paced, high-growth environments where ambiguity is high and execution speed matters
• Exceptional communication and influence skills, with the ability to align engineers, engineering leaders, and executive stakeholders
• A product mindset and passion for building platforms that unlock leverage for both developers and customers
• Experience with AI and machine learning concepts

Skills

• Experience with distributed systems, concurrency, data modeling, networking, and systems design
• Experience with AI and machine learning concepts

Benefits

Rippling offers a competitive salary, comprehensive benefits package, and equity. The salary for US-based employees will be aligned with one of the ranges below based on location; see which tier applies to your location here.

Pay

The pay range for this role is: 201,000 - 335,000 CAD per year (CA) 207,000 - 345,000 USD per year (US)

Location

San Francisco, CA
New York, NY
Seattle, WA
Toronto, Canada

Equal Opportunity Employer

Rippling is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, or any other legally protected characteristics.

Company Overview

Rippling gives businesses one place to run HR, IT, and Finance. It brings together all of the workforce systems that are normally scattered across a company, like payroll, expenses, benefits, and computers. For the first time ever, you can manage and automate every part of the employee lifecycle in a single system.

We are headquartered in San Francisco, CA and have raised $1.4B+ from the world’s top investors, including Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Sequoia, Greenoaks, and Bedrock. We were named one of America's best startup employers by Forbes.

We prioritize candidate safety. Please be aware that all official communication will only be sent from @Rippling.com addresses.