Startup Hiring Index · threadangellabs
Plaid › Engineering

Senior Software Engineer, Backend

Plaid · Seattle Office

Pay
$191K–$263K
From the posting
Posted
Aug 19, 2026
Tracked open for 69 days
Team
All Departments
Full-time
Plaid hiring
134 open roles
46 in engineering
Apply on Plaid's site → Alert me about roles like this

Typical software engineer pay at startups: $221K median, middle half $188K–$256K (2,406 posted ranges).

Typical engineering pay at Plaid: $191K–$263K — median of 43 listed ranges.

Across all startups we track: $170K–$242K for engineering roles (8,046 listed ranges).

About the role

We believe that the way people interact with their finances will drastically improve in the next few years. We’re dedicated to empowering this transformation by building the tools and experiences that thousands of developers use to create their own products. Plaid powers the tools millions of people rely on to live a healthier financial life. We work with thousands of companies like Venmo, SoFi, several of the Fortune 500, and many of the largest banks to make it easy for people to connect their financial accounts to the apps and services they want to use. Plaid’s network covers 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, UK and Europe. Founded in 2013, the company is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Seattle, Washington D.C., Raleigh, London, and Amsterdam.

Plaid’s mission is to unlock financial freedom for everyone by making money movement and access to financial data simple and secure. As a Software Engineer, you will design and build the systems that power how millions of people connect to their finances. You will work across the stack, from reliable backend services and APIs to intuitive applications that bring those systems to life. You will collaborate with engineers, product managers, and designers to ship products that make financial services more accessible and transparent. At Plaid, engineers take ownership early, grow quickly, and see their work reach millions of users.

Responsibilities:

  • Design & Development: Build and maintain backend services with a focus on performance, reliability and scalability.

  • Collaboration: Work closely with product managers and other stakeholders to define and implement new features that meet product and customer needs.

  • Code Quality: Write clean, maintainable and efficient code.

  • Testing & Debugging: Develop automated tests to ensure the quality and reliability of the codebase. Troubleshoot and resolve issues.

  • Engage in hands-on coding and architectural design, setting and maintaining high technical standards for a high performing team.

  • Grow the team via mentorship and leadership, reviewing technical documents and code changes.

Qualifications:

  • 5+ years of experience with extensive experience in software engineering with a proven track record of shipping successful projects.

  • Experience with MySQL or other relational databases.

  • Experience working with microservices.

  • Excellent coding, testing, and system design skills.

  • Prior experience with cross functional collaboration, communication and project management skills.

  • Demonstrated leadership skills and the ability to mentor and guide junior engineers.

  • Ability to work with operations, product, design, and data science.

Our mission at Plaid is to unlock financial freedom for everyone. To support that mission, we seek to build a diverse team of driven individuals who care deeply about making the financial ecosystem more equitable. We recognize that strong qualifications can come from both prior work experiences and lived experiences. We encourage you to apply to a role even if your experience doesn't fully match the job description. We are always looking for team members that will bring something unique to Plaid!

Plaid is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and values diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion or religious belief, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, military or veteran status, disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Plaid is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance with your application or interviews due to a disability, please let us know at accommodations@plaid.com.

Please review our Candidate Privacy Notice here.

Additional compensation in the form(s) of equity and/or commission are dependent on the position offered. Plaid provides a comprehensive benefit plan, including medical, dental, vision, and 401(k). Pay is based on factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's work experience and skillset, and location. Pay and benefits are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefit plans.

From Plaid's careers page. First seen Aug 19, 2026, last verified Oct 26, 2026.

Plaid hiring momentum

Open roles: 134, up 7 (+6%) over the last 10 days.

Oct 16, 2026 · 127Oct 26, 2026 · 134

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